Broadcasters have issued new proposals for television debates ahead of General Election - with plans to continue if any party leader refuses to take part.
The planned schedule will see two programmes featuring seven party leaders, with one further debate between David Cameron and Ed Miliband alone.
ITV and BBC have written to Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party to explain why they will not be included in TV debates ahead of the General Election.
In the letter, the broadcasters said it would be unfair to include one party from Northern Ireland but no others.
They added that the alternative of including all five major parties in the country - DUP, Sinn Fein, the Ulster Unionist Party, the SDLP and the Alliance Party - would be "disproportionate" and "not in the wider interests of viewers throughout the UK".
At present, the broadcasters have proposals in place to involve party leaders from seven parties: Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Ukip, Green Party, SNP and Plaid Cymru.
The letter noted: "Including all the major Northern Ireland parties in the network programmes would mean having 12 participants - and 97% of viewers in the rest of the UK would not be able to vote for at least five of those twelve parties."
Both the BBC and UTV plan dedicated debates in Northern Ireland involving all the larger Northern Ireland parties.
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