I know there are a fair few of us who are rather nostalgic about 'the old Sky News', so I thought it would be a good idea to start a dedicated thread, allowing the main Sky News thread to remain focused on the 'here and now'.
To kick-start the thread, who here remembers when Sky put out their own version of the Nine O'Clock News each night? It didn't last very long, I don't think - less than a year, I believe? Here's a clip below - I think the only one currently online - from May 2001:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBOnuMTlajI
(I first posted this clip in the YouTube Gold thread, but thought it might get more traction here)
And this report about 25 years of Star Trek, from 1991 - at 1:53 you'll see Bob Friend, Kay Burley... and Fiona Phillips?! Never knew
she worked at Sky - a quick Google search tells me she was their entertainment editor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AgesAn5Zc0
Loved Sky News from the 90s until the 2005 revamp which looked nice presentational wise, but was the start of the decline of the brashness the channel had.
Here's a TOTH from 1991 during the Gulf War.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_rMAV1t3Zk
London Lite post_id=55588 time= user_id=953 Wrote:Loved Sky News from the 90s until the 2005 revamp which looked nice presentational wise, but was the start of the decline of the brashness the channel had.
Yes, I completely agree - there was a real sense of pace and urgency, that just doesn't seem to be there anymore. I do think that in many ways, that 2005 revamp was the downfall of Sky News. What really strikes me is that (to my knowledge) that period was when BBC News 24's ratings began to overtake Sky's - and to this day, BBC News is still the higher rating news channel.
There don't seem to be many videos from early and mid 2000s, which is a shame. Glad we have a thread where maybe more videos from this period will be unearthed.
The SkyNews use of their first theme always reminded me of WXIA 11 Alive - Atlanta (Featuring the signature and spooky Gannett Group "Deathstar"logo intro)
https://youtu.be/bLjj21pV8vY?t=169
This is a bit of a niche request/query but did Sky News have "Sky World News" in a secondary studio between 98-01? Have never seen any images or clips, but remember watching it as a youngun!
London Lite post_id=55639 time= user_id=953 Wrote:TOTH, 2003 during the Iraq war.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj4VgYu6_u0
I thought back then - and still think - this was a bit tacky. While special titles for coverage of a war or crisis are perfectly legitimate, this effort by Sky News felt more fitting for a video game than a news broadcast.
The first clip is an interesting one because it comes from Sky News’ short lived 2001 “election look”, which debuted when the election was called but ended up being used for months afterwards, until the dramatic revamp of October, and, though we didn’t know it at the time, was somewhat of a halfway house between what came before and what was to arrive in October.
For up until then, Sky News ran on a format of news on the hour, and pre-recorded features in the back half hour. The back half hour programmes were dropped (as they normally were) for the election but what we didn’t know is that they either wouldn’t be back at all or would make brief comebacks.
From October 2001 Sky News was rolling news, all the time, with their new Newswall dominated set, and of course this coincided with the aftermath of 9/11 and subsequent events. Unfortunately this look came with the worst graphics the channel has ever had, with the infamous Sun-style “Slug” on the left hand side.
The welcome the 2005 revamp got initially needs to be seen in that context, it was initially viewed pres wise as a return to form, but the appointment to view programming just didn’t work.
Rdd post_id=55687 time= user_id=1409 Wrote:The first clip is an interesting one because it comes from Sky News’ short lived 2001 “election look”, which debuted when the election was called but ended up being used for months afterwards, until the dramatic revamp of October, and, though we didn’t know it at the time, was somewhat of a halfway house between what came before and what was to arrive in October.
For up until then, Sky News ran on a format of news on the hour, and pre-recorded features in the back half hour. The back half hour programmes were dropped (as they normally were) for the election but what we didn’t know is that they either wouldn’t be back at all or would make brief comebacks.
From October 2001 Sky News was rolling news, all the time, with their new Newswall dominated set, and of course this coincided with the aftermath of 9/11 and subsequent events. Unfortunately this look came with the worst graphics the channel has ever had, with the infamous Sun-style “Slug” on the left hand side.
The welcome the 2005 revamp got initially needs to be seen in that context, it was initially viewed pres wise as a return to form, but the appointment to view programming just didn’t work.
I wouldn't go as far as to say the October 2001 graphics were the worst. The Fox News style ones of 2007 are probably the most tacky and clunky.
https://youtu.be/2Ofpc6GV78U
The 2005 era was simply gorgeous. The studio, graphics and music were spectacular. I remember recording most of the first day on VHS, hoping to keep it incase I ever ran a website dedicated to television presentation in the near future, but sadly it (and quite a lot of other recordings) were destroyed when my house caught fire.
It was a shame when they changed the presentation to the images above, it made the channel look downmarket and tacky.