Possible closure of Sky News

Joe.ie are citing an article in the Financial Times today (behind a paywall) which claims that Sky are considering closing Sky News as part of the attempt to allow the acquisition by 21st Century Fox to take place.

I think the Joe.ie article puts too much emphasis on the possible Disney/Fox takeover (as it's probably not relevant here).

https://www.ft.com/content/fb92691a-c3e1-11e7-b2bb-322b2cb39656

https://www.joe.ie/news/sky-news-may-permanently-shut-due-new-take-deal-605874

icdg

It’s a threat and nothing more, designed to scare the UK regulatory authorities into approving a takeover.

“Let the takeover through, or Sky News gets it!”

Sky News or lack thereof won’t have any effect on whether the takeover is approved. In fact I don’t see any competition related reason for the deal not to be approved and it appears the reluctance on the part of the U.K. authorities is largely for political reasons (which is maybe why Sky have taken this rather dramatic step).

The Disney thing is a completely seperate kettle of fish and completely unrelated. A bid may not even happen never mind receive shareholder and regulatory approval. Some reports I have seen suggest that if Sky was taken over by Fox, and Fox was then taken over by Disney, Sky would be part of the sale to Disney rather than remaining with the rump Fox TV operation (the US FCC will not allow Disney to own both ABC and Fox TV and are seen as unlikely to allow an ESPN/Fox Sports combo either).

Harry Palmr

Wonder does Fox News turn a profit.

political analyst

I'm aware that the weather presenters were dropped from Sky News a few years ago.

But the advent of digital TV means that Sky News has many more viewers via satellite (on which it is FTA in SD) and cable in the British Isles and via the main terrestrial transmitters in the UK.

So how is Sky News loss-making?

BSkyB would be shooting itself in the foot if it axed Sky News.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_News#Establishment_and_early_years

In the early days the channel operated on a £40 million budget (plus £10 million share of overheads), which led Sam Chisholm, chief executive of the newly merged BSkyB to suggest to Murdoch that the station to be closed, but Rupert was "pleased with its achievements ... there were overriding reasons of prestige and politics for keeping it ... the final hurdle of the Broadcasting Bill had still to be overcome and the case for the acceptability of Sky would collapse if suddenly there was no news channel."[

To be honest, I think there are still such reasons.

political analyst

http://pressgazette.co.uk/sky-news-staff-warn-of-deeply-damaging-blow-to-journalism-if-channel-closes/

Closure of the channel would “damage media plurality” in the UK by leaving the BBC as the only provider of 24-hour news, the group told the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The move comes after Sky said it would shut down Sky News if it proved the main barrier standing in the way of 21st Century Fox’s £11.7 billion bid to buy the remaining 61 per cent of the broadcaster it does not already own.

The competition watchdog is currently scrutinising the deal on the grounds of media plurality and broadcasting standards.

The letter, addressed to CMA case officer Sabrina Basran, has been signed by 175 staff, including All Out Politics presenter Adam Boulton, business presenter Ian King and special news correspondent Alex Crawford.

To be honest, I don't know why there is so little discussion about this issue on this forum.

Why would Sky News be getting lower numbers of viewers now than 20 years ago?

Fred_Johnson

political analyst wrote: »

Why would Sky News be getting lower numbers of viewers now than 20 years ago?

The world is changing. A lot of youngsters are getting their news directly via Facebook, and don't even own a TV.

icdg

political analyst wrote: »

To be honest, I don't know why there is so little discussion about this issue on this forum

Because it was a threat and nothing more. And the doing of the deal with Disney, if shareholders and regulatory authorities approve, effectively does away with any logic with going through with the threat, at least in a competition law context. Sky News will (if all goes to plan) end up part of Walt Disney, which does not own any other news gathering assets in the U.K.

dublinman1990

Closing Sky News at a time like this would be a completely stupid waste of time and money. What I have been told that by someone who work in Sky Central have leaked their new onscreen logo in a photograph online. They are also getting a new studio built for Sky News which is apparently opening from next month.