Sky News' bush broadcasts in balance as Network 10 mulls next move
Sky News Australia's future in regional Australia is up in the air and in the hands of Network 10 after it snapped up all the licences for beaming the News Corp-owned network on free-to-air television to almost seven million homes.
Network 10, owned by Paramount Global, picked up the television licences from regional broadcasters Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) and WIN over the past six months.
Sky News' supply agreements with WIN and SCA – now inherited by Network 10 – are due to expire at the end of June. Should the network opt out of the deals and choose to air proprietary content such as children's network Nickelodeon, Sky would be left without a signal into regional homes in Australia's three most-populous states.
Sky News Regional broadcasts in the majority of populated markets on Australia's east coast, not including the metro hubs of Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. This includes the Gold Coast, Canberra, Wagga Wagga, Ballarat, Bendigo, Port Macquarie, Orange, Wollongong, Cairns, Townsville and more.
The regional population of these three states combined amounts to 7.2 million people. Sky went dark in South Australia in 2024 after WIN discontinued part of its deal with the network.
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Initially broadcasting into some markets via WIN in 2018, Sky launched its dedicated Regional channel in 2021, extending its deal with WIN and expanding onto many SCA markets.
The decision on whether to extend Sky will be a commercial one and will consider advertising revenue and the amount Sky pays the network for the spectrum to air its programming. A clash in corporate values will also be a consideration but is unlikely to be a deciding factor.
Negotiations between Sky and Ten are ongoing. Ten and Sky declined to comment on the status of the commercial agreement.
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