Looks like they’ve commandeered the reception area or something, not a fan of that at all.
I’m hoping that Media Spy Towers chose not to take on their advice?
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Let’s be honest, it’s a low barrier to cross - one news channel hasn’t worked out they need to turn on all the light switches in the studio
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People on Pres Cafe tend to be easily pleased. There’s a very nasty undercurrent if you dare disagree with certain posters, which has driven a lot of people away. But anyway…
I personally quite like the set - it’s not the most flash but it is only a secondary set. Tbh I think it’s only getting so much praise because it’s head and shoulders above any of their other sets, which says a lot really. I suspect the glass box is slowly being phased out, too.
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We yes, the glass box is abysmal and Sky general are obsessed with putting anchors in front of a screen with some gradient on it in a tight shot
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My theory is that after the big fancy flashy 2005 revamp didn’t work, Sky got scared and have gradually taken out anything visually interesting, so now we have this ‘anchor in front of a screen … in a tight shot’ as you so beautifully put it. Okay, nothing wrong with focusing on substance over style, but they’ve taken it way too far. It needs to be at least a bit engaging visually, otherwise you’re left with glorified radio.
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https://twitter.com/EylonALevy/status/1750892257757040960
The presenter in question was removed from the air shortly after this interview concluded.
Sky News (UK) turns 35 today - launching as part of a 4 channel “Sky Television” satellite service in 1989
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More changes coming to Sky News from this week: Matt Barbet (formerly of BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat, ITV’s Daybreak Newshour and, perhaps his best known role, on 5 News) has joined the network as a cover presenter (starting for weekend Breakfast, but also working Yalda and Mark Austin’s slots), but soon will have his own Sunday midday slot which will follow Trevor Phillips. Barbet is back on TV as he wraps a stint on the world of public relations.
And, after the investment being done in Westminster and the tweaks to the glass box (mainly to improve the clinical lighting to something more appealing), Sky has finally installed a in-newsroom “nook” (rather a small plug-and-play broadcast position), making it a big change from the cold and drab sets. It is mostly used for overnight bulletins, but it has also being used during some weekend slots:
Pictures from Pres Café
The newsroom itself (based at office space inside Sky Studios at their Osterley campus) is not quite visually appealing, but the tweaks made inside do the job:
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Sorry but that all looks so basic
lol it’s an office
Yea there are some incredible offices in London. I see them every day. Especially media companies tend to have them.
I’ve been on the sky campus. They have insanely beautiful offices.
This one they’ve put on TV and it’s terrible.
That pic is from before 2019, the BBC News graphics on one of the monitors are the ones from when they moved into NBH in 2013.
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Its allegedly a temporary setup too
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(Carried on from the TalkTV thread)
It’ll be very interesting to see what happens to Sky News after 2028 (which is when the agreement you mentioned comes to an end). The big boss there recently said on a BBC podcast that he thinks it will stay because it’s subsidised by other parts of Sky and NBC. They are actually (slowly!) starting to make more of an effort now with presentation, and they’ve launched multiple new shows. Can’t see Sky News being wound down just yet…
I tend to think it will become more of a world news channel, a bit like what happened to BBC’s news channel. Comcast were planning one pre-pandemic (NBC Sky World News) but we all know what happened there… I think that is what Sky News will ultimately morph into (maybe with some UK-specific opt-outs?).
There are a lot of people in British TV who believe that anything remotely visually engaging is ‘flashy’ and therefore too American. Sadly many of these people have significant influence. The trick is to just not listen to them… but far too many people do. There’s a reason Sky made such an impact when it first launched (and indeed for many years afterwards) and that’s because it was run by Australians. None of this “no fun please, we’re British” nonsense!
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Agree with this 100%
I’m an Australian American now working in British TV Marketing, and the fact my style is American (I spent 12 years in LA) is actually exactly what they love about me (I work in an ad agency that does trailers and marketing for max, Netflix, Disney, prime, p+ ) so they all want the US style. It’s worked to my advantage
Generally Brits think the Us style is OTT and crass
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Thank you! I’m glad someone does. The amount of people on Pres Cafe and elsewhere who defend that style is beyond me. They actually… like it boring. Totally beyond me…
I’m a British-Kiwi (not in the industry) and I’ve never liked the UK style. Ever. It’s just so dull… personally I think it speaks to a attitude in British society of “that’ll do”, not wanting to rock the boat.
Going back to Sky News, if you look at how their style has evolved (then devolved) over the years you can see that the first 15-20 years are the most punchy, and that’s because of the Australian and American influences. After they started to fade away and more Brits came in, you’ll see how Sky started to become more bland. Now they constantly just try and out-BBC the BBC.
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You can do good journalism and still be flashy or at least visually interesting, not that TalkTV was - but it can be done.
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Al Jazeera English being the key example of that. But then a lot of that’s probably down to who owns them… when you’re propped up by oil and gas money you can afford to have jib operators all day and a big fancy set.
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