The Newsroom

The Sky News Thread

(October 2019)

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GI
ginnyfan
It all started falling apart when they dropped the TOTH voiceover which for decades was Sky News' trademark. The whole openning was always an event with great music, great idents and voiceover as the icing on the cake. Ever since the change, they've had the worst TOTH of all the news channels that exist.

After this, slowely over time, all other elements of presentations have gone the same, bland, lifeless way.
JO
Joe
Just catching up here but I’ve seen words to the effect of ‘what was all the fuss about?’ at least a couple of times.

I don’t recall a fuss, certainly not from Sky. Maybe here. Which seems rather funny, given that a few complained that the Burley trailer didn’t mention the new set.

Perhaps a little perspective is needed?

And by the way, I’m not crazy on the new set – I think the screens come across poorly and, in designs terms, are a little lazy – but I also think a few of the things written here are a little over the top.
UT
UTVLifer
mediamonkeyuk posted:
I can’t be the only one wondering why they’ve bothered (and why they hyped it up). The old Westminster Studio was vastly superior and even chucking the new desk in there would have been better. Although, I would have done away with the orange lighting on KB@B. It looked dated and a purple or pink would have been more appropriate with the blue.

Also, why no new graphics? Not even the logo has changed. None of it makes sense anymore and I’m sorry but they shouldn’t have ever got rid of Sky News Centre at Osterley. That space was amazing and so fit for purpose. The glass box doesn’t come close and it is so inflexible with formats. Ok, we don’t need to go back to triple headed shows with people climbing stairs whilst reading headlines from 2005 but somewhere in between would be nice rather than the opposite end of the spectrum as now. I have to say, Sky News Centre never looked better than just before they left. In fact, when they decamped back there whilst the glass box was having its ‘improvements’, they should have stayed put. I mean, is no one at Sky actually watching the output these days? It looks dreadful and messy. The lighting is awful and they are just sleep walking from one disaster to the next. The apologetic tone they use to announce breaking news is beyond satire. Sky used to be ‘first for breaking news’. Now it’s like they don’t want Maureen to spill her cornflakes. Come on Sky! Get back to what you do best. Give your loyal viewers a reason to stay. At the moment, we might as well flick to BBC as the presentation is just as bland. Remind us why we picked you in the first place.


I don't get why Kay Burley doesn't have a new titlecard because I did kinda like the purple clouds on the last one. Also it's not 2005 anymore, why can't they get Kay to sit down? I did like the set up for KB@B before Covid and the temp glass box move where Kay would stand up at the TOTH and then sit down. If 5 News can sit down so can Kay Burley.

The Brexit Election pres showed that Sky News still have it in them to do great things in terms of presentation, sets and graphics but I had felt outside of that election since the final move from Sky News Centre that they have just given up and stopped watching there own channel to see how dull it is

I do agree with some other posters in this thread that some aspects on Sky News in recent years including The Sarah-Jane (not) Mee Show have been questionable. Studio 6 is another general bugbearer for me; It is barely used outside of the UK graveyard slots, the backdrop is dull and the set has no life to it
VA
valley
UTVLifer posted:
I don't get why Kay Burley doesn't have a new titlecard because I did kinda like the purple clouds on the last one. Also it's not 2005 anymore, why can't they get Kay to sit down? I did like the set up for KB@B before Covid and the temp glass box move where Kay would stand up at the TOTH and then sit down. If 5 News can sit down so can Kay Burley.

Because KB doesn't want to sit down. What KB says, goes... (very much speaking from experience here!)

Joe posted:
Just catching up here but I’ve seen words to the effect of ‘what was all the fuss about?’ at least a couple of times.

I don’t recall a fuss, certainly not from Sky. Maybe here. Which seems rather funny, given that a few complained that the Burley trailer didn’t mention the new set.


I agree with Joe, the only person I saw hyping up the set were the KB Instagram stories. I never saw any hyping up of anything other than the actual content on the actual channel - and let's be honest, the vast majority of people aren't watching for the set or for the lighting. They're watching for the content - as long as you can see the content, all is good.
BF
BFGArmy
Joe posted:
Just catching up here but I’ve seen words to the effect of ‘what was all the fuss about?’ at least a couple of times.

I don’t recall a fuss, certainly not from Sky. Maybe here. Which seems rather funny, given that a few complained that the Burley trailer didn’t mention the new set.

Perhaps a little perspective is needed?

And by the way, I’m not crazy on the new set – I think the screens come across poorly and, in designs terms, are a little lazy – but I also think a few of the things written here are a little over the top.


TVF hyping something up based on little to no evidence only to then be disappointed when changes aren't as dramatic as some had hoped for - I for one am shocked!
Ratflump, AJ and tightrope78 gave kudos
TT
TTRWE
Has anyone noticed any tweaks today or anything different?

I'm watching on a different screen tonight, but is the blue background on Tonight not quite as bright as it was?
BF
BFGArmy
In terms of the view on the set - it's not a huge change from what we'd already seen from the Glassbox really and while it's not anything particularly spellbinding it looks fine on screen (especially with the Tonight branding) and quite similar to the BBC's Politics Live studio.
By all accounts the Westminster studio isn't particular large (not surprising given it's next to a working newsroom) and there's only so much you can probably include in that space.

I was never much of a fan too of the previous iteration of the studio - it looked tiny on screen (and clever camerawork normally makes can make even the smallest studio look quite large) and there was next to no variety in terms of the backdrop etc they could use. Pre-Covid too it was basically Dermot/Kay/Adam in front of some blinds for a few hours so hardly dynamite presentation previously.

These days too the trend seems to be to sit somebody at a desk in front of a screen/videowall the majority of the time on most English speaking channels so I'm not clear why it's such an issue with Sky really.

Yes CNN's London studio is nice and spacious and has loads of presentation points but it's to an extent the exception - the studios for CTW,AC360, Erin Burnett are basically the anchors in front of a screen and the CNN London studio until recently was just a giant screen behind the anchor and some more to the side so hardly all singing alldancing. Even Al Jazeera who have a lovely looking London studio and an incredible view out of the Shard 99% of the time will just have the anchor at a desk in front of a videowall

On the point of Kay being seatbound, I'm sure back in her Afternoon Live days there was a spell where the show was hosted from the desk while 'the Island' was tweaked. Also, when Sky first moved to the Glassbox I remember her show was presented sat down (back when they showed off Sky Central).
TT
TTRWE
Why are they using angled close ups of the screens in this studio rather than full screen graphics?

*

The end result is an angled, far blurier image than just directly showing them on the broadcast.
UT
UTVLifer
BFGArmy posted:
In terms of the view on the set - it's not a huge change from what we'd already seen from the Glassbox really and while it's not anything particularly spellbinding it looks fine on screen (especially with the Tonight branding) and quite similar to the BBC's Politics Live studio.
By all accounts the Westminster studio isn't particular large (not surprising given it's next to a working newsroom) and there's only so much you can probably include in that space.

I was never much of a fan too of the previous iteration of the studio - it looked tiny on screen (and clever camerawork normally makes can make even the smallest studio look quite large) and there was next to no variety in terms of the backdrop etc they could use. Pre-Covid too it was basically Dermot/Kay/Adam in front of some blinds for a few hours so hardly dynamite presentation previously.

These days too the trend seems to be to sit somebody at a desk in front of a screen/videowall the majority of the time on most English speaking channels so I'm not clear why it's such an issue with Sky really.

Yes CNN's London studio is nice and spacious and has loads of presentation points but it's to an extent the exception - the studios for CTW,AC360, Erin Burnett are basically the anchors in front of a screen and the CNN London studio until recently was just a giant screen behind the anchor and some more to the side so hardly all singing alldancing. Even Al Jazeera who have a lovely looking London studio and an incredible view out of the Shard 99% of the time will just have the anchor at a desk in front of a videowall

On the point of Kay being seatbound, I'm sure back in her Afternoon Live days there was a spell where the show was hosted from the desk while 'the Island' was tweaked. Also, when Sky first moved to the Glassbox I remember her show was presented sat down (back when they showed off Sky Central).

Didn't Kay sit down on KB@B in the old Millbank set after the TOTH?
TV
TVViewer256
UTVLifer posted:
BFGArmy posted:
In terms of the view on the set - it's not a huge change from what we'd already seen from the Glassbox really and while it's not anything particularly spellbinding it looks fine on screen (especially with the Tonight branding) and quite similar to the BBC's Politics Live studio.
By all accounts the Westminster studio isn't particular large (not surprising given it's next to a working newsroom) and there's only so much you can probably include in that space.

I was never much of a fan too of the previous iteration of the studio - it looked tiny on screen (and clever camerawork normally makes can make even the smallest studio look quite large) and there was next to no variety in terms of the backdrop etc they could use. Pre-Covid too it was basically Dermot/Kay/Adam in front of some blinds for a few hours so hardly dynamite presentation previously.

These days too the trend seems to be to sit somebody at a desk in front of a screen/videowall the majority of the time on most English speaking channels so I'm not clear why it's such an issue with Sky really.

Yes CNN's London studio is nice and spacious and has loads of presentation points but it's to an extent the exception - the studios for CTW,AC360, Erin Burnett are basically the anchors in front of a screen and the CNN London studio until recently was just a giant screen behind the anchor and some more to the side so hardly all singing alldancing. Even Al Jazeera who have a lovely looking London studio and an incredible view out of the Shard 99% of the time will just have the anchor at a desk in front of a videowall

On the point of Kay being seatbound, I'm sure back in her Afternoon Live days there was a spell where the show was hosted from the desk while 'the Island' was tweaked. Also, when Sky first moved to the Glassbox I remember her show was presented sat down (back when they showed off Sky Central).

Didn't Kay sit down on KB@B in the old Millbank set after the TOTH?

Yes - she also sat down for her 2-5PM show after the news wall changed from curved to flat in 2014.
MA
mattsh
Meridian AM posted:
Sky News Today, 15 years ago.

https://youtu.be/j1sLANkOLdA

It was somewhat OTT, but distinctive from the BBC and a good alternative.

Compare with Sky News Today today...


It’s a bad job when the presentation and overall package from 15 years ago is better than the offering we have now.
Ittr and Meridian AM gave kudos
BR
Brekkie
That studio was fantastic. Three presenters however - well. it's no wonder that didn't last long.

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