Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by

News Corp Australia News Corp Australia is an Australian media conglomerate and wholly owned subsidiary of News Corp. The group's interests span newspaper and magazine publishing, Internet, market research, DVD and film distribution, and film and television prod ...

. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its

prime time Prime time, or peak time, is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for television shows. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs featuring a line-up of

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

commentators. Sky News Australia is distributed on

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

in Australia and New Zealand, while a free-to-air version of the service, Sky News Regional (which features programming from Sky News Australia and Fox Sports News) is distributed on

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV, DTT, or DTTB) is a technology for terrestrial television, in which television stations broadcast television content in a digital signal, digital format. Digital terrestrial television is a major technologica ...

Southern Cross Austereo Southern Cross Media Group Limited, Trade name, doing business as Southern Cross Austereo, is an Australian media company which operates broadcast radio and Terrestrial television, television stations. It is the largest radio broadcaster in Au ...

and selected

WIN Television WIN Television is an Australian television broadcasting, Australian television network owned and operated by WIN Corporation that is based in Wollongong, New South Wales. WIN commenced transmissions on 18 March 1962 as a single television stat ...

stations. The channel also operates two spin-off services, Sky News Weather Channel, and public affairs service Sky News Extra (formerly A-PAC). The channel was originally a joint venture between British broadcaster

BSkyB Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers ...

(thus making it a spin-off of the

Sky News 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 ...

channel in the United Kingdom), Seven Media Group, and

Nine Entertainment Co. Nine Entertainment Co. Holdings Limited is an Australian publicly listed company with holdings in mass media radio and television broadcasting, publishing and digital media. It uses Nine as its corporate branding. The entity is largely a succ ...

, as Australian News Channel Pty Ltd. The company was acquired by News Corp Australia in 2016. With the subsequent sale of Murdoch's remaining shares in Sky UK to

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

, Sky News Australia no longer has any direct ties to its UK counterpart, but continues to use the Sky News branding under license from Comcast. News Corp. has explored a rebranding of the network once the licensing agreement with Sky expires. Especially since the acquisition of the channel by News Corp Australia, Sky News Australia has faced scrutiny from the press over its current focus on conservative opinion programming—including comparisons to

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

's American news channel

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

, and accusations that Sky News Australia commentators have promoted

misinformation Misinformation is incorrect or misleading information. Misinformation and disinformation are not interchangeable terms: misinformation can exist with or without specific malicious intent, whereas disinformation is distinct in that the information ...

and

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...

History

Sky News Channel's parent company, Australian News Channel (ANC), was owned equally by

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers a ...

(now Sky Limited; which is now a division of

), Seven Media Group and

, each with a 33% stake in the company from its founding until December 2016, when it was acquired by

. Sky News Australia launched at 5 pm on 19 February 1996, as the first Australian-produced television news channel. The channel aired its 50,000th unique newscast on 23 April 2003 at 11 am. Sky News was added to Austar on 1 April 2000. In 2004, Sky News began broadcasting Sky News Active, its on-demand interactive TV news service. In 2008, Sky News launched the

Sky News Business Channel Sky News Business Channel (also known as Sky News Money during primetime and Sky News Real Estate on Saturdays) was an Australian pay television business news channel, available nationally on the Foxtel subscription platform and via mobile throu ...

, and on 20 January 2009, Sky News launched Australian Public Affairs Channel (A-PAC). It began widescreen broadcasting on 17 May 2009. In 2013, Sky News Australia was granted 20 million in funding from its parent company to be used over three years. Sky News Australia began broadcasting in high definition on 1 December 2015. In mid-2019, the channel began expanding its digital operations. This included a content partnership with YouTube, Microsoft News, Facebook and

Taboola Taboola, Inc. is a Public company, publicly traded advertising and technology company headquartered in New York City. It provides "content recommendation" adverts on its partner websites. History Taboola was founded in 2007 by Adam Singolda. The ...

. That led to new, opinion-focused videos being uploaded more frequently and across

News Corp The second and current incarnation of News Corporation, doing business as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The company was formed on ...

platforms, after having previously not uploaded any videos from February 2017 to April 2019. In February 2018, Sky News Australia launched a digital-first brand and content platform called 2600. The online political newsletter is sent out daily with breaking news from Canberra. In November 2018, Sky News terminated the contract of former Liberal Party MP and late-night presenter

Ross Cameron Ross Alexander Cameron (born 14 May 1965) is an Australian politician who was a Liberal Party of Australia, Liberal Party member of the Australian House of Representatives from 1996 until 2004, representing the division of Parramatta. Between ...

for using sinophobic language to describe

Chinese people The Chinese people, or simply Chinese, are people or ethnic groups identified with Greater China, China, usually through ethnicity, nationality, citizenship, or other affiliation. Chinese people are known as Zhongguoren () or as Huaren () by ...

. In July 2024, it was reported that the network would relocate to the News Corp Australia headquarters in

Surry Hills Surry Hills is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), inner-east suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local gover ...

in 2025. It was also reported that the network's license to the Sky News brand was expected to expire as early as late-2025, and that Sky Limited was not expected to renew the agreement due to the change in ownership and the divergence in editorial direction between Sky News UK and Sky News Australia. It was reported that News Corp were considering rebranding the network as either "Australian News Channel" or a name containing "Fox News" (derived from U.S. sister network owned by

Fox Corporation Fox Corporation (commonly referred to as Fox Corp or simply Fox) is an American multinational mass media company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, with offices also in Burbank, Cali ...

) or "Talk" (coming from

News UK News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...

brand Talkradio, which operates a spin-off internet television service).

Programming

Sky News programming consists of a mix of live news bulletins, live broadcasts from events (such as Parliament Question Time and selected

press conferences A press conference, also called news conference or press briefing, is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporat ...

), original commentary panel programs and simulcasts of international sister station Sky News UK. Sky News has broadcast every sitting of Question Time from the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

since its launch in 1996. Sky News Australia increased its primetime programming offerings, particularly its political-themed shows, significantly in 2013, when it made more obvious its right-leaning ideology, ahead of the 2013 federal election, cancelling almost entirely the slot's rolling news block ''News Night''. It would then regain most of its runtime in 2014. Sky News Australia rebranded itself on 19 January 2015 as "Sky News Live", dropping the "Sky News National" branding. On weekdays, throughout most of the day, rolling news coverage is presented from one of Sky News Australia's studios. From 5 pm ( AEST/AEDT), commentary programs begin, and continue through primetime until 11 pm AEST/AEDT. Most of these programs are presented by conservative commentators discussing the news of the day, often with a panel of other commentators, and feature a news update at the beginning of the program (and sometimes further updates during the program). Rolling news continues from 11 pm AEST/AEDT before coverage switches to an overnight simulcast of Sky News UK at 1 am AEST/AEDT. Beginning in 2007, Sky News aired local breakaway programming for New Zealand viewers in primetime, filmed at Prime NZ's Auckland studios and produced from Sydney. One of these programs, ''Prime News – First at 5:30'', was also simulcast to Australian viewers. The debut of ''Sky News NZ Evening News'' was watched by just 1,500 viewers and panned by critics. Sky News Australia continued to produce news programming for Prime until 2015, when

MediaWorks New Zealand MediaWorks New Zealand is a New Zealand-based company specialising in radio, outdoor advertising and interactive media. It is owned by Australian out-of-home advertising company QMS. It operates eight national radio brands, eleven websites and ...

took over production of Prime's news programming via its own news department. On 16 June 2018, Sky News Australia premiered ''New Zealand Agenda'', a political program hosted by New Zealand bureau chief James O'Doherty from

Wellington, New Zealand Wellington is Capital of New Zealand, the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the List of cities in New Zealand, third-largest city ...

Current programs

Daytime * '' First Edition'' with Peter Stefanovic (Monday to Friday) * ''

Weekend Edition ''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio ( NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program ''Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday ...

'' (Saturday to Sunday) * ''Sky News Breakfast'' with

Jaynie Seal Jaynie Seal (born 18 May 1973) is an Australian television presenter. Seal is currently a weather presenter on Sky News Weather Channel, news presenter on ''Saturday Edition'' and ''Sunday Edition (Australian TV program), Sunday Edition'' on S ...

and Samatha Chiari (Only on Sky News Regional & Sky News Weather) (Monday to Friday) * '' AM Agenda'' with Laura Jayes (Monday to Friday) * '' Weekend Agenda'' with Andrew Clennell (Saturdays) * '' Outsiders'' with

Rowan Dean Rowan Dean is an Australian advertising executive and conservative commentator. After a career as an advertising industry copywriter, Dean was a panellist on early seasons of '' Gruen'', and became a commentator with multiple newspapers and a c ...

Rita Panahi Rita Panahi (born 1976) is an Australian conservative political commentator and columnist of Iranian descent. She is a columnist in the ''Herald Sun'', owned by News Corp Australia, is the host of ''The Rita Panahi Show'', ''Lefties Losing It' ...

, and James Morrow (Sundays) * ''Business Weekend'' with Ross Greenwood (Sundays) * ''NewsDay'' with Tom Connell and Ashleigh Gillon (Monday to Friday) * ''Weekend Live'' (Saturday to Sunday) * ''Afternoon Agenda'' with Kieran Gilbert (Monday to Friday) * ''Business Now'' with Ross Greenwood (Monday to Friday) * ''The Kenny Report'' with Chris Kenny (Monday to Thursday) * ''NZ Edition'' with Jack Nyhof (Saturdays) Nighttime (Sky After Dark) * '' Credlin'' with Peta Credlin (Monday to Friday) * '' The Bolt Report'' with Andrew Bolt (Monday to Thursday) * ''The Steve Price Show'' with Steve Price (Fridays) *''The World According To Rowan Dean'' with

(Fridays) * ''The US Report'' with James Morrow (Fridays) * ''The Media Show'' with Jack Houghton (Fridays) * ''Sharri'' with Sharri Markson (Monday to Thursday) * '' Paul Murray Live'' with Paul Murray (Sunday to Thursday) * ''The Rita Panahi Show'' with

(Monday to Thursday) * ''The Late Debate'' with James Macpherson, Liz Storer and Caleb Bond (Monday to Thursday) * ''Danica and James'' with Danica De Giorgio and James Macpherson (Sundays) * ''The Late Debate: The Papers'' with James Macpherson, Liz Storer and Caleb Bond (Monday to Thursday) * ''NewsNight'' (Saturday to Sunday)

Presenters and reporters

News presenters

* Peter Stefanovic *

* Laura Jayes * Tom Connell * Ashleigh Gillon * Kieran Gilbert * Tim Gilbert * Kristie Lloyd * Ortenzia Borre * Rhiannon Elston *

Cheng Lei Cheng Lei (; born on August 26, 1971) is a Chinese television presenter. Cheng Lei was a student in Shanghai Theater Academy in the 1990s. After graduation, he was chosen as a host for ''Broken Brain'' (智力大沖浪) by Shanghainese producer ...

Program presenters

* James Morrow * Ross Greenwood * Chris Kenny * Peta Credlin * Andrew Bolt * Paul Murray * Jack Houghton * Jenna Clarke * James Macpherson * Sharri Markson * Laura Jayes * Kieran Gilbert *

Reporters

* Kenny Heatley, Julia Bradley, Caroline Marcus and Crystal Wu – Sydney * Georgie Dickerson, Holly Stearnes and Simon Love – Melbourne * Trudy McIntosh, Cameron Reddin and Reuben Spargo – Canberra * Kaiser Shields and Harry Clarke – Brisbane * Lauren Forbes - Gold Coast * Monique Van Der Hayden - Adelaide * Ciara Hain - Perth * Matt Cunningham – Darwin * Aspen Blomfield – Hobart * Jack Nyhof – Wellington, New Zealand * Staś Butler – Taipei, Taiwan * Annelise Nielsen – Washington DC, United States

Former presenters and reporters

* Cory Bernardi (2023) * John Gatfield 1996–2008 now with Sky Racing. Co-anchored the first bulletin on 19 February 1996 with Juanita Phillips * Samantha Armytage * Dan Bourchier *

(2013-2018) * Brooke Corte * Helen Dalley * Craig Emerson * Georgie Gardner * Amy Greenbank * Stan Grant (2013-2017) * Leigh Hatcher * Patricia Karvelas (2016-2017) * Kristina Keneally (2014-2017) * Chris Kohler * David Koch *

Mark Latham Mark William Latham (; born 28 February 1961) is an Australian politician and media commentator who is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council. He previously served as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the ...

(2016-2017) * Prue Lewarne * Samantha Maiden * John Mangos * Sharon McKenzie *

Piers Morgan Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan (; O'Meara, born 30 March 1965) is an English journalist and media personality. He began his career in 1988 at the tabloid ''The Sun (United Kingdom), The Sun''. In 1994, at the age of 29, he was appointed editor of ...

* Melanie McLaughlin * Jim Middleton *

Erin Molan Erin Molan (born 24 August 1983) is an Australian television presenter who worked on Sky News Australia, a past radio presenter on 2Day FM and a former columnist for Sydney newspaper ''The Daily Telegraph (Sydney), The Daily Telegraph''. Mola ...

* Kelly Nestor * Janine Perrett *

Juanita Phillips Juanita Phillips (born 11 October 1963) is an Australian former journalist and news presenter and reporter. Phillips was previously the weeknight presenter of '' ABC News NSW'' in Sydney. Early life Phillips was born in Brisbane, Queensland wh ...

Cameron Price Cameron Price (born 24 September 1985) is an Australian journalist who is the co-founder and CEO of LeadStory. He was formerly a Sydney reporter for '' Sky News Australia'', a Brisbane reporter for ''Nine News'', a Sydney reporter for '' Seve ...

* Chris Roe * Celina Edmonds * Vanessa Grimm * Nina Stevens *

Amber Sherlock Amber Simone Sherlock (née Higlett) is an Australian journalist, television news presenter and reporter. She currently presents the weather on '' Nine News Sydney'' and previously hosted the daily national one hour news bulletin '' Nine News No ...

David Speers David Gordon Speers (born 9 September 1974) is an Australian journalist and host of ''Insiders (Australian TV program), Insiders'' on ABC (Australian TV channel), ABC TV. Previously he was political editor at Sky News Australia, as well as ho ...

* Greg Thomson * Karen Tso * Jacinta Tynan * Peter van Onselen (2010-2017) * Terry Willesee * Michael Willesee, Jr. * Ahron Young * Craig Norenbergs * James Bracey * Ticky Fullerton * Peter Gleeson * Fiona Willan * Olivia Caisley

Bureaus

Sky News Australia has a bureau in every capital city in Australia, completing this with the opening of its

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

studio in 2013. In 2016, it opened a bureau in

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

, making it the first non-capital city bureau. In 2017, a Gold Coast bureau was opened marking the third non-capital city studio after Cairns and

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

. The base of Sky News Australia is in the Sydney suburb of

Macquarie Park Macquarie Park () is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Macquarie Park is located 13 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the Local government in Australia, local government ...

, from which the majority of its news and programming is broadcast. Its Melbourne studio was upgraded in 2014, allowing it to be used as a secondary broadcast studio. ''Hinch Live'' became the first regular program to be broadcast from Melbourne. The third major bureau is in

Parliament House, Canberra Parliament House is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, the Legislature, legislative body of Politics of Australia, Australia's federal system of government. The building also houses the core of the Executive (government), execut ...

, opened in 2000. Lyndal Curtis became Bureau Chief of in October 2015. Additionally, Sky News has a small office in the Channel Seven building in

Martin Place Martin Place is a pedestrian mall in the Sydney central business district, New South Wales, Australia. Martin Place has been described as the "civic heart" of Sydney.

, which includes a small street-level single camera studio which looks onto

Elizabeth Street, Sydney Elizabeth Street is a major street in the central business district of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. The street continues south of the central business district (CBD), through the inner city suburbs of Surry Hills, Redfern and Waterlo ...

. Internationally, Sky News's only foreign bureau is in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, New Zealand, opened in 2015.

Resources

Apart from its own resources, at launch Sky News Australia used the news resources of its former parent companies '' Seven News'', ''

Nine News Nine News (stylized as 9News) is a national News agency, news service on the Nine Network in Australia. Its flagship program is an hour-long ''9News'' bulletin at 6:00 pm, with editions produced by Nine's owned-and-operated stations in TCN, S ...

'' and

UK, as well as sister networks Sky News UK and

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City, U.S. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ow ...

. ABC America and CBS were founding international partners of Sky News Australia. In 2010 it had agreements with

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

China, ABC America, CBS,

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

, APTN,

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician a ...

Dow Jones Dow Jones is a combination of the names of business partners Charles Dow and Edward Jones. Dow Jones & Company Dow, Jones and Charles Bergstresser founded Dow Jones & Company in 1882. That company eventually became a subsidiary of News Corp, an ...

and

Newshub ''Newshub'' (stylised as Newshub.) was a New Zealand news service that operated from 1989 to 2024 and served as the local news division of Warner Bros. Discovery New Zealand until its closure. The division, known as ''3 News'' until 2016, had ...

, when it signed a four-year partnership deal with

CNN International Cable News Network International or CNN International (CNNi, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel and website, owned by CNN Worldwide. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates ...

, commencing on 1 January 2011.

Content

In 2017, Denis Muller, a senior research fellow at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

's Centre for Advancing Journalism, described the channel as having a "split personality", running straight news bulletins and reporting during the day with professional and independent journalists and presenters, while moving toward "right-leaning

punditry A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

" in prime time. In February 2021, Muller, commenting on former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's statement that Sky News was following a pattern laid down by

, described the nighttime programming of Sky News as including "the unconstrained peddling of extreme right-wing propaganda, lies,

disinformation Disinformation is misleading content deliberately spread to deceive people, or to secure economic or political gain and which may cause public harm. Disinformation is an orchestrated adversarial activity in which actors employ strategic dece ...

, crude distortion of fact, and baseless assertions".

Political alignment and views

Sky News Australia has an editorial policy that follows a conservative, right-wing bias. Coverage is frequently critical of Australia's main progressive political parties,

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and the Greens in addition to the Moderate Faction of

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

, while being supportive of right-wing parties such as the Liberal-National Coalition (except for the Moderate Faction ) and One Nation. Presenter Paul Murray has stated that "Sky News at night is a Liberal echo chamber". Drawing a strong comparison to Fox News, the network began moving towards panel-based programming from 2010, with most of its highest profile prime time commentators being conservative. Hosts Andrew Bolt and Paul Murray have been compared to Fox News presenters Bill O'Reilly and

Sean Hannity Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American conservative television presenter, broadcaster and writer. He hosts ''The Sean Hannity Show'', a radio syndication, nationally syndicated talk radio show, has hosted a Hannity, sel ...

respectively. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Murdoch-owned outlets—including Sky News Australia commentators—dubbed Victoria premier

Daniel Andrews Daniel Michael Andrews (born 6 July 1972) is an Australian former politician who served as the 48th premier of Victoria from 2014 to 2023. He held office as the leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2010 and ...

a "

dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute Power (social and political), power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a polity. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to r ...

" for his local response. Andrews criticised the network in an interview, stating that "in Victoria, the haters hate and the rest vote Labor and that's fine by me. Call me what you want, what really matters is not that nonsense, that noise, that vitriol, that ky News''After Dark'' bullshit. That’s all that it is – the worst of American politics imported into ours." Andrew Bolt and Alan Jones frequently spread claims about the

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

of then-United States president

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

, claiming he was unfit to be the President and suggesting he was suffering from dementia.

Misinformation and conspiracy theories

On 13 December 2020,

promoted the Great Reset conspiracy theory on Sky News Australia, claiming that "This Great Reset is as serious and dangerous a threat to our prosperity – to your prosperity and your freedom – as we have faced in decades". As of February 2021, American far-right conspiracy theorist

Alex Jones Alexander Emerick Jones (born February 11, 1974) is an American Far-right politics, far-right radio host, radio show host and prominent conspiracy theorist. He hosts ''The Alex Jones Show'' from Austin, Texas. ''The Alex Jones Show'' is the lo ...

uses segments from Sky News Australia to back up his claims. In July 2021, Alan Jones and Craig Kelly falsely claimed that United Kingdom data proved that getting vaccinated against COVID-19 would increase the likelihood of death due to COVID-19. The claim originated in '' The Daily Exposé'', a British website known for promoting

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

and anti-vaccine misinformation. ''The Daily Exposé'''s claim was debunked by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, Full Fact and

. Sky News Australia subsequently removed the broadcast and issued a correction on its website. On 1 August 2021, YouTube barred Sky News Australia from uploading new content onto their channel for a week for breaking YouTube's rules on posting videos containing COVID-19 misinformation. Upon the channel's return to the platform, Sky News Australia published a piece titled "Uncancelled: Sky News Australia Set Free" wherein Digital Editor Jack Houghton claimed the channel's temporary banning was the result of

Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...

and left-wing media attempting to stifle free speech. A 2022 analysis by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a British think tank, found that Sky News Australia was a major source for climate change misinformation. Sky News Australia rejected the findings of the analysis, saying that they would "continue to encourage

debate Debate is a process that involves formal discourse, discussion, and oral addresses on a particular topic or collection of topics, often with a moderator and an audience. In a debate, arguments are put forward for opposing viewpoints. Historica ...

" on

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. In 2022, Sky News Australia promoted a now retracted journal article from the European Physical Journal that claimed to have found no evidence of climate change in two video segments. The two segments were viewed more than 500 000 times.

Reception

Ratings

The highest rating broadcast on Sky News Australia was an episode of ''Paul Murray Live'' on 26 June 2013 (following the 2013 Labor leadership spill), averaging 197,000 viewers across a special two-hour broadcast. The highest audience share Sky News Australia has achieved was during coverage of the 2009 Victorian bushfires. On 15 December 2014 during the Sydney Lindt café siege, coverage of the unfolding incident took 16 of the 20 most watched programs on the Foxtel platform. The 7 pm (

AEST Australia uses three main time zones: Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST; UTC+10:00), Australian Central Standard Time (ACST; UTC+09:30) and Australian Western Standard Time (AWST; UTC+08:00). Time is regulated by the individual states a ...

) hour was the highest rated at 109,000 viewers. Sky News achieved a day time share of 2.6% (behind ABC News 24's 3.8%) and a primetime share of 1.5% (behind ABC News 24's 2.5%). Sky News Live rated 56,000 viewers for early evening coverage of the 2015 Queensland state election, and 83,000 viewers for later coverage, beaten by ABC News 24's coverage which was watched by 195,000 viewers nationally. For its coverage of the failed Liberal leadership spill on 9 February 2015 between 9 am and 10 am, Sky News Live was the second most watched subscription channel and the coverage was the third most watched program of the day with 69,000 viewers. Sky News Live reached a total audience of 700,000 viewers on 14 September 2015 (including simulcast on Sky News Business) during the 2015 Liberal leadership spill. It was the most watched subscription television channel for the evening and outrated all free-to-air television channels between 11 pm and midnight AEST. The highest rated hour of coverage was from 10pm, achieving 190,000 viewers, the second highest ratings since the 2013 Labor Party spill. A March 2016 article in ''

The Guardian Australia ''Guardian Australia'' is the Australian website of the British global online and print newspaper, ''The Guardian''. Available solely in an online format, the newspaper's launch was led by Katharine Viner in time for the 2013 Australian fed ...

'' reported Sky News averages 12,000 national viewers between 6 pm and midnight, with a peak of 18,000 between 8 pm and 10 pm, although the report did not specify what days or dates this average refers to. During the 2016 federal election, Sky News averaged 96,000 viewers, an increase of 46% from the 2013 election. In July 2018, Sky News claimed to have achieved its highest ratings on record, with viewership up 9% overall and its weeknight primetime (6pm–11pm) viewership 25% higher on the same period last year, according to OzTAM figures. In August 2018, coverage of the Liberal Party of Australia leadership spill, 2018 saw Sky News gain its highest Tuesday primetime audience ever with a 4.2% audience share. '' Speers'', '' Credlin'' and '' Jones & Co'' all had their highest-rated episodes on record. The Sky News

2022 Australian federal election The 2022 Australian federal election was held on Saturday, 21 May 2022, to elect members of the 47th Parliament of Australia. The incumbent Morrison government, Liberal–National Coalition government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, soug ...

debate had 415,000 viewers. The Sky News 2025 Australian federal election debate had a viewership of 410,000.

Criticism

In August 2018, Sky News was heavily criticised for providing a platform to Blair Cottrell, leader of the

far-right Far-right politics, often termed right-wing extremism, encompasses a range of ideologies that are marked by ultraconservatism, authoritarianism, ultranationalism, and nativism. This political spectrum situates itself on the far end of the ...

Neo-Nazi Neo-Nazism comprises the post–World War II militant, social, and political movements that seek to revive and reinstate Nazism, Nazi ideology. Neo-Nazis employ their ideology to promote hatred and Supremacism#Racial, racial supremacy (ofte ...

organisation United Patriots Front in a one-to-one discussion about immigration on ''The Adam Giles Show''. Sky News presenter Laura Jayes and ABC journalist

were among those critical (both on-air and off-air) of his appearance on the programme due to the fact that he has expressed admiration for

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and claimed to have manipulated women "using violence and terror." Sky News commentator and former Labor Party minister Craig Emerson resigned in protest after the interview was broadcast, stating that "My father fought Nazis in WWII and was interred in a German POW camp", and that the decision to give Cottrell a platform on Sky News was "another step in a journey to normalising racism & bigotry in our country". The activist group Sleeping Giants Oz called on advertisers to pull advertising campaigns off Sky News in the wake of the channel's interview with Cottrell. Several high-profile figures have criticised Sky News, including former

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian diplomat and former politician who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and June to September 2013. He held office as the Leaders of the Australian Labo ...

, who told a media inquiry in February 2021 that it was following the "template" of Fox News in becoming a "legitimising echo-chamber for this increasingly far-right, extremist worldview". In December 2023, former Victorian premier

, who was a frequent target of scorn from Sky News pundits during his premiership, referred to the channel's after dark coverage as "bullshit" and "the worst of American politics imported into ours".

Accolades

Broadcast

Sky News began broadcasting in

widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratio (image), aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ...

, along with its sister channels on 17 May 2009. Sky News Australia only provides

closed captioning Closed captioning (CC) is the process of displaying text on a television, video screen, or other visual display to provide additional or interpretive information, where the viewer is given the choice of whether the text is displayed. Closed cap ...

between 4 pm and 5 pm (AEST/AEDT) each day. Sky News began broadcasting in high definition on 1 December 2015.

Other services

Sky News Multiview

With the roll-out of

Foxtel NXE Australia Pty Ltd, trading as the Foxtel Group, is an Australian pay television company that operates cable television, direct-broadcast satellite, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April ...

Digital, Sky News Australia launched the ''Sky News Active'' interactive news service based on the Sky News UK service with the same name. The service offered a choice of eight news screens, some with original content not seen on the main channel they vary depending on the days news or events and include the latest news, business, sport, showbiz and weather in text. Other features included interactive polling and the latest news headlines via text. On 15 November 2009 Sky News active re-launched with a new look as well as 5 additional local screens (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide.

Sky News Now (mobile service)

Sky News Now was a mobile service available on

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public Limited Company () is a British Multinational company, multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates Service (economic ...

Telstra Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets related products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 stock index, and is Australia's largest telecomm ...

and 3. It offered a wide variety of news in both video and text. As of 2015, the service was no longer available.

Sky News Alerts

Sky News Alerts is a SMS and MMS breaking news service available on all mobile phones inside Australia. Breaking news alerts are sent to a subscriber via SMS or MMS at a cost per message.

Qantas

In November 2014, Sky News Australia was contracted to provide

Qantas Qantas ( ), formally Qantas Airways Limited, is the flag carrier of Australia, and the largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations in Australia and List of largest airlines in Oceania, Oceania. A foundi ...

with in-flight news bulletins replacing a longstanding contract with the

Nine Network Nine Network (stylised 9Network, and commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of the five main free-to-air television ...

Radio and podcasting

In Australia, since June 2023, Sky News partners with

Nova Entertainment NOVA Entertainment is an Australian entertainment company that operates commercial radio networks (and associated digital brands) in metropolitan and regional areas of Australia. NOVA Entertainment is owned by Lachlan Murdoch's Illyria Pty Lt ...

to offer an audio simulcast of its television channel via the free Nova Player app (nationally) and DAB+ digital radio (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane only). Various programs podcasts including First Business, Market Day, Showbiz, Agenda, Australian News Week, Credlin and The Rita Panahi Show are also available on the app. Previously, it was on

IHeartRadio iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast, radio streaming and Music Streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. Founded in August 2008, iHeartRadio serves as the national umbrella brand for iHeart ...

from March 2020 until June 2023, as part of a deal with ARN.

Sky News Regional

Sky News Regional (formerly Sky News on WIN) is a

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

version of Sky News Australia, which was launched on 2 September 2018. The channel features Sky News Australia and Fox Sports News programming, as well as the morning newscast ''Sky News Breakfast'' commissioned for this channel that also airs on Sky News Weather. The channel was originally established as part of a partnership with

. In 2021, WIN's contracts with both Network 10 and Sky News expired; with WIN returning to its previous Nine Network affiliation on 1 July 2021, and Sky News's contract expiring on 1 August 2021 (the allotments were, in turn, used for

9Life 9Life is an Australian free-to-air digital television multichannel owned by Nine Entertainment. The channel airs mostly foreign lifestyle and reality programs, with the channel having a licensing agreement with Discovery Inc. (previously Scr ...

). Sky News reached a new agreement with

to distribute the channel on their now Network 10-affiliated stations, now known as Sky News Regional. In its first two weeks on the air, the channel averaged 10,000 viewers in primetime and 4,000 viewers in daytime, with '' Richo'' the highest rated program at 24,000 viewers. The channel is available on digital channel 56 across Southern Cross Austereo's regional markets in Regional QLD, Southern NSW & ACT and Regional VIC, and on WIN digital channel 53 in Northern NSW and the Gold Coast. It is not available in Broken Hill/Spencer Gulf,

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

, Mildura, Darwin, Remote & Central Australia and Regional WA. Mildura, Tasmania, and Regional Western Australia previously broadcast the channel as Sky News on WIN on the WIN network until August 2021 when it switched to 9Life's feed. The channel was previously on WIN digital channels 83 and 85, prior to the rebrand as Sky News Regional on 1 August 2021. Sky News Regional ended its broadcast on channel 53 in

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Ridge, ...

and South-East South Australia on 30 June 2024 after an unsuccessful renewal of the affiliation agreement with WIN.

Sky News Election Channel

In April 2016, Sky News Australia announced a temporary spin-off channel known as the Sky News Election Channel. The channel carried extended coverage of the Australian federal election, the United Kingdom referendum on remaining in the European Union, and

United States presidential election The election of the president of the United States, president and Vice President of the United States, vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are Voter registration in the United ...

, including coverage and programming from partners such as Sky News UK,

ABC News (United States) ABC News is the news division of the American television network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast '' ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include morning news-talk show '' Good Morning America'', '' ...

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio broadcaster CBS. It is headquartered in New York City. CBS News television programs include ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morn ...

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

, and

, as well as encore showings of Sky News Australia opinion programmes. The channel temporarily replaced A-PAC on Foxtel; A-PAC remained available on Sky News Multiview. It operated from 1 May 2016 to 23 January 2017. On 28 June 2024, the Sky News Election Channel was revived, focusing upon coverage of the 2024

United Kingdom general election United Kingdom general elections (elections for the House of Commons) have occurred in the United Kingdom since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliame ...

, French legislative election, and United States presidential elections, and the 2025 Australian federal election. The channel once again replaced Sky News Extra on Foxtel.

Sky News Now

On 23 March 2023, the network launched a

free ad-supported streaming television Free advertising-supported streaming television (FAST) is a category of streaming television services which offer traditional linear television programming ("live TV") and studio-produced movies without a paid subscription, funded exclusively by a ...

(FAST) channel on Samsung TV Plus known as Sky News Now; the channel features highlighted content from Sky News, Sky News Weather Channel, and Sky News Extra.

References

External links

*
Sky News Regional schedule
{{Television news in Australia 24-hour television news channels in Australia Television channels and stations established in 1996 English-language television stations in Australia Television networks in Australia Podcasting companies Conservatism in Australia Conservative media in Australia Climate change denial Conspiracy theories in Australia 1996 establishments in Australia Television controversies in New Zealand