Sky News

In the space of the advertisement breaks are written summaries of news, business & sports headlines, accompanied by different mixes of the normal Sky News theme music. Though notionally synonymous with Christmas, both religious and secular, Yule and Yuletide are sometimes used by English speakers as secular names for December 25th and late December in general in much the same way that the Scandinavian "Jul" does not distinguish between the Germanic Pagan feast, Christmas, and (quite possibly) the pre-Indo-European winter solstice celebration. The key differences between this overseas version and the UK version are the omission of the current time on the screen (reflecting that the channel may be shown outside of its normal GMT/BST time zone), and the absence of advertisements. A much more popular winter celebration is "Christmas in July", not surprisingly celebrated (several times by some) in July, removing the celebration from all religious connections both Pagan and Christian. The standard UK Sky News channel is also available in a number of other countries; it is occasionally shown in hotels and is offered by some cable systems as part of their English-language line-up. Because Christmas happens during extreme summer temperatures in the southern hemisphere, a few Australians celebrate a second festival, known as Yulefest, at the southern winter solstice in June. This differs from Sky News UK only in that it includes two local halfhour weekdaily programmes, and a weekly summary programme. The holiday is observed in a manner that commemorates the death of the Oak King identified with the wren bird (symbolizing the old year and the shortened sun) at the hands of his son and successor, the robin redbreast Holly King (the new year and the new sun that begins to grow).

Sky News Ireland began in May 2004. In particularly Wiccan-influenced and New Age religions attempts at reconstruction are largely disregarded and the festival is largely only related to historical accounts by name, as a part the Wheel of the Year. However this Italian language channel has little in common with Sky News UK. [2]. Sky TG24, known to some English speakers as "Sky News Italia" launched on August 23 2003. Groups such as the Asatru Folk Assembly in the US recognize the celebration as lasting for 12 days, beginning on the date of the winter solstice. Some of this programming is also broadcast on Sky News Australia. Further attempts at reconstruction of surviving accounts of historical celebrations are often made, a hallmark being variations of the traditional blót.

Initially, only local news bulletins differentiated it from Sky News Australia, but its level of local programming has now increased. In Germanic Neopagan sects, Yule is celebrated with gatherings that often involve a meal and gift giving. New Zealand's Sky News Australia New Zealand launched in 2001. [1] The Pope sanctions such conversion tactics as Biblically acceptable, pointing out that God did much the same thing with the ancient Israelites and their pagan sacrifices. It is another News Corp channel that owes much in terms of style and presentation to Sky News. The Pope suggests that converting heathens is easier if they are allowed to retain the outward forms of their traditional pagan practices and traditions, while recasting those traditions spiritually towards the one true God instead of to their pagan gods (whom the Pope refers to as "devils"), "to the end that, whilst some gratifications are outwardly permitted them, they may the more easily consent to the inward consolations of the grace of God". Hindi news channel STAR News was launched in 1998 on Asia's STAR TV platform. English historian Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum ("Ecclesiastic History of the English People") contains a letter from Pope Gregory I to Saint Mellitus, who was then on his way to England to conduct missionary work among the heathen Anglo-Saxons.

It ceased transmission in June 1998. Halloween and Easter are theorized to have been likewise assimilated from northern European pagan festivals. It was partial-day Sky UK channel with a focus on Scottish news and sport. The tradition derives from the sacrifice to the god Freyr at the Yule celebrations. Sky Scottish launched on November 1 1996 as a joint venture between BSkyB and Scottish Media Group. The Scandinavian tradition of slaughtering a pig at Christmas (see Christmas ham), and not in the autumn, is probably the most salient evidence for this. This never happened, possibly due to sharp increases in ratings for FOX News. When the first missionaries began converting the Germanic peoples to Christianity, they found it easier to simply provide a Christian reinterpretation for popular feasts such as Yule and allow the celebrations themselves to go on largely unchanged, rather than trying to suppress them.

Following Sky News' successful coverage of the 2003 Iraq War, some of which was broadcast on Fox News, there was a proposal to launch a Sky News US. are apparently derived from traditional northern European Yule celebrations. Fox and Sky use each others correspondents, studios and footage but there is a gulf in editorial stances of the two channels. Many of the symbols associated with the modern holiday of Christmas such as the burning of the Yule log, the eating of ham, the hanging of boughs, holly, mistletoe, etc. Sky News' "sister channel" in the United States is Fox News Channel, launched on October 7, 1996. The occasions were annual banquets on December 26,. It ceased transmission in August 1997. The confraternities of artisans of the 9th century, which developed into the medieval guilds, were denounced by Catholic clergy for their "conjurations" when they swore to support one another in coming adversity and in business ventures.

It was a partial-day UK opinion focused current affairs channel. It is, however, known to have included the sacrifice of a pig for the god Freyr, a tradition which survives in the Scandinavian Christmas ham. Granada Talk TV launched on October 1 1996 as part of the Granada Sky Broadcasting joint venture between BSkyB and Granada. 'Yule-Joy', with dancing, continued through the Middle Ages in Iceland, but was frowned upon when the Reformation arrived. The UK version in its entirety is also available in Australia, but only in a low bitrate form. What is certain is that Yule celebrations at the winter solstice predate Christianity, and though there are numerous references to Yule in the Icelandic sagas, there are few accounts of how Yule was actually celebrated, beyond the fact that it was a time for feasting. This channel makes heavy use of Sky News UK material. Other Slavic languages have similar words as well.

The first Sky News deriviate was Sky News Australia, launched on February 19 1996 as a joint venture between BSkyB, Publishing and Broadcasting Limited and the Seven Network. In Russian, the word "ёлка" /ˈjɔlkɐ/ refers to fir trees, which are associated with yuletide. They share content and expertise, but differ in focus and presentation. The meaning later narrowed to mean Christmas with the coming of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England. As well as the original UK version, there are a growing number of other "Sky News" channels, and additional News Corporation news channels. In Old English, geóla originally referred to the month of December. It is also usually carried on cable systems in Europe, particularly (but not only) in Northern Europe. The word "jul" has also been borrowed into the neighboring Finnic languages, most notably to Finnish and Estonian (where it has been modified to "joulu" and "jõul" , respectively, and denotes Christmas in modern usage), although the Finnic languages have a linguistic origin different from Germanic languages.

It is also carried encrypted on a number of satellites for international reception - including but not limited to Hotbird, Nilesat, Amos 1 and Intelsat 10-02. "Jewish Yule") for Hanukkah. An international version - the UK feed, minus advertisements, the clock , the scrolling headlines banner and cropped to 4:3 - is free-to-air on Astra 1E at 19.2E. In the Scandinavian Germanic languages, the term Jul covers both Yule and Christmas, and is also occasionally used to denote other holidays in December, e.g., "jødisk jul" or "judisk jul" (tr. It is also available on Freeview. Linguists suggest that Jól has been inherited by Germanic languages from a pre-Indo-European substrate language and either borrowed into Old English from Old Norse or directly inherited from Proto-Germanic. Sky News is free-to-air on the satellites carrying the Sky Digital platform. Of the contested origin of Jól, one popular but factually unlikely connection is to Old Norse hjól, wheel, to identify the moment when the wheel of the year is at its lowpoint, ready to rise again.

Indeed, recently the BBC Head of News, Peter Horrocks, admitted that it was Sky News that is to be found on the tv screens of all the major UK national newsdesks (as well as a good deal of others across the globe), not the BBC. . Despite increased competition from the BBC, Sky News remains the default news channel for opinion formers in UK. This usage survives in the term "Yule log"; it may also persist in some Scottish dialects. Later that year, its (also award-winning) coverage of the Iraq conflict saw it yet again steal a march on its rivals, with US networks CBS and Fox News carrying much of its coverage. Indeed, this is the only meaning of "Yule" accepted by either the full Oxford English Dictionary or the Concise Oxford Dictionary, and people unfamiliar with ancient pagan traditions will not distinguish between Yule and Christmas. In 2002/3, its coverage of the Soham Murders in Cambridgeshire gave the channel yet more awards, and the British Academy award for news coverage. "Yule" and "Yuletide" are also archaic terms for Christmas, sometimes invoked in songs to provide atmosphere.

During the first week or so of the invasion of Afghanistan, Its US sister station Fox News substituted its late-night repeats of its own programming with a simulcast of Sky News. In Germanic Neopaganism it is one of the eight solar holidays, or sabbats, where Yule is celebrated on the winter solstice: in the northern hemisphere, circa December 21, and in the southern hemisphere, circa June 21. Its coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks brought more honours, and more recognition from BAFTA and the RTS. Yule was the winter solstice celebration of the Germanic pagans. Its coverage of the war in Kosovo eclipsed long-standing rivals at CNN and the BBC, both of whom could only just muster telephone reports, whilst Sky had live reporters in-vision across the region; for that, it won awards from the Royal Television Society and BAFTA, as well as a nomination for an International Emmy Award. At the turn of the millennium, Sky began a process of expanding its international coverage, opening more overseas bureaux in Africa, Europe, the far East, and so on.

The channel came in for further criticism, with many accusing it of maintaining a pro-Louise Woodward stance, even after she was found guilty. Villagers rallied round the screen, and Sky recorded their reactions to every detail of the trial. They also took the opportunity to rig up a huge television screen in a pub in Woodward's home village of Elton in Cheshire, with 24/7 coverage of the trial in progress. After days of live courtroom television, Sky attempted to return to a more regular schedule, only to be inundated with complaints by viewers demanding that the trial return to the screens; Sky obliged.

Capitalising on the live broadcasts from the courtroom, Sky News covered the trial as-it-happened, with constant live coverage. Its coverage of the Louise Woodward trial in Boston, US, garnered the channel international attention. However the station has undoubtedly got past this in its news coverage, to the point of being nominated for International Emmy Awards and a 2004 report listed Sky as second only to the BBC in terms of public trust in British news outlets. A 1993 report on public trust in news outlets ranked Sky News far below the more established TV networks and newspapers.

MacKenzie announced his resignation in August 1994. The interview did not air on Sky News, and was instead shifted to Sky One. Frykberg refused to air the interview and resigned shortly afterwards. The most ferocious battle occurred when Mackenzie wanted Sky News to run an interview with Lady Bienvenida Buck, exposed by the News of the World as being the mistress of Chief of Defence staff Sir Peter Harding.

Mackenzie, in contrast, wanted the channel to focus on more domestic and 'tabloid' stories. There was also talk of the US CBS network acquiring a stake in Sky News, and the two launching a joint international news channel. At the time, he was backed by Rupert Murdoch *[3]. Frykberg outlined his intention to open 15 new Sky News bureaux around the world and make the channel a serious alternative to CNN.

The main problems arose when it became clear that Frykberg, then head of News and Sport at BSkyB, wanted to take Sky News to a wider international audience. MacKenzie's proposed changes to Sky News lead to clashes with CEO Sam Chisholm and the head of Sky News, Ian Frykberg, who protested what they saw as an attempt to take its news values downmarket and concentrate on stories that would be more familiar to tabloid newspapers than its rivals at the BBC and ITN. In early 1994 Kelvin Mackenzie, former editor of the Sun newspaper, was appointed Managing Director of BSkyB. The station has not been without controversy.

During 2003, plans to offer Sky News in the US were under consideration, but have since been dropped allegedly due to pressure from Fox News. Sky News at the moment relies more on news rather than Fox News' anchor-based commentary, such as that provided by Bill O'Reilly. It is somewhat different to stablemate Fox News, the US sister channel with which it sometimes exchanges material. Today Sky News continues to maintain an impressive standard of journalism in the face of tough competition.

In the case of longer specials lasting close to an hour, a brief news summary is given on the hour, with the special starting a few minutes after. Most specials last 30 minutes, with the regular programme for that hour being shortened to 30 minutes and the special starting at half past the hour. In addition to the above regular schedule, as of January 2006 Sky News has begun transmitting one-off special reports covering specific issues, with the schedule being altered to allow their inclusion. Shows marked with * are replaced with Sky News Ireland on Irish cable and satellite systems.

Weekends:. Regular schedule as of October 24, 2005: Weekdays:. asset. 20th Century Fox is another News Corp.

Sky News has been featured in many blockbuster feature films including 20th Century Fox releases; Independence Day, Mission: Impossible, Behind Enemy Lines, Shaun of the Dead and The Day After Tomorrow. He is married to CNN's Christiane Amanpour. Former US State Department Spokesperson James Rubin has also signed with Sky News to present an hour-long evening news show. In this, Sky News would be following the example of CNN and Fox News in the United States.

The new schedule includes more programmes based around news presenters such as Jeremy Thompson, while still breaking news around the clock. Music and on screen graphics were heavily revised and for the first time in the channel's history it began broadcasting in Widescreen (16:9) EDTV format (except for Sky News International which remained 4:3) . This replaced the building at Isleworth which had been in use for almost 17 years since the channel's launch. On October 24, 2005, Sky News was relaunched from a brand-new studio in a new building at Osterley, West London.

In March 2004 it was announced that Sky News had won a 5-year contract to supply news bulletins to the British terrestrial channel Five, taking over from ITN in January 2005. Sky News Poll, had also proved popular with a new question each day. It proved popular, and in late 2001/early 2002 it launched a 8-screen video news service, rather than just 4-screen. In March 2000 Sky News Active was launched, a 24-hour service providing headlines (and other services) on demand.

The EC ruled that the BBC licence fee should be considered state aid but that such aid was justified due to the public service remit of the BBC and that it did not exceed actual costs of the channel. In September 1999 the European Commission ruled against a complaint by Sky News which argued that the publicly funded BBC News 24 was unfair and illegal under EU law. Sky News was the only UK 24 hour news service until the launch of BBC News 24 in November 1997, followed by the ITN News Channel (changing to the ITV News Channel before it closed down in December 2005) in August 2000. However, one of its longest standing presenters, Bob Friend MBE, retired in late 2003.

Whilst it is fashionable for many of the newcomers to the news channel market to rapidly hire-and-fire presenters, Sky News is unique in that many of the original presenting team from the 1980s launch remain at the channel. Although the channel was reportedly run at a loss until 2002 [2] its award-winning journalism has brought Sky Television and its successor British Sky Broadcasting some much-needed prestige. The channel originally operated on a shoestring but quickly gained a reputation for journalistic integrity. .

(although partnerships with other News Corporation-owned news outlets greatly increase this list). The station has 7 bureaux outside the United Kingdom & Ireland: Brussels, New Delhi, Johannesburg, Jerusalem, Moscow, Beijing and Washington, D.C. Sky News currently employs around 50 on-screen staff: anchors, weather forecasters, correspondents and reporters, and over 500 behind-the-scenes workers. The station broadcasts from Osterley, West London.

Sky News is available via satellite in Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia and Oceania. A former competitor within the UK was the ITV News Channel, which has ceased broadcasting. Its main competitor in the UK is BBC News 24 while elsewhere in Europe it competes mainly with BBC World, Euronews and CNN International. Sky News is Europe's first 24-hour television news channel, originally launched as part of the 4-channel Sky Television network in February 1989.

5.30am - Sky World Review and Business Report. 5.00am - Sky World News. 4.30am - Sky World Review and Business Report. 4.00am - Sky World News.

7.00pm - Sky News On The Hour. 5.00pm - Live at Five. 12.00pm - Sky News On The Hour. 10.00am Sunday only - Sunday Live with Adam Boulton, an in-depth look at world of politics from the heart of Westminster.

10.00am Saturday only - Saturday Live with Martin Stanford, mixing news and sport with showbiz and technology. 6.00am - Sunrise. 5.30am - Sky World Review and Business Report. 5.00am - Sky World News.

4.30am - Sky World Review and Business Report. 4.00am - Sky World News. Includes broadcast of CBS Evening News at 12:30am and 3:30am. 12.00am - Sky News On The Hour, overnight news coverage to 4am.

11.00pm - Sky News Tonight takes a look at tomorrow's top stories. 10.30pm - Sportsline. *. 10.00pm - Sky News at Ten is a round-up of the day's top stories, with Chris Roberts and Gillian Joseph.

9.00pm - Sky News Tonight. 8.00pm - World News Tonight, presented by James Rubin, taking a look at the news from an international perspective. 7.00pm - The Sky Report with Julie Etchingham, a hard-hitting news analysis show. 6.30pm - Sportsline *.

5.00pm - Live at Five, a fast-paced look at the day's top stories with Jeremy Thompson. 2.00pm - Sky News Today. 12.00pm - Lunchtime Live with Kay Burley taking a comprehensive look at the day's news with human interest stories. 9.00am - Sky News Today with live breaking news as it develops.

6.00am - Sunrise with Eamonn Holmes and Lorna Dunkley.