I disagree - the beauty of Sky News used to be consistency.
Pre-2005, you could tune in any time from 6am to midnight on any day of the week and get a broadly consistent service with two presenters and an engaging style.
They need to recover that simplicity and consistency, not break things up into lots of different formats.
Part of my idea, is that whenever you tune in, it looks different and so you will watch.
Imagine, you catch the end of sunrise before you leave for work
Its on in the background in the office, you go for lunch and come back to see it different again.
You get home and watch your evenings' tv, and then switch for the night's news and paper review, then bed...
Much nicer than just dipping in and out of the channel through the day and seeing the same bloddy thing as before!
If you want a quick 15min update, catch it online, on the red button, or even on a channel like Sky 1, but make the main channel worth watching for longer than one 15min period.
Sky News it too slow paced aswell, it needs to be faster.
Sorry, how can it be much quicker than 15 minutes?
Thats the pragmatic answer, which is how Sky responded to the question "How do we make our news fast paced... I know, NSW format."
I think we're talking in more of the atmosphere of the channel, the busy newsroom from the 2002 Sky News today era is a great example of what this channel can do.
Imagine, you catch the end of sunrise before you leave for work
Its on in the background in the office, you go for lunch and come back to see it different again.
You get home and watch your evenings' tv, and then switch for the night's news and paper review, then bed...
.
I would think I was watching a different channel, and then go turn it off, because it a different product to watch i initially tuned in for in the first time.
Imagine, you catch the end of sunrise before you leave for work
Its on in the background in the office, you go for lunch and come back to see it different again.
You get home and watch your evenings' tv, and then switch for the night's news and paper review, then bed...
.
I would think I was watching a different channel, and then go turn it off, because it a different product to watch i initially tuned in for in the first time.
So, say Cadbury went and changed the colour of their packaging from purple to something else - would you stop eating the chocolate because the packaging looks different?
Imagine, you catch the end of sunrise before you leave for work
Its on in the background in the office, you go for lunch and come back to see it different again.
You get home and watch your evenings' tv, and then switch for the night's news and paper review, then bed...
.
I would think I was watching a different channel, and then go turn it off, because it a different product to watch i initially tuned in for in the first time.
So, say Cadbury went and changed the colour of their packaging from purple to something else - would you stop eating the chocolate because the packaging looks different?
No, but what is being suggested is not just a change or colour is it?
Imagine, you catch the end of sunrise before you leave for work
Its on in the background in the office, you go for lunch and come back to see it different again.
You get home and watch your evenings' tv, and then switch for the night's news and paper review, then bed...
.
I would think I was watching a different channel, and then go turn it off, because it a different product to watch i initially tuned in for in the first time.
So, say Cadbury went and changed the colour of their packaging from purple to something else - would you stop eating the chocolate because the packaging looks different?
If they changed the name to jobbie slab, I might consider not buying it.
Sky News needs to be fun to watch again. It doesn't matter what colour the studio is, or how big their straps are, the channel won't feel the same unless it gets that banter back again. Or if there is going to be one anchor, then they should be allowed a bit of freedom to inject their personality into their slot, assuming there is personality to be injected.
Dare I mention Fox News? Now nobody wants Sky News to go down the route of being opinionated and leaning to the left or right. However, I was very bored this weekend, so was watching some of Fox's coverage from DC. They'd got the Monday to Friday 'big guns' in, as they knew there would be more viewers than normal.
However, not much was actually happening, so it felt like the channel was having fun. It was still reporting the news, as Sky would report the news with their 15 minute format. However, after that, the presenters were having fun, taking the mick out of their own technology when things kept going wrong, but for a news channel, was quite engaging.
I sometimes wonder if Sky News can still 'do' the fun element. I believe they probably could at the drop of a hat. But the format needs to allow it. And it needs the right presenters teamed up again.
Where Sky News really does well STILL is when there's big breaking news. I have no doubt in my mind that they will pull out all the stops when there is a big story. However, when it's a slow news day, that's the time I feel things can be improved.
Imagine, you catch the end of sunrise before you leave for work
Its on in the background in the office, you go for lunch and come back to see it different again.
You get home and watch your evenings' tv, and then switch for the night's news and paper review, then bed...
.
I would think I was watching a different channel, and then go turn it off, because it a different product to watch i initially tuned in for in the first time.