The Newsroom

Sky News Australia

Split from Sky News (February 2021)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
TV
TVTV
Why does SKY UK peruse a format that limits its ratings potential. BBC News already has rolling news channel sorted.

Or does rolling news rate higher than personality driven discussion in the UK?
LL
London Lite Founding member
TVTV posted:
Why does SKY UK peruse a format that limits its ratings potential. BBC News already has rolling news channel sorted.

Or does rolling news rate higher than personality driven discussion in the UK?


It's more to do with prestige for the overall company than ratings. It gives them access to important people like politicians and people in business.

Global do this with the two LBC radio stations in the UK, one is newstalk, the other is rolling news.
Jeffmister, Alfie Mulcahy and Ghost gave kudos
BC
Blake Connolly Founding member
I can't imagine "personality-driven discussion" being a particularly big ratings winner, whenever I used to turn on and found they were doing something like The Pledge I wasn't able to change the channel away fast enough.

Rolling news isn't especially a ratings winner outside of moments of major breaking news, but I think it's the kind of service that is valued by viewers and of course brings Sky some prestige and kudos with the powers that be.
London Lite and valley gave kudos
TV
TVTV
TVTV posted:
Why does SKY UK peruse a format that limits its ratings potential. BBC News already has rolling news channel sorted.

Or does rolling news rate higher than personality driven discussion in the UK?


It's more to do with prestige for the overall company than ratings. It gives them access to important people like politicians and people in business.

Global do this with the two LBC radio stations in the UK, one is newstalk, the other is rolling news.


Would the prestige that Sky UK supposedly has disappear if they had people discussing and Analyzing the news (CNN style, say? Rather than just reporting it?
TV
TVTV
I just moved to the UK so I’m still learning the media market here.

I just find Sky to be the same as BBC. Two channels offering the same thing, both taking themselves so seriously and tied to some very outdated news formats and presentation styles

From the ratings I’ve seen BBC News Channel kills sky news - so I don’t know why Sky insists being a carbon copy

Sky News from 5 years ago was far more lively and dynamic. They inovated. Now, it feels so dull. It feels so dated and undynamic to me

I find the UK press and radio so well done. But TV news here is a real struggle for me
Mouseboy33, Worzel and London Lite gave kudos
LL
London Lite Founding member
TVTV posted:
TVTV posted:
Why does SKY UK peruse a format that limits its ratings potential. BBC News already has rolling news channel sorted.

Or does rolling news rate higher than personality driven discussion in the UK?


It's more to do with prestige for the overall company than ratings. It gives them access to important people like politicians and people in business.

Global do this with the two LBC radio stations in the UK, one is newstalk, the other is rolling news.


Would the prestige that Sky UK supposedly has disappear if they had people discussing and Analyzing the news (CNN style, say? Rather than just reporting it?


No, if anything it'd make it more downmarket. Sky have tried opinion programming in the past with the likes of The Pledge, Richard Littlejohn etc and it has never worked. The news channels in the UK are designed for dipping in or left on with the sound off.

In the UK, we cherish the fact that we have impartial news sources on British television, rather than biased commentators who take up airtime as in the US and Australia. There's enough echo chamber output on other platforms.
Alfie Mulcahy and TVViewer256 gave kudos
TV
TVTV
Gosh. I just watched some of “the pledge” on YouTube. Wow. Yea can see why that didn’t work. That was tough to get through. It felt like a regional TV production
DE
derek500
To be fair, The Pledge ran for four years and was regularly in Sky's top 15 ratings. It finished in March, no doubt due to Covid restrictions, which as we've seen from the Press Preview have never been lifted at Sky News.

I'm not sure that 'it didn't work'.
SL
Shaun Linden
With some tweaks here and there, and maybe live, The Pledge could have taken off. Nearest thing we had to The View.
TV
TVTV
Yes the concept is solid. The execution not good.

First, a show like this needs to be live and 5 nights a week. Stripped.

The wacky cut and paste typewriter graphics seem about 2 decades out of date and only serve to give a tone of non-news
LH
lhx1985
Which is the point. It's not a news bulletin.
The style of the graphics help differentiate from the surrounding rolling news.
TV
TVTV
Yeah I'm all for different graphics - when done well.

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