Sky News 2005 – 2007

On October 24th 2005 Sky News launched a new look and revamped programming schedule, Sky’s most radical overhaul in its sixteen year history. Designed by Jack Morton Worldwide, Sky went stateside to bring more glamour and theatre.

Sky Publicity: “Sky News will be broadcasting from a new, state-of-the-art newsroom. At 7,500 square foot Sky News’ new newsroom is over twice the size of its previous facility, which was around 3,000 square foot. It also features a newswall double the size of its previous model, and for the first time the newsroom is fully integrated with the studio. At the heart of the newsroom is a state-of-the-art motorised presentation desk that rotates. The desk has been installed with a purpose-built LED screen – another television first – that mirrors the images on the newswall, giving depth to the picture used. The newswall measures 14m x 3m (compared to the old newswall’s 7m x 2m) and is 36 tiles long x 7 tiles high. The new building houses 400 Sky News staff, including Five News and all technical and support staff. The newsroom itself seats 70 journalists, has eight presentation points, is equipped with 12 cameras, two jimmy jibs and for the first time Sky News has a separate studio (Studio B). Sky’s British architects worked with the New York partnership of architects Janson Design Group, and set designers Production Design Group, on the design of the Sky News Centre and the studio set. It will be the first time Sky News journalists will use a server based newsroom system in its entirety ingest, editing and play out.”

A raft of new presenter-led programmes were also introduced, including Eamonn Holmes (Sunrise), Kay burlye (Lunchtime Live), Julie Etchingham (Sky Report at 7pm) and James Rubin (World News Tonight)

Nick Pollard, the head of Sky News Said: “Viewers switch on in droves for breaking stories but when it’s quiet we have got to find ways of hooking them in, Our stated aim is to raise the overall quality of our journalism and to the extent our reputation of being very good on breaking stories to being generally of the highest rank of broadcast journalism in the UK.”