Sky News presentation - new newswall

Not sure if this is the right place for this but...

For the past few weeks I have been able to watch Sky News Australia and the one thing I noticed is how different it is to both Sky News and Sky News Arabia in terms of presentation.

The whole channels just feels very different. When they are showing Sky News UK they have the UK ticker is on screen above their ticker, they move at different speeds and appear to chop of the of the presenters head to maintain the correct screen ratio.

This video is a few years old but seems to be the same as it is now


With the UK and Arabia Sky News being so similar with their look and feel to the channel how does the Aussie version get away with being so different to the other two version of Sky News?

The set could do with a spruce up (unless its been done since that video was uploaded). It looks awful.

I think there are two key points of difference which lead to Oz being so much worse.

First, it's two thirds owned by the commercial Nine and Seven networks (the remaining third being BSkyB), who each have their own extensive news divisions and a significant amount of news content in their schedules which act as vital ratings and revenue tentpoles for them both. What benefit do they gain in diverting resources from them or elsewhere to improve the operations of a competing service from which they derive 2/3 less profit than their own operations? It's a massive conflict of interest which has hindered the channel since its inception.

The second is poor management, with a backward business strategy and philosophy that defines 'quantity over quality'. Their CEO obsesses over keeping costs as low as possible whilst simultaneously spreading the little resources they do have over a multitude of awfully presented and programmed channels - Sky News, Sky News Business, Sky News Weather - and useless interactive doodads (Anyone for watching a stream of Sky UK pixellated beyond recognition and confined to a box about the size of a Vita-Weat? No? I didn't think so). All those channels look very enticing in a Foxtel brochure and seem like good value when you see them on the EPG, but watch them for any length of time and it's obvious that they're all just padding out what should be (and is, for UK and Arabia) a single news channel.

In recent years they seem to have all but given up on trying to be a credible newsgathering organisation, slowly replacing news content with hours of political analysis, talking heads and press conferences during the day and a lineup of political commentators during primetime. ABC News 24 has easily and competently filled their place.

So basically, they have no money and no vision. That manifests itself in the stale and repetitive content, boring presentation, ugly sets, amateurish graphics, old equipment, C-grade talent, a website out of the early 00's, no apps or social media presence and the stench of cheapness which pervades the entire operation. It's a real shame that Sky News Australia gets it so wrong when its sister channels get it so right. It is an embarrassment to the Sky News brand.

/rant

It's funny you say that, they made a big song and dance about relaunching the network in 2013. But for all the supposed changes to the set and the graphics it is near indistinguishable from before; all the camera angles, presentation, bulletin rundowns etc are exactly the same. Here's a 2013 clip to compare with the 2010 one you posted:



Note that the bulletin commences with a plug for a political talk show and that they choose to simulcast a domestic New Zealand bulletin for coverage of the top story instead of doing it themselves.

Apparently we should look out for tweaks to Sunrise this month:

People - there will be lots of new interesting tweaks to SkyNews Sunrise as Jan progresses - starting with a newspaper review at 8.40

— Eamonn Holmes (@EamonnHolmes) January 5, 2014

Another paper review on Sunrise. I hope that doesn't mean the scrapping of the more lighter guest interview at 8.50?

Is there any sign of changes to come due to the silver anniversary in one month?

Other than the set upgrade 2 years ago, the Sunrise "tweaks" have been pathetic. Flipping a screen vertically and adding a strap at the bottom with 2 people's names is so pointless than I see no reason why Eamonn Holmes even has to tweet about such small things.

I think it's time they differentiate the on-screen graphics for Sunrise since the programme is so dissimilar from the rest of the channel's programming; and most of Sky's resources are deployed during the mornings so I think something to show that Sunrise is different and more welcoming and inviting to the viewer in the mornings would be a great "tweak", rather than flipping the screen back to horizontal or something.

He said tweaks would be happening throughout January. Why would he be talking about tweaks that happened 2 years ago?

Well, thirteen months ago.

There was more to the changes than just flipping the screen...

2010:

http://www.tv-live.org.uk/wp/media/skynews/2010/sunrise_2010_015.jpg

Now:

http://www.tv-live.org.uk/wp/media/skynews/2012/sunrise/studio5.jpg

Been watching Sky News over the last couple of days. I think the use of the News Screen has been fantastic. Anna Jones was stood up at the 4pm TOTH today and remained at the news screen for most of her shift. Also the Health coverage has been good and expect it to improve as the week progresses. Good to see some different camera angles being used and great informative graphics to the forefront also.