Sky News
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| Sky News | |
 |
|
|---|---|
| Launched | 5th February 1989 |
| Owned by | BSkyB |
| Audience share | 0.5% (October 2006, Source:[1]) |
| Website | www.sky.com/news |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview | Channel 82 |
| Satellite | |
| Sky Digital | Channel 501 |
| Sky Italia (Italy) | Channel 512 |
| Cyfra+ | Channel 677 |
| Astra 1KR | 11597 V / 22000 / 5/6 |
| Astra 2B | 12207 V / 27500 / 2/3 |
| DStv | 52 |
| DirecTV | 9997 (Unavailable to general public at present) |
| Cable | |
| NTL:Telewest | Channel 602 |
| now TV Hong-Kong (Broadband) | Channel 323 |
| Starhub Cable (Singapore) | Channel 94 |
Sky News is Europe's first 24-hour television news channel, originally launched as part of the 4-channel Sky Television network in February 1989. Its main competitor in the UK is BBC News 24 since the ITV News Channel has ceased broadcasting. Elsewhere in Europe, it competes mainly with BBC World, Euronews, Al-Jazeera English and CNN International.
An international version. named Sky News International (see Reception), is available via satellite in Africa (on DStv), the Middle East (on Orbit), and parts of Asia (by STAR TV). A similar service, Sky News Australia, is available in Australia and New Zealand.
The station broadcasts from Osterley, West London. Sky News currently employs around 50 on-screen staff: anchors, weather forecasters, correspondents and reporters, and over 500 behind-the-scenes workers. The station has 8 bureaux outside the United Kingdom; Brussels, New Delhi, Dublin, Johannesburg, Jerusalem, Moscow, Beijing and Washington, D.C. (although partnerships with other News Corporation-owned news outlets greatly increase this list)
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[edit] History
At 6pm on the 5th of February 1989 Sky News first began broadcasting and since this time it has transmitted over 148,000 hours of continuous live news. The channel originally operated on a shoestring but quickly gained a reputation for journalistic integrity. Although the channel was reportedly run at a loss until 2002 [2] its award-winning journalism has brought Sky Television and its successor British Sky Broadcasting some much-needed prestige. Whilst it is fashionable for many of the newcomers to the news channel market to rapidly hire-and-fire presenters, Sky News is unique in that many of the original presenting team from the 1980s launch remain at the channel. However, one of its longest standing presenters, Bob Friend MBE, retired in late 2003. In this respect, many other channels have attempted to mimick and emulate Sky's standards and methods with varying degrees of success.
Sky News was the only UK 24 hour news service until the launch of BBC News 24 in November 1997. In August 2000, this was followed by the ITN News Channel (later the ITV News Channel - this closed down in December 2005). In September 1999 the European Commission ruled against a complaint by Sky News which argued that the publicly funded BBC News 24 was unfair and illegal under EU law. The EC ruled that the television licence fee should be considered state aid but that such aid was justified due to the public service remit of the BBC and that it did not exceed actual costs of the channel.
In March 2000 Sky News Active was launched, a 24-hour service providing headlines (and other services which ranged from weather, the top story of the day and showbiz) on demand. It proved popular, and in late 2001/early 2002 it launched an 8-screen video news service, rather than just 4-screen. Sky News Poll, had also proved popular with a new question each day. It is now common for the question to change throughout the day according to news or developments. In March 2004 it was announced that Five News was to be produced by Sky News, as Sky had won a 5-year contract to supply news bulletins to the British terrestrial channel Five, taking over from ITN in January 2005.
On October 24, 2005, Sky News was relaunched from a brand-new studio across the road at their Osterley site in West London. This replaced the old building which had been in use for almost 17 years since the channel's launch. Music and on screen graphics were heavily revised and for the first time in the channel's history it began broadcasting in Widescreen (16:9) EDTV format (except for Sky News International which remained 4:3). The new schedule includes more programmes based around news presenters such as Jeremy Thompson and Julie Etchingham, while still breaking news around the clock. In this, Sky News would be following the example of CNN and Fox News in the United States. Former US State Department Spokesperson James Rubin was signed with Sky News to present an hour-long evening news show. He is married to CNN's Christiane Amanpour. The relaunch has not been without difficulties, indeed since October 2005 BBC News 24 has overtaken Sky News marginally. This reason for this has largely been placed with Rubin's 'World News Tonight' which has suffered in the ratings whilst others, such as 'Lunchtime Live with Kay Burley' have flourished. The relaunch was also a major technical move from traditional tape based studio operation to a Quantel server based system.
Due to the falling ratings another re-shuffle of the schedule occurred on July 10, 2006. This saw 17 Sky staff, including presenters, leave the station, and the end of 'World News Tonight' and 'The Sky Report' - both introduced in the October relaunch.
[edit] Perception
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Sky News is perceived somewhat differently to Fox News, the US sister channel with which it sometimes exchanges material. Sky News currently relies more on news rather than Fox News' anchor-based commentary, such as that provided by Bill O'Reilly. During 2003, plans to offer Sky News in the US were under consideration, but have since been dropped allegedly due to pressure from Fox News.
The station has not been without controversy. In early 1994 Kelvin MacKenzie, former editor of The Sun newspaper, was appointed Managing Director of BSkyB. MacKenzie's proposed changes to Sky News lead to clashes with CEO Sam Chisholm and the head of Sky News, Ian Frykberg, who protested what they saw as an attempt to take its news values downmarket and concentrate on stories that would be more familiar to tabloid newspapers than its rivals at the BBC and ITN.
The main problems arose when it became clear that Frykberg, then head of News and Sport at BSkyB, wanted to take Sky News to a wider international audience. Frykberg outlined his intention to open 15 new Sky News bureaux around the world and make the channel a serious alternative to CNN. At the time, he was backed by Rupert Murdoch *[3]. There was also talk of the US CBS network acquiring a stake in Sky News, and the two launching a joint international news channel. Mackenzie, in contrast, wanted the channel to focus on more domestic and 'tabloid' stories. The most ferocious battle occurred when Mackenzie wanted Sky News to run an interview with Lady Buck, exposed by the News of the World as being the mistress of Chief of Defence staff Sir Peter Harding. Frykberg refused to air the interview and resigned shortly afterwards. The interview did not air on Sky News, and was instead shifted to Sky One.
MacKenzie announced his resignation in August 1994.
A 1993 report on public trust in news outlets ranked Sky News far below the more established TV networks and newspapers. However the station has undoubtedly got past this in its news coverage, to the point of being nominated for International Emmy Awards and a 2004 report listed Sky as second only to the BBC in terms of public trust in British news outlets.
Its coverage of the Louise Woodward trial in Boston, US, garnered the channel international attention. Capitalising on the live broadcasts from the courtroom, Sky News covered the trial as-it-happened, with constant live coverage, recalling CNN's rolling coverage of the O.J. Simpson murder case. After days of live courtroom television, Sky attempted to return to a more regular schedule, only to be inundated with complaints by viewers demanding that the trial return to the screens; Sky obliged. They also took the opportunity to rig up a huge television screen in a pub in Woodward's home village of Elton in Cheshire, with 24/7 coverage of the trial in progress. Villagers rallied round the screen, and Sky recorded their reactions to every detail of the trial. The channel came in for further criticism, with many accusing it of maintaining a pro-Louise Woodward stance, even after she was found guilty.
At the turn of the millennium, Sky began a process of expanding its international coverage, opening more overseas bureaux in Africa, Europe, and the far East. It won awards from the Royal Television Society, a BAFTA, and a nomination for an International Emmy Award for being the only major UK television network to feature live reports during the war in Kosovo.
Its coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks brought more honours, and more recognition from BAFTA and the RTS. During the first week or so of the invasion of Afghanistan, its US sister station Fox News substituted its late-night repeats of its own programming with a simulcast of Sky News. In 2002/3, its coverage of the Soham Murders in Cambridgeshire gave the channel yet more awards, and the British Academy award for news coverage. Later that year, its (also award-winning) coverage of the Iraq conflict saw it yet again steal a march on its rivals, with US networks CBS and Fox News carrying much of its coverage.
Coverage of the 7 July 2005 London bombings won the 2006 International Emmy award in the Breaking News category. The judges commended the channel's "fast and accurate" reporting.[4]
Sky News is facing increasing competition from BBC News 24, however the BBC Head of News, Peter Horrocks, admitted in November 2005 in a leaked email that it was Sky News that was the first port of call for 'key opinion formers', not the BBC.[5]
[edit] Reception
Sky News is free-to-air on the satellites carrying the Sky Digital platform. It is also available on Freeview.
An international version - the UK feed, minus advertisements, the clock, the scrolling headlines banner and cropped to 4:3 - is free-to-air on Astra 1KR at 19.2E. It is also carried encrypted on a number of satellites for international reception - including but not limited to Hot Bird, Nilesat, Amos 1 and Intelsat 10-02. It is also usually carried on cable systems in Europe, particularly (but not only) in Northern Europe.
In late July, 2006, US-based satellite broadcaster DirecTV added several channels to their online guide that are apparently not available to viewers, including Sky News. It is not known presently whether or not Sky News will actually be made available to American viewers.
In October 2005, after Sky News moved home to the new Sky News Centre, more shows were added to the schedule. Click on show names for more information.
- Sunrise - Morning breakfast time show. On weekdays, the show is presented by Eamonn Holmes and Lorna Dunkley and runs from 6:00am to 9:00am. On weekends, the show runs from 6:00am to 10:00am and is presented by Mark Longhurst and Another unspecified presenter.
- Sky News Today - Sky News Today runs throughout the day in two 'shifts' - from 9:00am to 12:00noon, and from 2:00pm until 5:00pm.
- Morning Edition is fronted by Colin Brazier and Anna Jones with live breaking news as it develops and a 'daily debate' at 9:30am.
- Afternoon Edition is fronted by Colin and Julie Etchingham.
- Weekend Edition of Sky News Today is broadcast at the weekend, between 12:00noon and 5:00pm. This Edition is hosted by Steve Dixon and Emma Crosby
- Lunchtime Live - Lunchtime Live with Kay Burley is a show focused around the day's news with human interest news and runs between 12:00pm and 2:00pm Monday to Friday.
- Live at Five - During the week, Live at Five gives viewers a fast-paced look at the day's top stories with Jeremy Thompson who is later joined by Anna Botting between 6:00pm and 8:00pm. On weekends, the show is presented by Chris Roberts and Lucy Alexander.
- Sky News with Martin Stanford - Sky News with Martin Stanford airs on weeknights between 8:00pm and 10:00pm. Presented by Martin Stanford, the show encourages viewers to contribute using webcams and 3G mobile phones to send in video messages, or join in debates regarding the issues of the day.
- Sky News at Ten - Sky News at Ten is a round-up of the day's top stories, with Martin Stanford and Gillian Joseph and runs from 10:00pm until 10:30pm.
- Sportsline - A dedicated sports show regularly presented by Jon Desborough and other sports news presenters. It is shown in addition to the regular sports bulletins and aires between 10:30pm and 11:00pm every night.
- Sky News Tonight - Sky News Tonight airs between 11:00pm and midnight and is presented by Martin Stanford and Gillian Joseph. At 11:30pm, the presenters show the Press Preview, looking at the following days newspapers, alongside guest analysts.
- Sky News On The Hour - From midnight until 4:00am Monday to Friday mornings, and midnight to 6:00am weekends, Sky News broadcasts overnight news coverage. This is usually presented by new signings and temporary presenters and includes broadcasts of CBS Evening News at 12:30am and 3:30am (Monday to Friday mornings, 5:30am weekends). At present, Lukwesa Burak, former presenter of a local BBC output, regularly presents from midnight.
- Sky World News - A two hour-long program that focuses on global news from Sky's network of bureaux across the globe at a time when international viewers outnumber domestic ones. It also uses pieces from its American sister channel Fox News and CBS News. The program is broken down into a number of short segments, including weather, newspapers, business and sport from different regions around the world. Weekdays 4am - 6am.
- Saturday Live - At 10:00am on Saturdays, Saturday Live formerly presented by Martin Stanford, mixes news and sport with showbiz and technology in its 'Technofile,' output.
- Sunday Live with Adam Boulton - Sunday Live with Adam Boulton takes an in-depth look at a range of topics such as politics, sport, and the arts (although traditionally just politics) from the heart of Westminster It runs for two hours, from 10:00am until 12:00pm on Sundays.
- Additional Shows
- In addition to the above regular schedule, in December 2005 and January 2006 Sky News transmitted one-off special reports covering specific issues, with the schedule being altered to allow their inclusion. Most specials lasted 30 minutes, with the regular programme for that hour being shortened to 30 minutes and the special starting at half past the hour. In the case of longer specials lasting close to an hour, a brief news summary is given on the hour, with the special starting a few minutes after.
- On the 28th March 2006 sky presenter, James Rubin fronted a special edition of World News Tonight live from Sky News' Jerusalem bureau between 20:00 and 22:00. Middle East Correspondent, Emma Hurd was live at the Kadima party headquarters as the results of one Israel's tightest elections came through. Tim Marshall, award winning foreign affairs editor, gave coverage and analysis throughout the day.
- On Sunday 28 August 2006, Adam Boulton had an exclusive half-hour interview with Al Gore.
[edit] Former Programmes
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- Littlejohn - Live from Westminister, Columnist Richard Littlejohn discuss about current affair. Littlejohn aired on few days par weeknights from 2003 to 2004.
- Now Sir Robin - This political discussion show hosted by Sir Robin Day launched on British Satellite Broadcasting's "Now", back in 1989, and transferred to Sky News following the BSB-Sky tie-up. It lasted only a short while before being discontinued in the early 1990s.
- The Sky Report - The Sky Report aired on Sky News weeknights between 7:00pm to 8:00pm, and was a 'hard-hitting' news analysis show. The show was originally presented by Julie Etchingham but was presented by Anna Botting whilst Etchingham was on maternity leave. In a line-up change, the show was cancelled on July 10th 2006.
- World News Tonight - James Rubin anchored World News Tonight weeknights between 8:00pm to 9:00pm. The show aimed to take a look at news headlines from an international perspective. This show was cancelled in the channel line-up change on July 10th 2006.
- 3D was a news chat show shown on Sky News on Mondays and Wednesdays at 20:00. It was presented by Kate Silverton (Now at BBC Breakfast), Ana Boulter (Previously of CBBC) and Tessa Dunlop (previously of BBC London)
[edit] Reporters and presenters
[edit] Identification and Strings
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SKY News also had a very recognizable line, like American television news, which has been said every hour by Bruce Hammel.
In the past, the line was "Sky News, with <presenter/s>."
After the October 2005 revamp of the channel, the line was changed to "Live from the Sky News Centre, this is <Programme name>, with <presenter/s>." or "This is <Programme name>, with <presenter/s>".
[edit] Related channels
As well as the original UK version, there are a growing number of other "Sky News" channels, and additional News Corporation news channels. They share content and expertise, but differ in focus and presentation.
[edit] Sky News Australia
The first Sky News derivative was Sky News Australia, launched on February 19 1996 as a joint venture between BSkyB, Publishing and Broadcasting Limited and the Seven Network. This channel makes use of Seven Network and Nine Network material, regular slots from Sky News UK (the international version) and increasing amounts of original material.
[edit] Sky News New Zealand
Sky News New Zealand launched in 2001. Initially, only local news bulletins differentiated it from Sky News Australia, but its level of local programming has now increased. Some of this programming is also broadcast on Sky News Australia.
[edit] Sky News Ireland
Sky News Ireland began in May 2004. This differs from Sky News UK in that it includes two local half hour daily programmes at 6:30pm and 10pm, as well as local advertisements. It initially featured a weekly summary programme, although this has been discontinued. Sky News Ireland's daily shows ceased broadcasting on November 3rd, 2006 - almost four weeks earlier than initially announced, reportedly due to a staff walk-out. The advertising opt-outs will remain.
[edit] Fox News Channel
Sky News' sister channel in the United States is Fox News Channel, launched on October 7, 1996. Fox and Sky use each others correspondents, studios and footage but there is a gulf in editorial stances of the two channels. Following Sky News' successful coverage of the 2003 Iraq War, some of which was broadcast on Fox News, there was a proposal to launch a Sky News US.[citation needed] This never happened, possibly due to sharp increases in ratings for Fox News.
[edit] STAR News
Hindi language news channel STAR News was launched in 1998 on STAR TV platform. It is another News Corp channel that owes much in terms of style and presentation to Sky News.
[edit] STAR World
Although not a news channel, STAR World, another STAR TV asset, shows a recorded and edited broadcast of Sky News 7pm, every Tuesday to Saturday morning, and Sky News 9pm, every Monday morning.
Some of its Report had also been shown on STAR World news-programme, STAR News Asia, hosted by Deborah Khan.
[edit] SKY TG24
SKY TG24, known to some English speakers as "Sky News Italia"[citation needed] launched on August 23 2003 and is also part of News Coporation. This Italian language channel has, however, little in common with Sky News UK.
[edit] Granada Talk TV
Granada Talk TV launched on October 1 1996 as part of the Granada Sky Broadcasting joint venture between BSkyB and Granada Television. It was a partial-day UK opinion focused current affairs channel. It ceased transmission in August 1997.
[edit] In popular culture
- Sky News has been featured in many feature films;
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- * Film by 20th Century Fox, another News Corporation asset.
[edit] External links
- sky.com - Sky News
- Sky Press Office for Sky News
- five.tv - News
- Sky News revamp set for October 24 (Digital Spy)
- Five to take Sky News bulletins at BBC News Online
- TV Newsroom
- Sky News - UK TV Listings and Schedules
