Sky News Extra (formerly A-PAC ; Australian Public Affairs Channel) is an Australian 24-hour cable and

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...

public affairs news channel owned by

Foxtel Foxtel is an Australian pay television company—operating in cable television, direct broadcast satellite television, and IPTV streaming services. It was formed in April 2018, superseding an earlier company from 1995. The service was establi ...

History

On 8 December 2008 it was announced that an Australian public affairs channel called A-SPAN (an

acronym An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...

for Australian Subscription Public Affairs Network) would launch on 20 January 2009. The channel format is modelled on the American public affairs network

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

. The news came after reports the ABC were considering launching a dedicated public affairs digital channel. Prior to launch the channel renamed as A-PAC (an acronym for Australian Public Affairs Channel). A-PAC is a not for profit independent channel funded by Austar and

, and produced by

Sky News Australia Sky News Australia is an Australian news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs f ...

. The channel officially launched on the morning of 20 January 2009, with the inauguration of United States President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

airing on its first day, using a feed from U.S. cable channel C-SPAN. Despite originally planned to occur on 26 April 2009, on 17 May 2009 A-PAC began broadcasting in 16:9

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 ...

aspect ratio, along with sister channels

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 24 May 2012, Foxtel acquired Austar, which saw Foxtel become the sole stakeholder of A-PAC. In February 2014, A-PAC had an on-air refresh, as well as launched a revamped website and a new weekly newsletter. In addition, Sky News presenter Helen Dalley was appointed as channel host. In May 2018, A-PAC was rebranded to Sky News Extra and moved to channel 604 on Foxtel. The name and channel number change reflect on the additional programming it will have and to be in line with the other Sky News channels. In March 2020, the channel was temporarily rebranded as Sky News COVID-19, as part of the networks' extended coverage of the ongoing 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic in Australia. The channel currently features a combination of live and pre-recorded news bulletins, press conferences and segments relating to COVID-19 across the nation.

Programming

Sky News Extra content features live broadcasts from Australia's Parliament House in Canberra (including sittings of the House of Representatives, the Senate, parliamentary Committee meetings and political press conferences), the parliaments of

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, Victoria and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

as well as sittings of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

, live broadcasts of speeches from the Australian National Press Club and a program which provides coverage of the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island coun ...

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

and British parliaments. Material from the United Nations and the European Parliament is also aired.

Availability

At launch Sky News Extra was available via satellite and cable television on channel 607; and was later made available by Internet streaming on its website, as well as on free-to-air digital television in Sydney as a trial. On 15 November 2009, Sky News Extra's channel location for Foxtel changed from Channel 607 to Channel 648. From 1 May 2016, the service's linear channel was replaced by

Sky News Election Channel Sky News Election Channel was an Australian 24-hour cable and satellite news channel available on the Foxtel platform, operated by Sky News Australia. It launched on 1 May 2016, temporarily replacing A-PAC as a linear channel, dedicated to cov ...

, resulting in the service only being available on the Sky News Multiview service and online. Although the service was originally planned to relaunch as a linear channel on 30 November 2016, this was later postponed, and ultimately the linear channel did not return until 24 January 2017. The relaunch did, however, see Sky News Extra obtain Sky News Election Channel's HD feed, seeing the channel available in high definition for the first time.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sky News Extra Television networks in Australia Legislature broadcasters Television channels and stations established in 2009 2009 establishments in Australia Television channels and stations established in 2017 2017 establishments in Australia English-language television stations in Australia Extra Foxtel