Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network, and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. In 2024, Sky News was named Royal Television Society News Channel of the Year, the 17th time it has held the award and the channel's 7th consecutive win. The channel and its live streaming world news are available on its website, television platforms, and online platforms such as YouTube and Apple TV, and various mobile devices and digital media players.
A sister channel, Sky News Arabia, is operated as a joint venture with the Abu Dhabi Media Investment Corporation. A channel called Sky News International, simulcasting the UK channel directly but without British advertisements, is available in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, South Asia, Asia Pacific, Australia, and the Americas. Narrated segments (which generally cover lighter issues unrelated to current news stories) are played in place of advertisements, and international weather forecasts are also given at the end of each half-hour newscast. Sponsored advertisements are still broadcast before and/or after the sports news and weather segments. Sky News Radio provides national and international news to commercial radio and community radio stations in the UK and other English-language stations around the world. Sky News also provides content to Yahoo! News.
Sky News Australia was part-owned by Sky News parent Sky plc until December 2016, cutting ties completely with its UK counterpart in 2018 following Sky's sale to Comcast, but retained the Sky News brand under license. In February 2026, News Corp Australia announced that the Australian channel would be renamed as News24 at the end of the year, following the expiration of the brand licensing agreement.
History
Establishment and early years
On 8 June 1988, Rupert Murdoch announced in a speech to the British Academy of Film and Television Arts plans to start a new television news service. Sky News started broadcasting at 6 pm on 5 February 1989.
Visually Sky News looked very neat, with slick and classy presentation and John O'Loan's original vocation as an architect showing in the studio set. Sky had gone for the same format as the Nine O'Clock News on the BBC, which had recently been redesigned to give the impression of activity and immediacy by placing the newsreader against a backdrop of the working newsroom. Sky News, it was universally agreed as staff nodded in vigorous approval, had succeeded rather better at the same thing. The critics were mildly taken aback. Contrary to some of the horror scenarios bandied about by the chattering classes there seemed to be little to grumble about. And as its slogan of 'We're there when you need us,' emphasised, it was always on.
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 be closed, but Murdoch 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." Former Home Secretary William Whitelaw said in the House of Lords in 1990 that Sky News had "a very high reputation ... I admire it, as do many other people, it will certainly waken up both the BBC and ITN and ensure that they compete with what is a very important news service" Hansard October 1990. The channel (as of 2007) has never been run for a profit, and has considered using ITN to supplement the service.
By March 1992, Sky News' parent company turned from loss to profit.
Sky News was the UK's first 24-hour news channel, broadcast on Astra 1A. It had no local competition until November 1997, when BBC News launched a new 24-hour channel, BBC News 24, now known simply as BBC News. In September 1999, the European Commission ruled against a Sky News complaint, which argued that the publicly funded BBC News 24 was unfair and illegal under EU law. The EC ruled that the television licence fee should be considered state aid (within the meaning of Article 87), but that the BBC's public service remit justified the channel.
2000–2018
In March 2000, Sky News Active, a 24-hour interactive service providing headlines and other services which ranged from weather, the top story of the day, and showbiz on demand, was launched.
Analogue broadcasting of the channel ceased on 30 June 2001.
In March 2004, Sky News was announced to have won a five-year contract to supply news bulletins to Channel 5, taking over from ITN in January 2005.
On 24 October 2005, Sky News moved to new studios in Isleworth, Greater London, and underwent a major on-screen revamp. The new studio was integrated with the newsroom and boasted the biggest video wall in Britain; it was designed by New York architects Janson Design Group. New music was scored by Adelphoi Music and recorded with a full orchestra at Air Studios, Hampstead, and mastered at Metropolis Studios. New on-screen graphics were launched and the channel began broadcasting in widescreen (16:9) format.
The 2005 relaunch also had the introduction of a new schedule designed around "appointment to view" programmes rather than continuous rolling news. James Rubin joined to present a new evening programme called World News Tonight, Julie Etchingham presented another new "hard-hitting" evening show called The Sky Report, Eamonn Holmes joined to present Sunrise, Kay Burley presented a new programme called Lunchtime Live from 12 to 2 pm, and the daytime show Sky News Today had the introduction of a three-presenter format. However, the relaunched schedule was unsuccessful, and from October 2005, the BBC News channel overtook Sky News in the ratings.
In response to the schedule's unpopularity with viewers, July 2006 saw the removal of the evening programmes—which were replaced by rolling news and an interactive programme, Sky News with Martin Stanford, and the return to a two-presenter format on Sky News Today. These changes came with the arrival of the new Head of Sky News, John Ryley. On 1 October 2007, Sky introduced another new schedule, extending Kay Burley's Lunchtime Live programme and renaming it Afternoon Live. It also switched to a new format for much of the day, with a solo lead presenter and a summary newsreader. Sky News put more emphasis on interactive news with Martin Stanford's new SkyNews.com programme; an early evening financial news programme presented by Jeff Randall, was also introduced, initially on Mondays only. Further changes were made to the Sky News schedule on 8 September 2008, with Colin Brazier presenting a new show from 1 – 2 pm, The Live Desk, and Martin Stanford's Sky.com News became SkyNews.com, moving to 7 pm every weeknight. More changes took place during the early part of 2009. These changes involved major changes to the layout of the newsroom/studio, the introduction of a morning edition of The Live Desk and the extension of the financial news programme Jeff Randall Live to run for four nights each week, Monday to Thursday.
From 6 am to midnight on 8 March 2010, Sky News was presented and produced exclusively by women to mark International Women's Day. This exercise was repeated in 2011 and 2012.
In preparation for the start of high-definition broadcasting, Sky News moved to its second studio (Studio B) on the morning of 30 March 2010. Broadcasting from Studio B continued until 9 pm on 6 May, when it moved back to the main newsroom and launched Sky News HD in time for the 2010 general election results. Sky News received a graphics refresh and a new logo to coincide with the launch of the new HD channel – this was tried out during the soft launch for Sky News HD on 22 April; Sky News' distinctive orchestral theme music, in use since 2005, was also updated on 6 May 2010. The new title music, orchestrated by David Arnold, was recorded with a 60-piece Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in Angel Recording Studios, London, and uses more than 132 audio channels for 18 seconds of sound.
Following the 2015 general election, Sky News was rebranded, with a new top-of-the-hour sequence and on-screen graphics. The traditional opening voiceover, read by Bruce Hammal, was dropped after two decades in use. On 24 October 2016, Sky News began broadcasting from a new studio (Studio 21) at Sky Central, Sky's new headquarters in West London. The "glass box" studio was initially used for broadcasts from 6 am to 6.30 pm each weekday (with the exception of All Out Politics, which comes from Sky's Westminster studio) - as of April 2019 it was only used from 11 am to 7 pm, and 9 pm to 12 am. The schedule was also changed.
In January 2017, Sky moved its business operations into the News Building in central London. On 16 January 2018, Sky moved all its news operations over to Studio 21, "the glass box", and a new studio in Sky Studios.
Comcast acquisition, 2018–present
On 9 December 2016, Sky shareholder 21st Century Fox announced that it had made an offer to acquire the remainder of the company for £11.7 billion. The combination of Sky with Fox's other assets led to concerns that the Murdoch family would attain "material influence over news providers with a significant presence across all key platforms" and "increased influence over the UK news agenda and the political process". Concerns were also raised about recent sexual harassment allegations centred upon Fox's U.S. network Fox News, although Ofcom did deem 21st Century Fox to be "fit and proper" to hold broadcast licences. On 14 December 2017, The Walt Disney Company in turn announced its intent to acquire 21st Century Fox, following the divestiture of certain assets (particularly the U.S. Fox network proper). Analysts felt that would ease regulatory tensions surrounding the Fox purchase of Sky, as Sky was to be included in the purchase, and Disney's scope of media ownership in the UK was not as wide.
In January 2018, the Competition and Markets Authority issued a preliminary report recommending that Sky News be insulated from the remainder of Murdoch's assets, or divested, in order to preserve its editorial independence. The following month, Fox proposed a commitment to funding Sky News for 10 years, and the establishment of an independent editorial board. The commitments would have been inherited by Disney if it completed its purchase. On 3 April 2018, Fox stated that Disney had expressed interest in acquiring Sky News in a separate transaction, not dependent on the outcome of the Disney/Fox purchase.
On 5 June 2018, the then Culture Secretary Matt Hancock cleared Fox's proposed deal, contingent on the divestiture of Sky News. It also cleared counteroffers for Sky that were being made in a bidding war by U.S. telecoms and media conglomerate Comcast. Comcast made a US$65 billion counter-offer to acquire the 21st Century Fox assets being sold to Disney. Fox rejected the offer, in favour of a higher-valued offer from Disney. Comcast subsequently pursued a counter-offer for Sky only, resulting in the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers ordering that a blind auction be held between Comcast and Fox. On 22 September, Comcast was declared the winner of the auction, resulting in Fox agreeing to sell its controlling stake in Sky to the company.
The sale made Sky News a sister division to NBC News—a U.S.-based news operation owned by Comcast's U.S. media division NBCUniversal, its U.S. pay television news channel MSNBC, as well as Euronews—a pan-European news channel which NBCUniversal owned a stake in at the time of purchase. Since the acquisition, NBC News has occasionally simulcast Sky News on MSNBC and NBC News Now to cover international breaking news, while the two divisions have collaborated on projects such as podcasts. In April 2019, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts stated that the company was exploring the establishment of a "global" news channel as a joint venture between Sky News and NBC News. In January 2020, it was stated that this new channel would also be carried on NBCUniversal's new U.S. streaming video platform Peacock. In April 2020, it was stated that the launch of the service, by then known as NBC Sky World News, would be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 20 April 2020, NBCUniversal sold its stake in Euronews to one of its existing shareholders, citing a desire to prioritise the NBC/Sky service instead. The proposed service was scrapped in August 2020, resulting in layoffs of 60 employees.
On 3 June 2021, Sky News updated its top-of-the-hour sequence, soundtrack, and on-screen graphics package. A Sky News source denied the move was related to the launch of GB News. On 9 February 2023, David Rhodes was appointed Executive Chairman of the Sky News Group in charge of all Sky's news operations. Jonathan Levy was appointed Managing Director and Executive Editor, Sky News UK.
On 19 July 2024, Sky News was taken offline by the 2024 CrowdStrike incident, briefly making it unable to broadcast live.
On 9 November 2024, Sky News released a video report on the November 2024 Amsterdam riots citing the fact that the violence was kickstarted by Israeli football fans chanting anti-Arab slurs and tearing down Palestinian flags from various properties. Shortly afterwards Sky News removed their coverage only to reupload an edited version seemingly removing culpability from the Israeli football fans for starting the violence, prompting outrage on social media.
On 25 September 2025, ahead of the planned spin-off of most of NBCUniversal's cable networks into a new company called Versant, MSNBC announced a "multi-year" agreement with Sky News to provide international newsgathering resources to the service after it separates from NBC News into an independent operation.
In May 2026, ITV News reported that Sky News was estimated to cost around £140 million a year to run with losses of £100 million.
Reception
Sky News is free-to-air on the Astra 28.2°E satellites carrying Sky. It is also available on Freeview and analogue and digital cable. In 2007, BSkyB announced its intention to cease broadcasting Sky News – as well as other BSkyB channels – over Freeview, pending Ofcom approval.
In the 1990s, short-form news updates were broadcast between programs on other Sky networks, including Sky One, Sky Movies and The Movie Channel. Sky One also simulcast the 11PM Sky World News Hour for a time in the early 1990s.
Sky News International
Sky News is also available internationally on cable systems, on satellite, and in some hotels. While the UK feed is broadcast in 16:9, the international version remained broadcast in a 4:3 picture format until August 2010. Sky News broadcasts in Europe, Middle East, Africa.
The international version is shown as free-to-air on Astra 1L at 19.2° east. It is also carried encrypted on a number of satellites for international reception, including Hot Bird, Nilesat & Amos. It is also usually carried on cable systems in Europe, particularly in Northern Europe, especially in the Scandinavian countries.
International viewers receive the same programming line-up of Sky News as the UK version. Brief news stories, entertainment news, worldwide weather forecast summaries, and the front pages of international newspapers are broadcast in lieu of UK commercials. The timepiece on the lower left side of the ticker is covered with a banner that says "skynews.com".
Sky News is not available on Sky Deutschland, Sky plc's offering in Germany, but is available on Sky Italia.
On 19 June 2013, Sky News International was added to Apple TV for users in the UK, Ireland, and the United States. Viewers can watch clips or live streaming of the channel at no charge. On 24 July 2013, it was added to the Roku streaming player. Sky News International is available on news.sky.com to viewers around the world. On 30 September 2014, Sky News began live streaming the channel on YouTube. The free streaming service Pluto TV also offers a live feed of Sky News to American users on channel 135. Since its acquisition by Comcast, Sky News has been made available in the U.S. on the Peacock streaming service run by NBCUniversal, and simulcast on MSNBC and NBC News Now during breaking news events of major significance such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the death of Queen Elizabeth II, the Wagner Group rebellion, and the Gaza war.
Sky News International and Sky News Ireland feeds are registered to broadcast within the European Union/EEA through ALIA in Luxembourg.
In 2023 Sky News UK launched on Bell Fibe in Canada, it was previously on Videotron,
Related channels
Sky News Arabia, broadcasting in Arabic and headquartered in Abu Dhabi, UAE, launched in 2012. Sky plc owns 50% of the channel.
Sky TG24, Italy's version of Sky News, launched in 2003.
Sky News Australia was one-third owned by Sky plc until December 2016, when it was acquired by News Corp Australia. It carries Sky News UK overnight and shares some of its presentational style. On Foxtel in Australia, Sky News UK is available on channel 604.
From 2004 to 2006, Sky News Ireland broadcast two newscasts produced in Dublin. The newscasts were cancelled due to low viewership. Sky News in Ireland now carries the same programming as Sky News in the UK with local insertion of Irish-specific ads.
Previous partnership with CBS News
Until 2017, Sky News had a resource-sharing agreement with CBS News in the United States to share footage and reporting. In July 2017, in the wake of Sky's pending takeover by 21st Century Fox (which runs the competing and former de facto sister Fox News Channel in the U.S.), and NBC News acquiring a stake in Euronews, CBS ended the agreement and entered into a similar deal with the BBC.
Sky News HD
Beginning in early 2008, Sky News began using HD-capable cameras in the field. Some one-off programmes were made available in HD to Sky+ HD subscribers on Sky On Demand. The programmes included Technofile, Diana: The Final Word, Canoe Man: Rise and Fall of John Darwin, and Pathfinders: Into The Heart Of Afghanistan.
On 20 January 2009, before the launch of the Sky News HD channel, Sky Arts broadcast Sky News coverage in HD of the Inauguration of Barack Obama. Jeremy Thompson fronted the coverage from Washington, D.C. Michael Jackson's memorial service was also broadcast in HD, with Kay Burley presenting.
Sky News moved operations to a chroma-key set in Studio B from 30 March 2010, so final preparations for HD could take place in the main newsroom.
The first live broadcast of Sky News HD, on Sky Channel 517, was the channel's election debate, which was held on 22 April 2010. For the 10 days leading up to the debate, channel 517 displayed a countdown clock to launch. The debate was hosted in HD by Kay Burley and Adam Boulton. Following the end of the coverage for the evening, channel 517 moved to show a looping preview tape. The tape included the HD, which were available on Sky Anytime. The loop continued until Sky News HD was launched on the evening of 6 May 2010, coinciding with the coverage of the 2010 general election results, hosted by Adam Boulton.
On 26 July 2010, Sky News HD launched on the OSN Network, broadcasting to the Middle East and Africa.
On 1 January 2015, Sky News HD launched on Virgin Media.
Sky News Radio
Sky News Radio provides news bulletins to radio stations in the United Kingdom and to other English-language radio stations around the world.
In March 2007, BSkyB and Chrysalis Group announced plans to launch a dedicated Sky News Radio station on the proposed bid by Channel 4's 4 Digital Group for the second digital audio broadcasting multiplex in the United Kingdom. However, two months later Chrysalis sold its radio stations to Global Radio, and in October 2007 following a business review Global's chief executive announced that it would be withdrawing from the joint venture.
The Sky News Radio feed is available free-to-air on the Astra 2A satellite at 28.2 East by tuning it manually: 12207.00 V, 27500, 2/3 (Label: SNR).