Broadcasting giant Sky has launched a regional TV news website for the North East of England.
Sky Tyne and Wear is a pilot project that was launched on Tuesday and aims to provide news, sports and events coverage for the one million people living in Sunderland, Newcastle and Gateshead.
The online platform has a team of video journalists regularly out on the roads filming content for the site.
If successful, the concept may be rolled out to other areas of the UK.
Simon Bucks, associate editor at Sky News, said: “We chose Tyne and Wear because we wanted somewhere that had a lot of local identity and pride, were keen on sport and had a lot going on. It fitted the bill quite well.
“We looked at various different ideas and decided that we thought that there was something to explore further in terms of a digital online service covering news and events.”
He said the events aspect came about after people said they often read reports on events after they had happened, and wanted to know about them beforehand.
Said Simon: “We felt people were under-served in terms of video coverage because newspaper websites don’t have a lot of videos on them.
“It’s innovative in that it’s the first news and sport gathering with only a digital platform. I don’t think anyone else has done this. It’s exciting.
“The advantage of it being a digital platform is that it’s cheaper to distribute and allows people to use and consume in a way that they want.
He added: “People are welcoming the fact that we are investing in local news in a time when there isn’t a lot of investment going on.”
The project had been in the pipeline for eight months and will also see mobile apps added in the near future.
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Great! Pay my Sky subscription to help put some more papers out of business.
And of course local papers don’t have video of sports events – Sky have tied up the licences!!!
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@Oldhack We are absolutely not trying to put papers out of business; we are offering a new service in the shape of local video- focused reporting on a digital platform. Check out the site: http://tyneandwear.sky.com/
Also, as I am sure you know, online sports action rights are sold separately from TV and Sky does not have them.
If you are actually an Old Hack you might want to celebrate the fact that Sky is investing in regional journalism.
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It’s a no-brainer. IP TV is the future.
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Is it any coincidence that the Evening Chronicle revamped it’s website at the time Sky T&W launched, with a fairly similar appearance?
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Damn. its website.
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