At around 5.10 pm, broadcasts from 5 TV transmitters were hi-jacked by unknown agents who blocked the UHF audio signal of transmissions from the then local ITV station Southern Television and broadcast their own audio message purporting to be from Vrillon, an alien from an institution calling itself the Ashtar Galactic Command. The message, transmitted over an ITN News bulletin and a subsequent Merrie Melodies cartoon, lasted six minutes.