Sky News

That must look really rubbish on a 4:3 TV. I'm really not convinced that the spread of widescreen is yet sufficient for such blatent disregard of safe areas.

will Lucy Alexander be replacing Juliette for permanent?

Chater cheats the cuts

With stunning timing, veteran reporter David Chater nipped out of the door just before Sky's round of cutbacks this week, which saw presenters Ginny Buckley and Juliette Foster leaving the channel and James Rubin's show World News Tonight axed. Chater, who worked from the satellite broadcaster's Johannesburg bureau, resigned 10 days ago to "pursue other interests", according to Sky's head of news, Nick Pollard. However, colleagues in South Africa are suggesting that Sky was unhappy that Chater had chosen to forgo Iraq in favour of the softer African number, his dream job.

"Sky never saw the point of having someone so senior and well paid in that area," says one. "They were turning down a lot of stories he wanted to cover and there was some mutual discontent."

More on the cuts/relaunch from the Observer:
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,1794638,00.html

How Sky broke news its relaunch had failed
James Robinson on how an ambitious schedule led only to a demoralising round of redundancies

It is a tale of TV politics, ratings wars and blood on the studio floor. This time last year, Sky News staff were preparing for the channel's most expensive relaunch. Last week, 17 of them were out of a job and two peak-time shows had been scrapped, leaving the new-look schedule in tatters.

The phone calls began last Tuesday evening, the day reports of a cull at Sky News ran on an industry website. Reporters and producers were contacted at home by head of news Nick Pollard and asked to drop into his office for a chat the following day. Pollard was friendly and relaxed over the phone, according to sources. One reporter who asked if there was anything to be worried about received the jovial response: 'Only if you're the worrying type.'

But when employees arrived for work at Sky's head office in Osterley, West London, the next morning and began to compare notes, it became apparent that many had good reason for concern. 'The penny dropped,' says one source. 'Anyone who had been called was going to be axed; those who hadn't were in the clear.'

There were tears before the first meeting with Pollard had even taken place. The atmosphere in Sky News's state of the art newsroom remains, unsurprisingly, funereal, despite the fact the channel picked up a gong at an industry awards last Thursday night.

Sky points out that the number of job losses - 17 - are small, but that the sum they will save the channel, which has 500 staff and an annual budget of about £35m, will be significant in the long run. Several presenters are said to be holding out for six-figure payoffs, but cuts have been made across the board and producers and technicians will not be costly to remove. The job cuts had been planned for some time, but once news of the move leaked out, the announcement was brought forward. It coincided with news that the channel is dropping two of its new shows - World News Tonight and The Sky Report - introduced as part of a multi-million-pound relaunch last year.

The two events are unrelated; no one involved with the axed shows has lost their jobs. Even so, there is resentment that those who fashioned the schedule, which also includes new slots fronted by Eamonn Holmes and Jeremy Thompson, are still in situ. The new-look channel, which Sky boasted would revolutionise 24-hour news, has been a ratings disaster, and its audience share has fallen behind BBC News 24 for the first time in years. In May, Sky's share of viewers watching for more than three minutes was 0.55 per cent compared with News 24's 0.56 per cent, according to ratings body Rajar - a tiny difference, but a psychologically significant one nevertheless.

News 24 has struggled to find an audience, and has consistently borrowed some of Sky's best ideas, including its rolling news bars, huge 'news wall' and, most recently, live transcripts of court cases. The growth of Freeview has also assisted the BBC's channel: Freeview viewers are more likely to watch News 24 than Sky News.

The latest stage in Sky's evolution was designed to re-establish a strong lead. Instead, ratings fell, with some star signings, including President Clinton's former state department press secretary James Rubin, bombing badly. Rubin will remain at the channel, but of all the innovations - including a studio that resembles the deck of the starship Enterprise - Rubin's cerebral evening discussions on World News Tonight seemed the most bizarre.

The other axed show, The Sky Report, promised hard-hitting investigations but delivered few scoops, proving perhaps that Sky should stick to what it does best - breaking news - rather than aspiring to the type of journalism even the BBC is accused of doing less of these days.

Critics describe the move upmarket as a triumph of journalistic vanity over commercial considerations, although not every idea has proved flawed. Sky claims some of its new, internationally focused content will be incorporated into the existing schedule. This is not a U-turn, it insists - but nor is it tinkering. The heart of the evening's programming has been ripped out. Neither the success of Holmes's new breakfast show or the popularity of Kay Burley's lunchtime slot can mask the sense of anticlimax.

There are also internal tensions over some of the big-name signings, although that is hardly unique to Sky. Holmes, who is said to be close to programming supremo Dawn Airey, is not well liked. 'He seems to come and go as he pleases,' according to one source. Some of that sniping is professional jealousy, and Holmes is a big draw. So too is Burley, although she will shortly be seconded to Five News, which Sky produces.

In its 18-year history, Sky has defied its critics by launching an award-winning news service on a fraction of the BBC's budget. But when the story of the channel comes to be written, the events of the last 12 months will be one of the darker, if more compelling, chapters.

What is the point of quoting the whole thing? It's a freely available article just a click away, no registration required, available indefinitely without time limit.

A couple of glaring errors in that report, the worst being

"In May, Sky's share of viewers watching for more than three minutes was 0.55 per cent compared with News 24's 0.56 per cent, according to ratings body Rajar - a tiny difference, but a psychologically significant one nevertheless."

I'm pretty sure Rajar only deal with radio, should actually be BARB.