back to article Sky News goes free

Sky News is now streaming its TV channel for free over its website 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Despite Rupert Murdoch's mumblings about charging for all online content, the site is free - for now at least. Murdoch said yesterday that it was time for aggregators and search engines must start paying for news content - a …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    Typical

    Suck them in & then hit them with a subscription offer. Just as he did for Sky SPorts and cornered the premier League.

    As always, its the viewers/readers who will pay in the end for Opinion Journalism (not real news). And make him even richer!

    Capitalism at work , guys.

    Paris, cos even she wouldnt think if money/charging all the time.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    If this is the 'stream' they show at Waterloo station...

    ...then it's not 'Sky News', it's a 60-second infomercial with a couple of the headlines scrolled along the bottom of the screen and some celebrity news and ads intermingled. In which case no wonder it's free.

  3. Danny 14
    Badgers

    8.5m?

    Seriously? I dont know anyone who has bothered although I cant claim to know 8.5m people.

  4. nichomach

    For once...

    ...I find myself in agreement with Murdoch, a truly discomfiting sensation, as regards "Murdoch said yesterday that it was time for aggregators and search engines must start paying for news content". People keep saying "Why pay for news when it's online for free", but a massive amount of what's online for free is just site after site after tweet after blog parroting stuff that comes from an increasingly limited set of original sources.

  5. SynnerCal
    Troll

    Sky New broadcast for free...

    ... nice to see that they picked a realistic price point for it, as nothing is just about what I think Sky News is worth. Is it just me or is it only slightly less brainless than Fox News*?

    (* Fox News scripts are written in crayon - to suit the typical IQ level of the audience)

  6. PReDiToR
    Paris Hilton

    Murdoch doesn't realise

    That we're not going to pay for news. It would be much easier to stop watching it. Who cares about the latest celebrity arse transplant? Oh and someone got killed somewhere doing something? And what, another corrupt official? And a war over oil?

    My god, it's full of blather!

    SSDD. The news isn't as important to a lot of people as Mr "I must peddle/invent this crap to maintain my business model" would like to believe.

    <--- Pointless bint. Because she personifies all those morons' idea of what news is. FAIL.

  7. Si 1
    Grenade

    It makes sense for Sky News to be free

    It allows Murdoch's propaganda machine to reach a wider audience.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why does Fox hate America?

    No doubt they'll be lobbying behind the scenes to undermine the BBCs free news. But if ever they find that they can't compete with free channels discussing the same news, they just need to look to their very own Fox network for a solution.

    JUST MAKE IT UP. That's what Fox does, it's been sued by it's own presenters for making them lie to the public, and made-up news won't be shown on the BBC, so they have an exclusive!

    http://ceasespin.org/ceasespin_blog/ceasespin_blogger_files/fox_news_gets_okay_to_misinform_public.html

    Here's another example of making the news as you want it to be (a Fox producer is caught jeering up a crowd, so they could report... a jeering crowd):

    http://celebrifi.com/gossip/Fox-News-Creates-Own-Crowd-781817.html

    So why does Fox hate America? And why do people not complain to Murdochs advertisers about the agenda his channels run? If you convince his advertisers to stop paying him, he will stop his attacks on democracy.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Silverlight, schmilverlight

    Silverlight knows where it (and the horse it rode in on) can go...

  10. Jimmy Floyd
    Thumb Down

    Marvellous

    Another method of receiving Murdoch's desperately sub-standard attempt at journalism.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Shite

    Its still a load of shite, just the same as thier newspapers are. I wouldn't watch it even if I was paid.

  12. Patrick O'Reilly
    Thumb Up

    Finally

    At last some TV station that us Irish have been paying to fund for years has finally given us equal access to their content on the web. Now if only the BEEB and C4 could do the same.

  13. Grease Monkey Silver badge

    Twat

    He really is a twat. He expects us to pay for his crappy TV stations and then hits us with more adverts than anybody else. No doubt this new attempt will be just as advertising riddled and then he will expect people to pay too. If his massive revenues actually produced any decent telly then I don't suppose people would object.

    He constantly whinges that that the BBC are funded by licence fees, but Sky is no different really. Viewers pay a subscription, but where the BBC are not allowed to advertise about 50% of Sky's airtime seems to be advertising. There is a simple solution for the Dirty Digger, he can have his share of the licence fee *if* he stops advertising *and* stops charging subscription fees *and* opens his business to the same level of scrutiny and control as the BBC. He claims he wants a level playing field and that's what he should be offered. Bet he wouldn't want to play then. What he really means is that he wants a chunk of the licence fee and to retain subscription fees and advertising revenues and to retain complete control over the business.

    The trouble is the tories continue to pander to him in return for popaganda, sorry favourable publicity. I just hope they have the sense to tell him to piss off should they win the next election.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sky News is FTA

    So it wouldn't make sense to charge to stream it online.

    Murdoch's papers aren't free, which is why charging for online content has been brought up.

  15. Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse
    Stop

    @ Why does Fox hate America?

    "No doubt they'll be lobbying behind the scenes to undermine the BBCs free news."

    You are no doubt referring to the same "free news" that is paid for by every UK citizen that owns a TV?

  16. Thought About IT

    Undermining democracy

    @twat ("The trouble is the tories continue to pander to him in return for propaganda, sorry favourable publicity. I just hope they have the sense to tell him to piss off should they win the next election.")

    Unfortunately, Cameron has already intimated that he will allow Murdoch to change Sky News into a UK version of Fox News. Fox foments disaffection to the extent that it's destroying the concept of a loyal opposition and giving succour to all kinds of extremists. I wonder if they are intentionally trying to undermine democracy, because fascism is much more conducive to the corporatism that Murdoch represents.

  17. A J Stiles
    Grenade

    @ Grease Monkey

    Actually, you can get Sky TV without the adverts -- sort of. If you stump up the extra for a Sky Plus box or a Sky HD box, you can do this: Change channel on time for the programme you want to watch. Live Pause it near the beginning, for the anticipated total duration of all advert breaks. Press play. You can now fast-forward through the adverts.

  18. colwal
    FAIL

    Nice to see

    Nice to see that Sky have followed TVCatchup.com in putting their news feed on the internet seeing as TVCatchup.com has been doing this for the last two months this is hardly news.

    Using silverlight as well yuk!!!

    Even ITV rejected this buggy mess and has gone over to Flash.

    Very soon as well you will be able to watch sky news on TVCatchup.com over their iPhone app, and the streams are in beta now here http://iphone.tvcatchup.com/

  19. The BigYin
    FAIL

    Silvershite!

    They can sod off. Not that I'd watch Sky anyway, I have a job after all and thus don't fit as a Sky consumer.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Sky No News

    aka fox news, lets fill all ure heads with shit 24/7 & charge you for it!

    a sky or cable package etc is still a fee to watch rubbish imo, no matter what its called

    @Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse

    you can in fact own a TV and only pay the purchase price, simply by removing the aerial, buying a nice streaming device, (cheaper than a license nowdays) and watching only what you want to watch, not what you are forced to watch & forced to pay for.

    I for example, like some american tv series, which doesnt come under the bbc, so why should i pay them for it year after year.

    perception is not reality, but thanks to the tv license natzi's wording, they want everyone to believe that simply having a tv even minus an aerial and watching dvds is illegal, when in actual fact its not!

    and before you all start with the scare stories, TVL sent one of their enforcers round and i gladly showed him that my aerial was cut and my tv was in a room far from it.

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Cameron etc.

    Yes, I think he'll be there lobbying Cameron behind the scenes no different than he was when he lobbied Blair, and I've no doubt he will succeed, since he has a media empire.

    The best way to clip Murdochs wings is to not buy stuff from advertisers on his network or in his newspapers.

    BOYCOTT MURDOCH.

    He's free to spend his own money on his own free speech, but I don't see why my shopping money should help him. After all his fake news network drowns out my own free speech! Why should I pay for his fake jeering mobs and racist news reporters?

  22. dave lawless
    Boffin

    tv licence

    @Anonymous Coward

    Why on earth did you let them in to inspect your premises, they can only demand access if they are accompanied by a police officer. Personally if someone knocks on my door I only answer it if they have an appointment, which is dead amusing when they can see you through the window :)

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    @ dave

    very good point there dave, ill remember that for future enforcer interuptions

    they are very push though so, even without an officer around i felt intimidated.

  24. Tom Chiverton 1

    bribe ?

    So how much did Microsoft pay to have Sky deliver using Silverlight then ?

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    The Sun

    Maybe if Sky didn't do this, they'd save enough bandwidth to keep offering The Sun for free instead?

  26. Bill Cumming
    FAIL

    Thank the gods for Ubuntu..

    ... Thank the gods that Moonlight did a flit on my Ubuntu Laptop. ^_^

    No "SkyNews" player... ^_^

    Sky's "News" + Microsoft "Silverlight" + Novel's "Moonlite" = Total "Fail"....

  27. Andrew Woodvine

    @Dave Lawless

    They don't have any right to access even with a Police Officer present, unless they have a search warrant.

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