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Sky News Australia

Australian conservative pay TV news channel


Australian conservative pay TV news channel

FieldValue
nameSky News Australia
logoSky News Australia logo - 2019.svg
logo_size250px
logo_altSky News Australia logo
logo_captionLogo used since 2019
launch_date
ownerNews Corp Australia
parentAustralian News Channel
typeNews channel
countryAustralia
headquartersMacquarie Park, New South Wales
languageEnglish
areaAustralia
New Zealand
sister_channelsSky News Weather Channel
Sky News Extra
website
terr_serv_1Freeview (Australia)
picture_format[1080i](1080i) HDTV
(downscaled to 16:9 [576i](576i) for the SDTV feed)
terr_chan_1Channel 56 (Regional Victoria, Queensland and southern NSW)
Channel 53 (Regional northern NSW and Gold Coast, Queensland)
online_serv_1Australia Channel
online_chan_1[Watch live outside Australia](https://watch.australiachannel.com.au/)
terr_serv_2Foxtel (Australia)
terr_chan_2Channel 600 (HD)
terr_serv_3Sky Television (New Zealand)
terr_chan_3Channel 85
online_serv_2Flash News
online_chan_2[Watch live within Australia](https://flashnews.com.au/)
online_serv_3Foxtel GO
online_chan_3[Watch live within Australia](https://watch.foxtel.com.au/app/#/)

New Zealand Sky News Extra (downscaled to 16:9 576i for the SDTV feed) Channel 53 (Regional northern NSW and Gold Coast, Queensland)

Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February, 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs featuring a line-up of conservative commentators.

Sky News Australia is distributed on pay television in Australia and New Zealand, while a free-to-air version of the service, Sky News Regional (which features programming from Sky News Australia and Fox Sports News) is distributed on digital terrestrial television by Paramount Australia & New Zealand and selected WIN Television stations. The channel also operates two spin-off services, Sky News Weather Channel and public affairs service Sky News Extra (formerly A-PAC).

The channel was originally a joint venture between British broadcaster BSkyB (thus making it a spin-off of the Sky News channel in the United Kingdom), Seven Media Group, and Nine Entertainment, as Australian News Channel. The company was acquired by News Corp Australia in 2016. With the subsequent sale of Murdoch's remaining shares in Sky UK to Comcast, Sky News Australia no longer has any direct ties to its UK counterpart, but continues to use the Sky News branding under licence from Comcast. News Corp. has explored a rebranding of the network once the licensing agreement with Sky expires.

Since the acquisition of the channel by News Corp Australia, Sky News Australia has faced scrutiny from the press over its current focus on conservative opinion programming, including comparisons to Rupert Murdoch's American news channel Fox News, and accusations that Sky News Australia commentators have promoted misinformation and conspiracy theories.

History

Main article: Australian News Channel

Sky News Channel's parent company, Australian News Channel (ANC), was owned equally by British Sky Broadcasting (now Sky Limited; which is now a division of Comcast), Seven Media Group and Nine Entertainment, each with a 33% stake in the company from its founding until December 2016, when it was acquired by News Corp Australia.

Sky News Australia launched at 5 pm on 19 February 1996, as the first Australian-produced television news channel. The channel aired its 50,000th unique newscast on 23 April 2003 at 11 am. Sky News was added to Austar on 1 April 2000.

In 2004, Sky News began broadcasting Sky News Active, its on-demand interactive TV news service. In 2008, Sky News launched the Sky News Business Channel, and on 20 January 2009, Sky News launched Australian Public Affairs Channel (A-PAC). It began widescreen broadcasting on 17 May 2009. In 2013, Sky News Australia was granted 20 million in funding from its parent company to be used over three years.

Sky News Australia began broadcasting in high definition on 1 December 2015. [[File:Former Sky News Australia logo.png|thumb|2004's Sky News logo]][[File:Sky_News_Live_logo.jpg|thumb|260px|Logo as Sky News Live]]

In mid-2019, the channel began expanding its digital operations. This included a content partnership with YouTube, Microsoft News, Facebook and Taboola. That led to new, opinion-focused videos being uploaded more frequently and across News Corp platforms, after having previously not uploaded any videos from February 2017 to April 2019.

In February 2018, Sky News Australia launched a digital-first brand and content platform called 2600. The online political newsletter is sent out daily with breaking news from Canberra.

In November 2018, Sky News terminated the contract of former Liberal Party MP and late-night presenter Ross Cameron for using sinophobic language to describe Chinese people.

In July 2024, it was reported that the network would relocate to the News Corp Australia headquarters in Surry Hills in 2025.

News Corp's license to the Sky News brand is expected to expire as early as late-2026, and Sky Limited is not expected to renew the agreement due to the change in ownership and the divergence in editorial direction between Sky News UK and Sky News Australia. It was reported that News Corp were considering rebranding the network as either "Australian News Channel" or a name containing "Fox News" (derived from U.S. sister network owned by Fox Corporation) or "Talk" (coming from News UK brand Talkradio, which operates a spin-off internet television service).

Programming

Sky News programming consists of a mix of live news bulletins, live broadcasts from events (such as Parliament Question Time and selected press conferences), original commentary panel programs and simulcasts of international sister station Sky News UK. Sky News has broadcast every sitting of Question Time from the House of Representatives since its launch in 1996.

Sky News Australia increased its primetime programming offerings, particularly its political-themed shows, significantly in 2013, when it made more obvious its right-leaning ideology, ahead of the 2013 federal election, cancelling almost entirely the slot's rolling news block News Night. It would then regain most of its runtime in 2014. Sky News Australia rebranded itself on 19 January 2015 as "Sky News Live", dropping the "Sky News National" branding.

On weekdays, throughout most of the day, rolling news coverage is presented from one of Sky News Australia's studios. From 5 pm (AEST/AEDT), commentary programs begin, and continue through primetime until 11 pm AEST/AEDT. Most of these programs are presented by conservative commentators discussing the news of the day, often with a panel of other commentators, and feature a news update at the beginning of the program (and sometimes further updates during the program). Rolling news continues from 11 pm AEST/AEDT before coverage switches to an overnight simulcast of Sky News UK at 1 am AEST/AEDT.

Beginning in 2007, Sky News aired local breakaway programming for New Zealand viewers in primetime, filmed at Prime NZ's Auckland studios and produced from Sydney. One of these programs, Prime News – First at 5:30, was also simulcast to Australian viewers. The debut of Sky News NZ Evening News was watched by just 1,500 viewers and panned by critics. Sky News Australia continued to produce news programming for Prime until 2015, when MediaWorks New Zealand took over production of Prime's news programming via its own news department. On 16 June 2018, Sky News Australia premiered New Zealand Agenda, a political program hosted by New Zealand bureau chief James O'Doherty from Wellington, New Zealand.

Current programs

Daytime

  • First Edition with Peter Stefanovic (Monday to Friday)
  • Weekend Edition (Saturday to Sunday)
  • Sky News Breakfast with Jaynie Seal and Samatha Chiari (Only on Sky News Regional & Sky News Weather) (Monday to Friday)
  • AM Agenda with Laura Jayes (Monday to Friday)
  • Weekend Agenda with Andrew Clennell (Saturdays)
  • Outsiders with Rowan Dean, Rita Panahi, and James Morrow (Sundays)
  • Business Weekend with Ross Greenwood (Sundays)
  • NewsDay with Tom Connell and Ashleigh Gillon (Monday to Friday)
  • Weekend Live (Saturday to Sunday)
  • Afternoon Agenda with Kieran Gilbert (Monday to Friday)
  • Politics Now (Monday to Friday)
  • Business Now with Ross Greenwood (Monday to Friday)
  • The Kenny Report with Chris Kenny (Monday to Thursday)
  • NZ Edition with Jack Nyhof (Saturdays)

Nighttime (Sky After Dark)

  • Credlin with Peta Credlin (Monday to Friday)
  • The Bolt Report with Andrew Bolt (Monday to Thursday)
  • The Steve Price Show with Steve Price (Fridays)
  • The World According To Rowan Dean with Rowan Dean (Fridays)
  • The US Report with James Morrow (Fridays)
  • Sharri with Sharri Markson (Monday to Thursday)
  • Paul Murray Live with Paul Murray (Sunday to Thursday)
  • The Rita Panahi Show with Rita Panahi (Monday to Thursday)
  • The Late Debate with James Macpherson, Liz Storer and Caleb Bond (Monday to Thursday)
  • The Media Show with Jack Houghton (Fridays)
  • The Papers with James Macpherson, Liz Storer and Caleb Bond (Fridays)
  • In Conversation with Laura Jayes (Sundays)
  • Danica and James with Danica De Giorgio and James Macpherson (Sundays)
  • The Sunday Showdown with Caleb Bond (Sundays)
  • Lefties Losing It with Rita Panahi (Sundays)
  • The Royal Report (Sundays)
  • NewsNight (Saturday to Sunday)

Presenters and reporters

Sky News Australia broadcast equipment

News presenters

  • Peter Stefanovic
  • Jaynie Seal
  • Laura Jayes
  • Tom Connell
  • Ashleigh Gillon
  • Kieran Gilbert
  • Tim Gilbert
  • Kristie Lloyd
  • Ortenzia Borre
  • Rhiannon Elston
  • Cheng Lei

Program presenters

  • Rowan Dean
  • Rita Panahi
  • James Morrow
  • Ross Greenwood
  • Chris Kenny
  • Peta Credlin
  • Andrew Bolt
  • Paul Murray
  • Jack Houghton
  • Jenna Clarke
  • James Macpherson
  • Sharri Markson
  • Laura Jayes
  • Kieran Gilbert
  • Cheng Lei
  • Danica Di Giorgio
  • Caroline Di Russo
  • Gabriella Power

Reporters

  • Julia Bradley, Caroline Marcus and Crystal Wu – Sydney
  • Georgie Dickerson, Holly Stearnes and Jack Nyhof – Melbourne
  • Trudy McIntosh, Cameron Reddin and Reuben Spargo – Canberra
  • Kaiser Shields and Harry Clarke – Brisbane
  • Lauren Forbes – Gold Coast
  • Monique Van Der Hayden – Adelaide
  • Ciara Hain – Perth
  • Matt Cunningham – Darwin
  • Aspen Blomfield – Hobart
  • Jack Nyhof – Wellington, New Zealand
  • Staś Butler – Taipei, Taiwan
  • Annelise Nielsen – Washington DC, United States

Former presenters and reporters

  • Alan Jones
  • Cory Bernardi (2023)
  • John Gatfield 1996–2008 now with Sky Racing. Co-anchored the first bulletin on 19 February 1996 with Juanita Phillips
  • Samantha Armytage
  • Dan Bourchier (now with ABC News)
  • Ross Cameron (2013–2018)
  • Brooke Corte (now with Nine Radio)
  • Freya Leach
  • Helen Dalley
  • Craig Emerson (resigned in protest over Blair Cottrell interview)
  • Georgie Gardner (now with Nine News)
  • Amy Greenbank (now with ABC News)
  • Stan Grant (2013–2017)
  • Leigh Hatcher
  • Patricia Karvelas (now with ABC News) (2016–2017)
  • Kristina Keneally (former Premier of New South Wales and Former Senator for New South Wales) (2014–2017)
  • Chris Kohler (now with Nine News)
  • David Koch (now with Sunrise on the Seven Network)
  • Mark Latham (now a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council) (2016–2017)
  • Prue Lewarne
  • Samantha Maiden (resigned whilst suspended. Now with news.com.au)
  • John Mangos
  • Sharon McKenzie
  • Piers Morgan
  • Melanie McLaughlin (now with Seven News)
  • Jim Middleton (now a Media Advisor for Climate 200)
  • Erin Molan
  • Kelly Nestor
  • Janine Perrett
  • Juanita Phillips (now with ABC News)
  • Cameron Price (now with Seven News)
  • Chris Roe
  • Celina Edmonds (now with ABC News)
  • Vanessa Grimm
  • Nina Stevens (now with Seven News)
  • Amber Sherlock (now with Nine News)
  • David Speers (now with Insiders)
  • Greg Thomson (resigned whilst suspended)
  • Karen Tso (now with CNBC)
  • Jacinta Tynan
  • Peter van Onselen (2010–2017)
  • Terry Willesee
  • Michael Willesee, Jr.
  • Ahron Young
  • Craig Norenbergs
  • James Bracey (now with Nine News)
  • Ticky Fullerton (now CEO of the Australian British Chamber of Commerce)
  • Peter Gleeson
  • Fiona Willan (now with ABC News)
  • Olivia Caisley (now with ABC News)

Bureaus

Sky News Australia has a bureau in every capital city in Australia, completing this with the opening of its Hobart studio in 2013. In 2016, it opened a bureau in Cairns, making it the first non-capital city bureau. In 2017, a Gold Coast bureau was opened marking the third non-capital city studio after Cairns and Geelong.

The base of Sky News Australia is in the Sydney suburb of Macquarie Park, from which the majority of its news and programming is broadcast. Its Melbourne studio was upgraded in 2014, allowing it to be used as a secondary broadcast studio. Hinch Live became the first regular program to be broadcast from Melbourne.

The third major bureau is in Parliament House, Canberra, opened in 2000. Lyndal Curtis became Bureau Chief of in October 2015. Additionally, Sky News has a small office in the Channel Seven building in Martin Place, which includes a small street-level single camera studio which looks onto Elizabeth Street, Sydney.

Internationally, Sky News's only foreign bureau is in Wellington, New Zealand, opened in 2015.

Resources

Apart from its own resources, at launch Sky News Australia used the news resources of its former parent companies Seven News, Nine News and Sky News UK, as well as sister networks Sky News UK and Fox News Channel. ABC America and CBS were founding international partners of Sky News Australia.

In 2010 it had agreements with CCTV China, ABC America, CBS, Reuters, APTN, Bloomberg, Dow Jones and Newshub, when it signed a four-year partnership deal with CNN International, commencing on 1 January 2011.

Content

In 2017, Denis Muller, a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne's Centre for Advancing Journalism, described the channel as having a "split personality", running straight news bulletins and reporting during the day with professional and independent journalists and presenters, while moving toward "right-leaning punditry" in prime time.

In February 2021, Muller, commenting on former Prime Minister and former leader of the Australian Labor Party Kevin Rudd's statement that Sky News was following a pattern laid down by Fox News, described the nighttime programming of Sky News as including "the unconstrained peddling of extreme right-wing propaganda, lies, disinformation, crude distortion of fact, and baseless assertions".

Political alignment and views

Sky News Australia has an editorial policy that follows a conservative, right-wing bias. Many of the presenters also have openly pro-Israel views. Coverage is frequently critical of Australia's main progressive political parties, Labor and the Greens in addition to the Moderate Faction of Liberal Party, while being supportive of right-wing parties such as the Liberal-National Coalition (except for the Moderate Faction Drawing a strong comparison to Fox News, the network began moving towards panel-based programming from 2010, with most of its highest profile prime time commentators being conservative. Hosts Andrew Bolt and Paul Murray have been compared to Fox News presenters Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity respectively.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Murdoch-owned outlets—including Sky News Australia commentators—dubbed Victoria premier Daniel Andrews a "dictator" for his local response. Andrews criticised the network in an interview, stating that "in Victoria, the haters hate and the rest vote Labor and that's fine by me. Call me what you want, what really matters is not that nonsense, that noise, that vitriol, that [Sky News] After Dark bullshit. That's all that it is – the worst of American politics imported into ours."

Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones frequently spread claims about the mental health of then-United States president Joe Biden, claiming he was unfit to be the president and suggesting he was suffering from dementia.

Misinformation and conspiracy theories

On 13 December 2020, Rowan Dean promoted the Great Reset conspiracy theory on Sky News Australia, claiming that "This Great Reset is as serious and dangerous a threat to our prosperity – to your prosperity and your freedom – as we have faced in decades".

As of February 2021, American far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones uses segments from Sky News Australia to back up his claims.

In July 2021, Alan Jones and Craig Kelly falsely claimed that United Kingdom data proved that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 would increase the likelihood of death due to COVID-19. The claim originated in The Daily Exposé, a British website known for promoting COVID-19 and anti-vaccine misinformation. The Daily Exposé's claim was debunked by the BBC, Full Fact and Reuters. Sky News Australia subsequently removed the broadcast and issued a correction on its website.

On 1 August 2021, YouTube barred Sky News Australia from uploading new content onto their channel for a week for breaking YouTube's rules on posting videos containing COVID-19 misinformation. Upon the channel's return to the platform, Sky News Australia published a piece titled "Uncancelled: Sky News Australia Set Free" wherein Digital Editor Jack Houghton claimed the channel's temporary banning was the result of Silicon Valley and left-wing media attempting to stifle free speech.

A 2022 analysis by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a British think tank, found that Sky News Australia was a major source for climate change misinformation. Sky News Australia rejected the findings of the analysis, saying that they would "continue to encourage debate" on climate change. In 2022, Sky News Australia promoted a now retracted journal article from the European Physical Journal that claimed to have found no evidence of climate change in two video segments. The two segments were viewed more than 500 000 times.

Reception

Ratings

The highest rating broadcast on Sky News Australia was an episode of Paul Murray Live on 26 June 2013 (following the 2013 Labor leadership spill), averaging 197,000 viewers across a special two-hour broadcast. The highest audience share Sky News Australia has achieved was during coverage of the 2009 Victorian bushfires.

On 15 December 2014 during the Sydney Lindt café siege, coverage of the unfolding incident took 16 of the 20 most watched programs on the Foxtel platform. The 7 pm (AEST) hour was the highest rated at 109,000 viewers. Sky News achieved a day time share of 2.6% (behind ABC News 24's 3.8%) and a primetime share of 1.5% (behind ABC News 24's 2.5%).

Sky News Live rated 56,000 viewers for early evening coverage of the 2015 Queensland state election, and 83,000 viewers for later coverage, beaten by ABC News 24's coverage which was watched by 195,000 viewers nationally. For its coverage of the failed Liberal leadership spill on 9 February 2015 between 9 am and 10 am, Sky News Live was the second most watched subscription channel and the coverage was the third most watched program of the day with 69,000 viewers.

Sky News Live reached a total audience of 700,000 viewers on 14 September 2015 (including simulcast on Sky News Business) during the 2015 Liberal leadership spill. It was the most watched subscription television channel for the evening and outrated all free-to-air television channels between 11 pm and midnight AEST. The highest rated hour of coverage was from 10pm, achieving 190,000 viewers, the second highest ratings since the 2013 Labor Party spill.

A March 2016 article in The Guardian Australia reported Sky News averages 12,000 national viewers between 6 pm and midnight, with a peak of 18,000 between 8 pm and 10 pm, although the report did not specify what days or dates this average refers to.

During the 2016 federal election, Sky News averaged 96,000 viewers, an increase of 46% from the 2013 election.

In July 2018, Sky News claimed to have achieved its highest ratings on record, with viewership up 9% overall and its weeknight primetime (6pm–11pm) viewership 25% higher on the same period last year, according to OzTAM figures.

In August 2018, coverage of the Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill, 2018 saw Sky News gain its highest Tuesday primetime audience ever with a 4.2% audience share. Speers, Credlin and Jones & Co all had their highest-rated episodes on record.

The Sky News 2022 Australian federal election debate had 415,000 viewers.

The Sky News 2025 Australian federal election debate had a viewership of 410,000.

Criticism

In August 2018, Sky News was heavily criticised for providing a platform to Blair Cottrell, leader of the far-right, Neo-Nazi organisation United Patriots Front in a one-to-one discussion about immigration on The Adam Giles Show. Sky News presenter Laura Jayes and ABC journalist David Speers were among those critical (both on-air and off-air) of his appearance on the programme due to the fact that he has expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler and claimed to have manipulated women "using violence and terror." Sky News commentator and former Labor Party minister Craig Emerson resigned in protest after the interview was broadcast, stating that "My father fought Nazis in WWII and was interred in a German POW camp", and that the decision to give Cottrell a platform on Sky News was "another step in a journey to normalising racism & bigotry in our country". The activist group Sleeping Giants Oz called on advertisers to pull advertising campaigns off Sky News in the wake of the channel's interview with Cottrell.

Several high-profile figures have criticised Sky News, including former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who told a media inquiry in February 2021 that it was following the "template" of Fox News in becoming a "legitimising echo-chamber for this increasingly far-right, extremist worldview". In December 2023, former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews, who was a frequent target of scorn from Sky News pundits during his premiership, referred to the channel's after dark coverage as "bullshit" and "the worst of American politics imported into ours".

Accolades

List of accoladesYearAwardCategoryRecipient(s)Result
2007[2007 ASTRA Awards](2007-astra-awards)Most outstanding performance by a presenterDavid Speers
Most Creative Use of TechnologyAnytime, Anywhere
2008Logie Awards of 2008Most Outstanding News Coverage[Federal Election](2007-australian-federal-election)
[2008 ASTRA Awards](2008-astra-awards)Most outstanding performance by a presenterDavid Speers
Most outstanding performance by a broadcast journalistKieran Gilbert
Mike Willesee
Most outstanding performance by a presenterHellen Dalley
Channel of the yearSky News Australia
Favourite male personalityJames Bracey
David Speers
Favourite female personalityHelen Dalley
Brooke Corte
Most Outstanding News Program or CoverageAPEC 2007
2009[2009 ASTRA Awards](2009-astra-awards)Most Outstanding Performance by a Broadcast JournalistDavid Speers
Favourite male personalityKieran Gilbert
2010Logie Awards of 2010Most Outstanding Public Affairs ReportLiberal Leadership Meltdown
[2010 ASTRA Awards](2010-astra-awards)Most Outstanding Performance by a Broadcast JournalistKieran Gilbert
2011Logie Awards of 2011Most Outstanding News CoverageElection 2010
[2011 ASTRA Awards](2011-astra-awards)Most Outstanding Performance by a Broadcast JournalistAshleigh Gillon
Most Outstanding Performance by a PresenterDavid Speers
Most Outstanding News Program or CoverageElection 2010
2012Logie Awards of 2012Most Outstanding News CoverageQantas Grounded
[2012 ASTRA Awards](2012-astra-awards)Most Outstanding Performance by a PresenterDavid Speers
2013Logie Awards of 2013Most Outstanding News CoverageRudd Vs Gillard Leadership Challenge
[2013 ASTRA Awards](2013-astra-awards)Most Outstanding Performance by a Broadcast JournalistAhron Young
Favourite personality – malePaul Murray
Favourite Programme AustralianPaul Murray Live
2014Logie Awards of 2014Most Outstanding News CoverageLeadership Spill
[2014 ASTRA Awards](2014-astra-awards)Channel of the yearSky News National
Favourite personality – malePaul Murray
Favourite personality – femaleLaura Jayes
Favourite program: AustralianPaul Murray Live
Most Outstanding News ProgramElection 2013 coverage
Paul Murray Live
Most Outstanding performance by a broadcast journalistKieran Gilbert
Ahron Young
Daniel Bourchier
David Speers
2015Logie Awards of 2015Most Outstanding News CoverageWhat Is Metadata?
[2015 ASTRA Awards](2015-astra-awards)Channel of the yearSky News National
Most Outstanding Presenter – MalePaul Murray
Most Outstanding Presenter – FemaleNina Stevens
Most Outstanding Performance by a Broadcast JournalistDavid Speers
Kieran Gilbert
Celina Edmonds
Ahron Young
Most Outstanding News Program*Paul Murray Live*
*PM Agenda*
Richo + Jones
2016Logie Awards of 2016Most Outstanding News CoverageLiberal Leadership Crisis: Abbott V Turnbull
ASTRA Industry AwardsMost Outstanding Innovation (use of technology)LiveU SmartGRIP
Walkley AwardsCoverage of a Major News Event or Issue[2016 Election coverage](2016-australian-federal-election)
[6th AACTA Awards](6th-aacta-awards)url=http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2016/12/aacta-awards-2016-winners.htmltitle=AACTA Awards 2016 winnerswork=TV Tonightdate=8 December 2016access-date=8 December 2016first=Davidlast=Knox}}2016 Election Coverage
Subscription Television Award For Best Male PresenterDavid Speers
2017Logie Awards of 2017Most Outstanding News Coverage2016 Election coverage
2021Kennedy AwardsJournalist of the YearSharri Markson
Outstanding TV News ReportingKieran Gilbert and Andrew Clennell
Outstanding Nightly Current AffairsSharri Markson
Outstanding Long Form Current AffairsPeta Credlin
2023NT Media Awardslast=Knoxfirst=Daviddate=6 November 2023title=NT Media Awards 2023: winnersurl=https://tvtonight.com.au/2023/11/nt-media-awards-2023-winners.htmlaccess-date=6 March 2024website=TV Tonightlanguage=en-AU}}Matt Cunningham
Best News Coverage x 2Matt Cunningham
Best Current Affairs or FeatureMatt Cunningham
Best Crime / Court ReportingMatt Cunningham
Kennedy AwardsThe Paul Lockyer Award for Regional Broadcast ReportingMatt Cunningham
Queensland Clarion AwardsBroadcast ReportJonathan Lea

Broadcast

Sky News began broadcasting in widescreen, along with its sister channels on 17 May 2009. Sky News Australia only provides closed captioning between 4 pm and 5 pm (AEST/AEDT) each day.

Sky News began broadcasting in high definition on 1 December 2015.

Other services

Sky News Multiview

With the roll-out of Foxtel Digital, Sky News Australia launched the Sky News Active interactive news service based on the Sky News UK service with the same name. The service offered a choice of eight news screens, some with original content not seen on the main channel they vary depending on the days news or events and include the latest news, business, sport, showbiz and weather in text. Other features included interactive polling and the latest news headlines via text. On 15 November 2009 Sky News active re-launched with a new look as well as 5 additional local screens (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.

Sky News Now (mobile service)

Sky News Now was a mobile service available on Vodafone, Telstra and 3. It offered a wide variety of news in both video and text. As of 2015, the service was no longer available.

Sky News Alerts

Sky News Alerts is a SMS and MMS breaking news service available on all mobile phones inside Australia. Breaking news alerts are sent to a subscriber via SMS or MMS at a cost per message.

Qantas

In November 2014, Sky News Australia was contracted to provide Qantas with in-flight news bulletins replacing a longstanding contract with the Nine Network.

Radio and podcasting

In Australia, since June 2023, Sky News partners with Nova Entertainment to offer an audio simulcast of its television channel via the free Nova Player app (nationally) and DAB+ digital radio (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane only). Various programs podcasts including First Business, Market Day, Showbiz, Agenda, Australian News Week, Credlin and The Rita Panahi Show are also available on the app. Previously, it was on IHeartRadio from March 2020 until June 2023, as part of a deal with ARN.

Sky News Regional

(News Corp Australia) Sky News Weather Channel Sky News Extra Channel 53 (Gold Coast QLD) (Northern NSW)

Launch logo as Sky News on WIN

Sky News Regional (formerly Sky News on WIN) is a free-to-air version of Sky News Australia, which was launched on 2 September 2018. The channel features Sky News Australia and Fox Sports News programming, as well as the morning newscast Sky News Breakfast commissioned for this channel that also airs on Sky News Weather. The channel was originally established as part of a partnership with WIN Television. In 2021, WIN's contracts with both Network 10 and Sky News expired; with WIN returning to its previous Nine Network affiliation on 1 July 2021, and Sky News's contract expiring on 1 August 2021 (the allotments were, in turn, used for 9Life). Sky News reached a new agreement with Southern Cross Austereo to distribute the channel on their now Network 10-affiliated stations, now known as Sky News Regional.

In its first two weeks on the air, the channel averaged 10,000 viewers in primetime and 4,000 viewers in daytime, with Richo the highest rated program at 24,000 viewers.

The channel is available on digital channel 56 across Southern Cross Austereo's regional markets in Regional QLD, Southern NSW & ACT and Regional VIC, and on WIN digital channel 53 in Northern NSW and the Gold Coast. It is not available in Broken Hill/Spencer Gulf, Tasmania, Mildura, Darwin, Remote & Central Australia and Regional WA. Mildura, Tasmania, and Regional Western Australia previously broadcast the channel as Sky News on WIN on the WIN network until August 2021 when it switched to 9Life's feed. The channel was previously on WIN digital channels 83 and 85, prior to the rebrand as Sky News Regional on 1 August 2021.

Sky News Regional ended its broadcast on channel 53 in Griffith and South-East South Australia on 30 June 2024 after an unsuccessful renewal of the affiliation agreement with WIN.

In July 2025, Sky News and Network 10 signed an agreement to continue airing Sky News Regional, following 10's acquisition of Southern Cross Austereo's regional television stations in regional Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.

Sky News Election Channel

Main article: Sky News Election Channel

In April 2016, Sky News Australia announced a temporary spin-off channel known as the Sky News Election Channel. The channel carried extended coverage of the Australian federal election, the United Kingdom referendum on remaining in the European Union, and United States presidential election, including coverage and programming from partners such as Sky News UK, ABC News (United States), CBS News, CNN, C-SPAN, and Fox News, as well as encore showings of Sky News Australia opinion programmes. The channel temporarily replaced A-PAC on Foxtel; A-PAC remained available on Sky News Multiview. It operated from 1 May 2016 to 23 January 2017.

On 28 June 2024, the Sky News Election Channel was revived, focusing upon coverage of the 2024 United Kingdom general election, French legislative election, and United States presidential elections, and the 2025 Australian federal election. The channel once again replaced Sky News Extra on Foxtel.

Sky News Now

On 23 March 2023, the network launched a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel on Samsung TV Plus and LG TV Live Channels known as Sky News Now; the channel features highlighted content from Sky News, Sky News Weather Channel, and Sky News Extra.

References

References

  1. "About Sky News".
  2. Lallo, Michael. (27 May 2019). "Sky's jump to the right has boosted ratings – but at what cost?". [[Sydney Morning Herald]].
  3. (14 May 2019). "Dark side of Sky After Dark: Anti-Labor comments seven times more likely".
  4. Muller, Denis. (15 February 2017). "Sky News is not yet Fox News, but it has the good, the bad and the uglies". [[The Conversation (website).
  5. Pannett, Rachel. (2 August 2021). "Sky News Australia temporarily suspended from YouTube for allegedly spreading coronavirus misinformation.". The Washington Post.
  6. (26 September 2018). "Rupert Murdoch's Sky reign to end as Fox sells all shares to Comcast".
  7. (21 February 2021). "Is Sky News shifting Australian politics to the right? Not yet, but there is cause for alarm". The Conversation.
  8. Davies, Anne. (23 February 2021). "Sky News Australia is tapping into the global conspiracy set – and it's paying off". [[The Guardian]].
  9. (1 December 2016). "News Corp buys Sky News in Australia and New Zealand from Seven and Nine". Fairfax Media.
  10. (19 February 2016). "Sky News Australia first ever broadcast anniversary". Sky News Australia.
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