Contingency plans for unexpected battery life aboard Huygens

Need some clarification on the unexpected battery life aboard Huygens
and what, if any, was the plan in place to deal with it. We heard in
the press conference yesterday that ESA was hustling get as much earth
based RT coverage as they could to pick up signal as Cassini went over
the horizon. Does anybody have a clue about, 1) what data was to be
gained or lost by this manuver? 2) Could on board systems be rigged
to cross talk and send the pictures lost by the drop out of A (?)
channel over to the working other channel