Sky News: 2021 Refresh

[all new Phil]

Big fan of Trevor Phillips now, he’s settled into the Sunday morning show very well. Reminds me a little of Tom Bradby (who I also really rate) - sure, the delivery is a little awkward at times, but you can tell there’s a real depth of knowledge behind it.

[AllWillBeWell]

Adam Boulton visibly annoyed on air just now, rolling his eyes and throw his hands up during a live to Martin Brunt on the Sarah Everard case.

After that leaked footage was released, he came across as a bit of a bully. Sky don’t seem to mind…. Not that uncommon in the industry sadly.

[London Lite]

Big fan of Trevor Phillips now, he’s settled into the Sunday morning show very well. Reminds me a little of Tom Bradby (who I also really rate) - sure, the delivery is a little awkward at times, but you can tell there’s a real depth of knowledge behind it.

I seem to recall that his show was the second most watched show on Sky News recently. I don't ever remember Ridge getting that?

[watchingtv]

The Coronavirus slides into the break have been changed. No longer virus themed but business like slides with blue.

Note: Jayne Secker is presenting Live from Wembley holding an umbrella

[derek500j]

Big fan of Trevor Phillips now, he’s settled into the Sunday morning show very well. Reminds me a little of Tom Bradby (who I also really rate) - sure, the delivery is a little awkward at times, but you can tell there’s a real depth of knowledge behind it.

I seem to recall that his show was the second most watched show on Sky News recently. I don't ever remember Ridge getting that?

Just had a look back at some random dates earlier in the year. Ridge was number one on March 14 with 238k and often got 200k+.

Apart from his 2nd place 195k on June 27, I can only find one other top 15 for Trevor on May 30 with 139k.

[soupie]

The latest Sky News ratings have been reported on this website. I didn’t realise how low their figures are (compared to the ‘terrestrial’ channels)

https://www.tvzoneuk.com/post/ratings-gbnews-28june

[Rob]

Mark Austin presented last night's Sky News at 10, due to Gillian Joseph being unwell at the last minute. Dermot Murnaghan presented an extra hour from Westminster.

[mediamonkeyuk]

Anyone else really triggered by how awful the ticker looks in ‘breaking news’ mode since the refresh? It just seems to clash so bad with the rest of the graphics now that the bar isn’t yellow all the way across like it used to be. Surely they could have found a way to make it look more visually appealing than the yellow stopping dead at the logo/clock part. It’s even worse when the business/stocks graphics are on screen. Nothing seems aligned and everything is way too big. The huge white bar of wasted space is ugly at the bottom too. Some great aspects to this refresh but some real backward steps too. Why not put the logo and clock underneath in that huge space and have the ticker running full length? Hopefully they will make some tweaks and gradually refine things. Side note - the various shades of deep blue used on the straps for AOP and Tonight are very nice. Classy and work well with the white. Unlike the new house red which is just a bit too garish and in your face for my liking.

[Meridian MR]

Anyone else really triggered by how awful the ticker looks in ‘breaking news’ mode since the refresh? It just seems to clash so bad with the rest of the graphics now that the bar isn’t yellow all the way across like it used to be. Surely they could have found a way to make it look more visually appealing than the yellow stopping dead at the logo/clock part. It’s even worse when the business/stocks graphics are on screen. Nothing seems aligned and everything is way too big. The huge white bar of wasted space is ugly at the bottom too. Some great aspects to this refresh but some real backward steps too. Why not put the logo and clock underneath in that huge space and have the ticker running full length? Hopefully they will make some tweaks and gradually refine things. Side note - the various shades of deep blue used on the straps for AOP and Tonight are very nice. Classy and work well with the white. Unlike the new house red which is just a bit too garish and in your face for my liking.

Agree with this.
And the ticker text is very thin.

[Solari]

I don't much like the new look, I have to say - I think it's all a bit too American (especially the big bold tall lettering) which I guess shows NBC's influence. I do agree with [mention]mediamonkeyuk[/mention] about the deep blue on some of the straps, though - looks very classy. The new music is a big improvement on what came before, but doesn't hold a candle to the 2003 or 2005 themes IMO.

I also dislike their programme naming practices:

• 'The Sarah-Jane Mee Show' sounds like the name of a chat show.

• What was wrong with 'Sunrise', a name used since the very start of Sky News, as their breakfast brand? A simple change to 'Sunrise with Kay Burley' is all it would have taken.

• Why is Mark Austin's slot called 'The News Hour', when it in fact runs for 90 minutes? Isn't it the whole point of Sky News (or, indeed, any news channel) that every hour is a a 'news hour'? Why not bring back the 'Live at Five' brand? I'd go one further and call the 6pm slot 'The Six O'Clock News' - really lean into that nostalgia factor (if you want to call it that).

I'm not a fan of the title sequence either - it just seems like vanity to show their website/apps every TOTH. What was wrong with the globe they used for so many years?

Anyway, rant over. The journalism is still top-notch, and that is, of course, what really matters - I just think that presentation-wise, there is ample room for improvement.

[valley]

Tonight Jonathan Samuels is in Germany for News at Ten (focusing on the terrible climate disaster unfolding) with Sam Washington in Osterley with the other stories - I haven't seen Sam doing the late evening shift before.

[Meridian MR]

Tonight Jonathan Samuels is in Germany for News at Ten (focusing on the terrible climate disaster unfolding) with Sam Washington in Osterley with the other stories - I haven't seen Sam doing the late evening shift before.

I've seen her do it a couple of times lately. She's good.

[mediamonkeyuk]

I’m really not warming to Trevor Phillips at all. His delivery is way too stunted and he stumbles his way through almost every question. Not great for a show when he’s supposed to be grilling politicians and making them stumble. Niall Patterson was much better in this slot the last time Sophy was off. I also think Kimberly would be pretty good. Or get Kay on some overtime… She’s massively wasted stuck in that dingy Westminster set for a few hours each morning. In other news, I’m glad to see SJM back. Her title card is hideous though and the purple colour scheme used previously suited the show much better.

[merseybloggeruk]

Anyone know why the weekend studio is now back out of use.

[valley]

Anyone know why the weekend studio is now back out of use.

You mean Studio 6? It is now just for VR recordings (Daily Climate Show, etc.) and as a standby studio in case of rehearsals/cleaning/etc. of Studio 21/Glass Box or Millbank.