Sky News | General Discussion

I don't think that Sky News' 2005 'appointment to view' idea was bad, per se. The problem was that nobody really wanted an appointment to view what Sky thought we wanted to view!

The most obvious example of this was the much fun-poked World News with James Ruben. Martin Stanford's SkyNews.com was also one that didn't have wide appeal for a daily show (though I quite liked it).

Other programmes were just fine.

Sky News Today was the best slot on the schedule (actually I think it came from the previous era, but continued in the new studio). It was pacy, had a good mix of newsy items, features and analysis from the newswall. Sunrise during this era was also perfectly fine.

When the evening appointment to view stuff failed they threw out the baby with the bathwater. And that 15min Newswheel format they filled the evenings with just seemed like they were punishing the 6 viewers they had left.

The schedule now seems to be returning to something that is more exciting - it just looks bland, clinical, and uninspired on screen.

The glass box is relentlessly unflexible and detached from the world and the other studio feels a little 'and now the news where you are' - bland and cheap.

And one more thing - the new 'state of the art' automation system is killing the channel. Nothing seems to work properly, or nobody's been trained on how to use it.

I have seen more breakdowns, black screens, unexpected and unscheduled filler programmes and graphical errors in the last year than at any point since I became a viewer in 2003.

Sky News is still my UK news channel of choice, but it really does need some attention.

I much prefer the current TOH when it has an end sting/title card, it does seem to flow a bit nicer than when the music bed just fades way and the presenters look unsure when to start, the final animation allows for a bit of breathing space before starting the getting into the news.
I welcome the return of branded slots as it feels like there’s something more too look forward to on the channel rather than just news there’s debates/live updates/analysis etc.
Colin & Jayne’s Shift ‘Lunchtime Live’ I’d like to see referred to as such on air and whereas Kay’s show can be quite debate heavy and Mark Austin’s as a bulletin/full round up, have 11-2 featuring live links across the country to sky’s teams with updates from the correspondents and shorter interviews with News making guests. The idea of not just a run of the mill bulletin, let’s get updates on what’s happening now etc. 11-2 is a great slot where news is still developing and I’d have that slot really pull on that.

I’m not sure I’d welcome a return to 2005’s OTT style. I didn’t mind it as such but I think it comes across quite tabloid/sensationalist (ITV News were like that around the same time iirc) and I’m glad that most of our TV News has moved away from that. I think Sky News could do with some lift in presentation but going down the 2005 tabloid writing style with three presenters and dramatic TOHs isn’t the way to go.

I’d also agree with the above poster about the playout/automated system they brought in a while back now, it’s still not great. Just last night the 11pm hour was branded as ‘News at Ten’ advertising the Press Preview at 10:30pm. It’s fairly common problem that VTs don’t play, the wrong straps show up, presenters aren’t in shot etc. It’s really one of the worst channels for minor mistakes and although the mistakes are minor, there’s so many they amount to the channel looking a really poor at times. Just the other night they couldn’t air the press preview at 23:30, couldn’t repeat the 22:30 one and showed not a single live news programme from 23:30-06:00, instead using filler programmes overnight.

The BBC went through these automation troubles in 1997 when they launched BBC News 24 with Columbus automation, and again when they switched systems to Mosart when they moved to NBH. Automation is a massive cost-saver, but takes a significant time to get used to and to iron-out the wrinkles.

I think Sky are using Ross Overdrive - which has been around for a while and is in widespread use in the US. Arguably Mosart (used by the BBC and a large number of other European broadcasters) is more 'state of the art'...

The BBC's issues seemed largely (or perhaps most noticeably) to be centred around their automation system's inability to communicate with their robocams.

At Sky, there's TOTHs getting stuck, packages are firing late, they are falling off the air regularly and often seem completely unable to produce actual live programming for hours at a stretch. This is a news channel - if there was a major breaking story during these hours you get the impression that they wouldn't be able to cope.

So technically speaking the channel has big problems, huge. But I am a fan of where they are taking the channel in terms of scheduling, tone, and talent.

Kay Burley has been very good over the last couple of years (she seems to have remembered she's a journalist and not just trying to be controversial for the sake of it), Mark Austin is authoritative and as professional as it gets, Anna Botting is excellent on NAT and the paper review.

The journalism is excellent also at a particularly high point, right now, and is actually quite underrated. Alex Crawford is probably producing the highest quality reporting that is currently on British television. Beth Rigby, while not a natural on camera, knows her onions and clearly has an impressive contacts book.

There are issues with a couple of slots though. Adam Boulton cannot present, Ian King is far from natural in front of a camera (almost James Ruben-like at times) and Dermot Murnaghan insists on sabotaging his interviews with daft "what are five eights" type questions to try to trip up interviewees out of a sort of desperation to try to assert his authority. It's tiresome.

As a guilty pleasure though, and I know that it's almost universally panned on here... I quite like The Pledge!

Indeed a bit of differentiation from the branded slots like 'Lunchtime Live', 'Newshour' to the normal Sky News bulletins wouldn't be a bad thing - it does feel like some of the branded slots should pack a bit more of a punch than the generic bulletins whatever way they go about doing it. That said I do think the focus should still very much be on the news however they present it and whatever formats they have should be flexible enough to incorporate breaking news. Slots can be differentiated without it being gimmicky.

The weak points of the Sky News schedule for me feel like the evenings and mornings.

Without wanting to go fantasy rota it'd just flow so much better if they maybe extended Mark's show by half an hour, made Ian King an hour long (it feels too short at 30 minutes - especially when you include ads - given it's Sky only proper business show) and then aim Sky News Tonight afterwards. Sky News Tonight too often feels no different from a normal Sky News bulletin whereas it should be more debate/discussion led. The whole evening schedule just feels rather clunky in all honesty (apologies if that sounds a load of nonsense).
It's better than the NSW 'in 15 minutes, every 15 minutes' days or the 'Sky World News' days but it feels like it could be so much better.

And the weekday Sunrise format is just snooze central these days.

I don't think Sky News is bad these days (by comparison up until a few weeks ago the CNNI evening schedule was an absolute disgrace with often everything except an actual news bulletin) but it just feels like it should be so much better than it is. It's solid rather than spectacular which is annoying as there's clearly a good channel there - the presenters are mostly good and there are some brilliant reporters and the content itself is usually fine.

I think of recent years the 2010 route is the one the channel should look to go down. Slots like the Live Desk/Live At Five/Afternoon Live all had different presentation styles but were still flexible enough to go straight into rolling news mode. And the presentation was interesting but still sufficiently serious.

Bit of a damp squib the election debates campaign. A week since they launched and hours of screen time has only got them 4,000 signatures on their petition.

A year of Ocean Rescue and the British public/media credit David Attenborough rather than Sky News.

For me, Sky News was at its best just before the 2005 relaunch.

You could tune in almost any time of day and know exactly what to expect - a 'full service' double-headed news programme with lots of live reporters and interviews.

And the pre-2005 Sky News Today format with Martin and Julie was simply excellent - pacy, energetic and not at all dumbed down.

Big interview with Kay in yesterday's Standard:

https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/kay-burley-interview-a3944216.html

A sofa area has been added to the Glassbox for The Kay Burley Show, with the backdrop of Sky Central (First seen 15:31pm)

This show has turned into Derbyshire in the afternoon. Simon McCoy has nothing to worry about.

The article completely overloaded my ‘Accidental Partridge’ detector

It feels wrong to kick them when they are clearly trying to add variety, and depth to the schedule. But that sofa with that backdrop does look a bit 'waiting roomy'.