Sky News To Become subscription service?

djpaul

Is Sky News really that good?? Read on.......:eek:

http://blog.wotsat.com/page/whatsat?entry=sky_news_s_free_days

sprinkles

no it's not that good. It's the tv equivalent of the Sun newspaper. Trash

djpaul

I prefer BBC News 24 myself, All the better for them now!;)

Tony

will not be missed

jimmycrackcorm

It's a subscription to MaddieNews

_Kaiser_

Can't remember the last time I watched Sky News... oh I can, it was about the time they started with the big RED banner crap. Remember when they looked and acted like a professional news outfit? (early 90s).

Besides, who would pay for a news channel (but it'll be bundled of course and you won't get a choice) when you have the internet, and FTA channels like BBC, CNN and even RTE (frequent production goofs aside, it's the one thing they do well).

towger

I'd pay for them to take it away

CO19

I wonder will it be taken off NTL's basic cable if it does become a subscription channel ?

L1011

substitute "subscription" for "base package" -at worst-. It'll be on the "bonus mix" in Ireland if that happens, and possibly still FTV in the UK; they jsut want to haul it off DTG Freesat

byte

If it were to become subscription based, I'd have expected it to fall under their News and Events Mix, where they already list it on their promo leaflets.

It's FTA on Astra 1 also (Fox News style without the ads), wonder if that would change (doubt it)?

Trampas

There is a very slim chance people will pay to watch Sky News.

I don't think anyone would pay to watch a news channel as there is enough of them out there to watch for free

bigpaddy2004

It will be a blow to free to air however

Mossy Monk

Take it away. Don't think I would miss it at all. I might watch for 2 minutes a week.

conax

bigpaddy2004 wrote:

It will be a blow to free to air however

Yeah, I agree, it may be crap but its always mentioned as part of a FTA package.

watty

I think this only on UK DTT, as it would be part of Sky's MPEg4 pay decoder package if approved.
It might even be un-encryped, but a freeview box can't do MPEG4.

Of course Fox is Pay TV everywhere and is the same stable. No skin of my nose if they go Pay TV. I have a gazzillion other free news channels

Ronan|Raven

TERROR ALERT PURPLE!!

Good riddance to it.

loyatemu

news and events is the only mix I'm not subscribed to - I mean BBC24 is free and theres plenty of news and current affairs on other channels. The only possible reason to subscribe to that mix is for Eurosport.

Tony

bigpaddy2004 wrote:

It will be a blow to free to air however

Not a hope

bigpaddy2004

Tony wrote:

Not a hope

For the majority of my customers whom I install FTA for, Sky News is one of the channels which they ask about?

DMC

Didn't Cablelink drop Sky News once in the mid-nineties? Some people do like it, but now at least there is something else to watch.

_Kaiser_

DMC wrote:

Didn't Cablelink drop Sky News once in the mid-nineties? Some people do like it, but now at least there is something else to watch.

They did but it was more the loss of Sky One with it that annoyed people I think

Gonzo

I think i remember the then brilliant MTV Europe was also dropped for a few months along with sky news and sky one around the same time.

Widescreen

For what its worth, I think Sky News is a very useful channel,especially with the interactive features and the likes of sportsline at 10.30 which gives you all the days sports news and action in the space of a few minutes. Its all well being sceptical about them but if the news buffs at RTE were as hungry as Sky maybe we wouldn't have to put up with as much bullying and arrogance from the politicians as we seem to have to do now.

Jip

Widescreen wrote:

Its all well being sceptical about them but if the news buffs at RTE were as hungry as Sky maybe we wouldn't have to put up with as much bullying and arrogance from the politicians as we seem to have to do now.

What ? Ironically, to paraphrase a comment recently made by an Irish politician, Sky News are Sheep in Sheeps clothing. BBC, ITN/Channel 4 news are the ones that ask the hard questions. Sky News is only interested in tabloid and wannabe celebrity news.

Tony

bigpaddy2004 wrote:

For the majority of my customers whom I install FTA for, Sky News is one of the channels which they ask about?

well thats certainly not been my experience

moe_sizlak

i think sky news gets a bum rap , because murdoch was behind its launch and has something like a 41% share in it , it gets trashed and called a tv version of the sun newspaper which i think is tottally unfair , however even more unfair is to compare it to the 24 hr propoganda machine and threat to democrocy itself that is fox news , its sister station in the usa , sister by being also owned by murdoch only i might add , there are no similarities in terms of editorial whatsoever , the reason being the brittish people are not into flag waving jigonistic idealogical hackery disguised as journalism

Tony

moe_sizlak wrote: »

the reason being the brittish people are not into flag waving jigonistic idealogical hackery disguised as journalism

Are you sure about that, if memory serves that happened during the Falklands war

Doodah7

Was a way on holidays recently and as is very often the case, the choice of english language stations was reasonably limited. When you have no choice but to watch Sky News to be kept up to date, you quickly realise how dire it actually is...

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

we've still got al jazeera people...I think we'll get by, somehow.

denis1501

I personally think Sky News is an excellent channel.
so there!
regards
D.

Dub13

I was under the impression that there is legislation in the UK preventing you having to pay for a News channel.

Was I wrong...?

L1011

Fox News is subscription (but many Pace boxes decode it anyway, long standing bug)

satgirl

Mordeth wrote: »

we've still got al jazeera people...I think we'll get by, somehow.

Also France 24, Russia Today and CNN.

Making Sky News a subscription channel would be like asking people to pay for those free-sheets they give out at Dart stations.

moe_sizlak

al jazeera is a good news chanell but it doesnt really focus on storys from the uk and its sports coverage is non existant
i like sky news , see very little wrong with it , i dont believe it has a political bias one way or another considering murdoch has such a stake in it
it has pretty good presenters appart from the annoying kay burley compared to the bimbos they have on fox news
tim marshall is an excellent expert commentator and its interactive service is excellent

MisterAnarchy

Sky News is good in small doses.
10-15 minutes of it per day to catchup on the news and sport via the interactive service is very handy.
Its overall journalistic standard has dropped alarmingly in the last few years ,it most certainly is tabloid tv but in small doses its fine.

Keith186

I don't know how they could get away with charging for it.

They get early breaking news but then tell you the same tiny piece of info for the next hour or so with no new content or real insight. It can be ok sometimes but generally poor.

I think C4 has the right formula even though Sky partly own it now through ITV shares.

L1011

ITV don't own C4! C4 is owned by the British Government, believe it or not.

Dub13

MYOB wrote: »

ITV don't own C4! C4 is owned by the British Government, believe it or not.

Is it...?

L1011

Dub13 wrote: »

Is it...?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_4_Television_Corporation#Channel_Four_Television_Corporation

Yes. The British Government 100% owns Channel 4 Television Corporation, which owns C4, E4, More4, Film4 + their DAB radio 'plex (yet to launch).

moe_sizlak

MYOB wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_4_Television_Corporation#Channel_Four_Television_Corporation

Yes. The British Government 100% owns Channel 4 Television Corporation, which owns C4, E4, More4, Film4 + their DAB radio 'plex (yet to launch).

complete crap, the only chanell that is state owned in the uk is the BBC, chanell 4 has always been seen as being anti establishment since its inception

MisterAnarchy

moe_sizlak wrote: »

complete crap, the only chanell that is state owned in the uk is the BBC, chanell 4 has always been seen as being anti establishment since its inception

Rubbish .:mad:

Who owns Channel 4?

Channel Four Television Corporation was set up by an Act of Parliament. It is a publicly owned corporation and does not have any shareholders.

Who runs Channel 4?

The board is appointed by the television regulator - OFCOM - in agreement with the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport. The Chief Executive is Andy Duncan.

L1011

moe_sizlak wrote: »

complete crap, the only chanell that is state owned in the uk is the BBC, chanell 4 has always been seen as being anti establishment since its inception

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Channel 4 is state owned, always has been. The British state also owns S4C and Tele-G; funds by means of a tendered-for grant Teachers TV; and funds The Community Channel but has no control over it.

You can be anti-establishment and be state-owned - as its state-owned not state-controlled.

Care to withdraw your statement?

moe_sizlak

MYOB wrote: »

Wrong, wrong, wrong.

Channel 4 is state owned, always has been. The British state also owns S4C and Tele-G; funds by means of a tendered-for grant Teachers TV; and funds The Community Channel but has no control over it.

You can be anti-establishment and be state-owned - as its state-owned not state-controlled.

Care to withdraw your statement?

no seargant , i dont wish to withdraw my statement , il take my chances in the dock next monday

L1011

moe_sizlak wrote: »

no seargant , i dont wish to withdraw my statement , il take my chances in the dock next monday

Are you at least going to acknowledge you were woefully wrong?

Mossy Monk

Of course not. Everyone else is wrong.

Ulsterman 1690

chanell 4 has always been seen as being anti establishment since its inception

There may have been a (small) grain of truth in this statement 20 years ago but with present day Channel 4 owned by the state (It used to be partially owned by the various ITV companies) and entirely dependent on advertising revenue it has ceased to be a thorn in the side of the establishment a long time ago.

Getting back to the original topic of this thread I reckon a lot of people watch $ky news purely out of habit owing to it being the longest running UK news channel (The short lived Irish optouts may also be a factor in the Republic) as news channels go I would rate it below Al Jazzera, BBC World or News 24 but above of (the now defunct) ITN/ITV news or any of the US channels.

That said I rarely watch TV news. I prefer to get my News from BBC Radio 4 and/or that internet thng

John R

the main reason that it is popular here is that it is by far the most widely distributed news channel, it is the only one on the main analogue cable channels. The only real rival BBC News 24 has never been included in the Irish EPG so it has never had any real competition here.

I don't believe in censorship but if Sky voluntarily encrypt their tabloid drivel who am I to argue with them.