TV Home Forum

BBC World coming to America

With ambitious plans (July 2003)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
BO
boring_user_name
No, only Sky News won't be launching in the US. BBC World is to air there.....eventually!
SP
Sput
Martin Kong posted:
MarkDC posted:
they were hoping to launch in early summer according to a reply that I received from Richard Sambrook. Very Happy


Funny enough, weren't Sky news suppose to launch in the U.S this July?

So far there's been no news! Confused


They were going to, but for one little thing...
FOX were worried it'd "cannibalise" their audience, or educate them (either way they'd be a danger to them). I can't help but think that they've been aware of the BBC's plans for a while now, Fox do seem to have been following the Murdoch line with the BBC on-air, not pulling any punches in calling it "anti British and anti American" amongst other things.

Here's an article I skillfully stole from Digital Spy...

Quote:

Plans to launch an American version of Sky News have been ditched following protests from its US sister station FOX News, The Observer reported today.

"For the moment, it doesn't look like it's going to happen," said Nick Pollard, head pof Sky News. "The plans were at a very early stage - nothing had been decided."

Sources told the newspaper that FOX had objected to the proposed channel fearing an "ideological clash." Domestically, FOX has been particularly popular because of its strong patriotic stance, whilst Sky News is relatively politically neutral.

The head of FOX News, Roger Ailes, is said to have told Rupert Murdoch that a US launch of Sky News could "cannibalise" FOX's success.

"This is a very sensitive area for Sky," said one 'senior' source. "Fox is ideologically slanted and has been very successful in the US. Sky News is very, very successful, but within a British model.

"Murdoch has gone on record as describing Sky News as 'BBC Lite', and it's clear he would like it to be harder-hitting. Everyone at Sky News is very opposed to the Foxification, but they don't want a pitched battle. Launching in the US would make that a possibility."


I think to launch there they're going to have to work out some system of time shifted programming, considering that The World Today would be screened at midnight in New York - hardly convenient.
MO
Moz
c@t posted:
Reese Schonfeld, when setting up CNN, was told by his underlings that they had found a potential star presenter on a local TV network in Baltimore, hosting a cheapo talk programme. He had a look, and turned her down, said she was unlikely to get past local TV; she wasn't good enough for him, he said she was rubbish.

The her in question was Oprah Winfrey.


[mark & lard voice] WHOOOOOOOOOO!!!! [/mark & lard voice] Is she still on anything? Rolling Eyes
ED
ED Founding member
Moz posted:
c@t posted:
Reese Schonfeld, when setting up CNN, was told by his underlings that they had found a potential star presenter on a local TV network in Baltimore, hosting a cheapo talk programme. He had a look, and turned her down, said she was unlikely to get past local TV; she wasn't good enough for him, he said she was rubbish.

The her in question was Oprah Winfrey.


[mark & lard voice] WHOOOOOOOOOO!!!! [/mark & lard voice] Is she still on anything? Rolling Eyes


Yes... Oprah is possibly the most powerful woman in North American television... Exclamation (seriously, she is!)
:-(
A former member
Sput posted:
I think to launch there they're going to have to work out some system of time shifted programming, considering that The World Today would be screened at midnight in New York - hardly convenient.


It's always been on at midnight somewhere in the world!

It's a 24 hour international news station - you can't start timeshifting things as they'd be out of date.

Newer posts