[Article] Sky News Ireland closes

r3nu4l

Article here, Irish Indo

Sky goes black as channel pulls plug on Irish news bulletins wrote:

SKY News Ireland is tuning out after 2½ years on air and an estimated investment of over €7m.

The Irish bulletins failed to turn on viewers here and industry insiders said that the small audiences could not justify its continued existence.

Just 8,000 people have been tuning in to the 6.30pm bulletins, while an average of 17,000 people have been watching the 10pm programme.

Up to 20 jobs will be lost as a result of the decision to cease the bulletins and jobs will also go in Belfast.

Anchorwoman Grainne Seoige left the station during the summer.

Currently the operation employs 25 people in Dublin, including frontmen Brian Daly and Ray Kennedy, while five staff based in Northern Ireland will also be affected.

A spokesperson for the station said that just five people will be retained in Dublin and one in Belfast. A 30-day legal consultation will take place with staff and some workers may have the opportunity to work with Sky News in Britain.

Sky said yesterday it has decided to "refocus its coverage of Irish news by integrating the output of its Dublin and Belfast bureaus into the main news channel".

This essentially means that Sky will have a small base in Ireland to cover any major stories here but will not carry a significant amount of Irish news.

John Ryley, Head of Sky News, said: "The decision to change direction is a difficult one but our commitment to choice and innovation means that we will always take risks and try new ideas. Irish stories remain an integral part of the main channel as well as new media outlets as Sky News refocuses its resources in a way that continues to meet the needs of consumers in the broadband age."

Sky introduced the Irish news service in May 2004 in a move that puzzled the industry here. While the "streamlining" of services may have been a surprise yesterday, the real surprise was that Sky every set up such a service in Ireland, as RTE and TV3 already have strong news coverage.

The introduction of the service was seen by some as a move to drive advertising from Ireland and boost subscriber numbers for its digital platform.

Other commentators speculated that Sky was trying to build up a strong link with Irish viewers but that the news bulletins proved to be an expensive method.

Samantha McCaughren

Well having lived in England since these bulletins started I never saw them but the viewing figures look very low. Was it a lack of resources or a lack of knowledge of what the audience wanted? Your views please

Dave!

hmmm... I really can't pin down what the problem was. I used to tune in every so often if I was flicking through channels, but I didn't make a conscious effort to watch it (didn't even know what time it was on at).

It's kinda sad I guess!

But having Sky on your CV will no doubt make it fairly easy for the 20 people to find new jobs in the same field

Dundalk Daily

I think the times were way off, they should have had news at prime times like lunch time or tea time. Some regional input would probably also have helped but all and all it seemed very plastic. Id say alot of folks were not even aware of its existance. Pity.

Jip

The majority of people with a T.V. in this country must have been aware of it's existence as it was shown both on Sky 1 and Skynews and was heavily advertised.