adrian monck

Sky bye

Let’s hope Ofcom makes the case to keep Sky News available on Freeview, or bang go millions of homes. Journo-blogger Chris Doidge makes the point well:

…the news that Sky News is to retreat from such a popular platform (almost certainly losing a large percentage of its viewers) suggests Sky has little faith in the future of their news operation. The latest figures from BARB suggest 9% of the population see a bit of Sky News every week – but only being available on Sky and Cable will probably reduce this substantially.

Sky News also has incredibly low advertising rates – they’re not exactly rolling in cash, even if the site’s a bit of a loss-leader for the Sky brand.

But it’s not just bad news for Sky. The demise of the ITV News Channel in 2005 was bad enough, as it was just becoming half-decent when it was killed off. But soon there will be little competition for BBC News 24. And not even the most ardent of BBC fans want to see an end to the rivalry between the two.

It’s not good for journalists, and it’s not good for viewers.

There’s a tear in the eye of News 24 boss Kevin Bakhurst – “I weep for you,” the Walrus said. “I deeply sympathize.” France 24 anyone?

Adrian Monck

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3 responses to “Sky bye”

  1. I have to say I think the chances of Ofcom forcing Sky to keep a preview presence are low.

    The fact is that Sky News, as the ITV News Channel was before it, is a victim of the commerical reality of the cost of Freeview space.

    With limited capacity, Freeview slots that couldn’t be given away a few years ago, are now going for multi-million pound annual fees.

    Sky, as ITV before it, is trying to put the best performing content on the fastest growing outlet. For ITV that meant ITV4, for Sky that means movies.

    The difference here is that when ITV pulled the News Channel off its best performing platform, there was no real alternative but closure. For Sky, that’s not the case. But this looks like bad news for viewers who have, until now, been well served by news on Freeview.

    Still, maybe Al Jazeera English can still afford to buy into the platform…..