Latest news with #Osterley
The Guardian
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Sky Sports News' golden age at an end as rival platforms turn up the volume
A constant in pubs, gyms and hotel breakfast rooms, almost always with the sound down. Perhaps not since cinema's silent age have faces been so familiar without the general public knowing their voices. The vibe is more casual than in previous times, shirt sleeves rather than business suits, but the formula remains the same: a carousel of news, clips, quotes, quips, centred around highlights, all framed within a constant flow of results, fixtures and league tables. Sky Sports News hits 27 years of broadcasting in August, having been launched for the 1998-99 football season by BSkyB. As the domestic football season concluded, news came of changes within the Osterley-based newsroom. Seven members of the broadcast talent team would be leaving, including the long-serving Rob Wotton and the senior football reporter Melissa Reddy, within a process of voluntary redundancies. Sky sources – not those Sky sources – are keen to state the changes are not a cost-cutting exercise, instead a redress of SSN's place within a changing media environment. Ronan Kemp, the One Show presenter and Celebrity Goggleboxer, is understood to be in discussions to join Sky and despite Wotton's departure, Ref Watch will still be serving those who get their kicks from re-refereeing matches and VAR calls. Rolling news, which became common currency around the time of the initial Gulf war with Iraq is no longer the go-to information environment. Sky News, SSN's sister organisation, is going through similar changes, including the loss of the veteran anchor Kay Burley. The smartphone, where news alerts supplant even social media, takes the strain of keeping the world informed of Micky van de Ven's latest hamstring injury. Desperate to hear even more from Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville? There are podcasts and YouTube channels available at a swipe. In the US, ESPN's SportsCenter and its accompanying ESPNews channel were the progenitors of a medium copied globally and by Sky in launching SSN. SportsCenter is a flagship in marked decline from a golden 1990s era that made American household names of presenters such as Stuart Scott, Keith Olbermann and Dan Patrick. ESPN, an organisation in the process of taking itself to digital platforms as cable TV gets mothballed, closed SportsCenter's Los Angeles studio in March. Linear TV's death will be slow, but it is dying nonetheless as streaming, all bundles and consumer choice, takes hold. Meanwhile, YouTube channels, with production values way below industry standard, amass huge audiences for fan-owned, independent media. The time of viewers tuning in for 10pm highlights voiced over by presenters' catchphrases – Scott's 'boo yah!' being the prime example – has long passed. Social media and YouTube have killed the demand. Though live sports remain the foundation of broadcasting contracts, highlights and analysis can be watched at the time of the viewers' choice. Digital is where the eyeballs go, and what the advertising dollar is attracted to, despite the ubiquity of Go Compare et al. Viewing figures remain healthy but the game is now about far more than ratings. SSN's imperial period was the early millennium days of Dave Clark and Kirsty Gallacher's toothsome double act, to a time when the yellow ticker of breaking news held great sway, though not always delivering on its promise of earthquake journalism (news of Nicky Shorey's Reading contract extension, anyone?). Millie Clode, Di Stewart, Charlotte Jackson, Kelly Cates: a nation turned its lonely eyes to them. Then there was transfer deadline day, more important than the football itself. Long, frantic hours spent hearing Jim White's Glaswegian whine declare anything could happen on this day of days. In the early years it often did, from Peter Odemwingie's mercy dash to Loftus Road to the brandishing of a sex toy in the earhole of reporter Alan Irwin outside Everton's training ground. Another reporter, Andy 'four phones' Burton, labelled the night the 2008 window closed: 'The best day of my life, apart from when my son was born.' Eventually, though, it became too knowing. Not even White's yellow tie, as garish as his hype, accompanied by Natalie Sawyer's yellow dress, could stop the event from becoming desperate hours chasing diminishing returns. Live television is a challenging environment, especially with nothing to feed off. Though many presenters have been lampooned – abused in the more carrion social media age – the difficulty of 'going live' with an earpiece full of instructions and timings should never be underestimated. How does Mike Wedderburn, the channel's first presenter, make it look so easy? When, in a broadcasting-carriage dispute between Virgin and Sky, Setanta Sports News was given brief life in 2007 – 22 months as the Dagmar to Sky's Queen Vic – it was made apparent how hard, and costly, the business can be. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Over-exposure to SSN – as happens when someone works in a newspaper sports department, say – can lead to contempt. The joins can be seen, too. Haven't they done that same gag for the past six hours and each time pretended it was an ad lib? Just what is Gary Cotterill up to this time? Why did Bryan Swanson always use such portentous tones? From morning till night, it would be ever-present. On weekend evenings, when you caught the skilled veteran duo of Julian Waters and the late David Bobin running through the day's events, you knew it was time to leave the office, down that late drink, question your life choices, the pair's clipped tones taking on the effect of a lonely late-night cab ride. SSN is forced to move with the times. As is the case across the industry, journalists have often been supplanted by influencers, as the mythical, perhaps unreachable, 'younger audience' is chased. That is not to say the channel is short of decent reporting. In the aftermath of the 2022 Champions League final in Paris, chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol produced a superb account of the ensuing chaos and danger while others floundered for detail. SSN, like SportsCenter across the Atlantic, is now more a production factory for content being sent across the internet, published to multiple platforms, than it is a rolling news channel. Within press statements around the redundancies there was the word 'agile', a term repurposed – and overused – in the business world, but meaning doing more with less. Next season, as heavily trailed on SSN right now, Sky will have 215 Premier League live matches to show, including every game played on Sundays. That requires the company's shift in focus, for Sky Sports News in particular. Though look up wherever you are and it will still be on in the corner, almost certainly with the sound down.
Daily Mail
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Sky Sports shock staff after axing long-running programme loved by Jurgen Klopp amid TV company's restructure, plus why Jobe Bellingham ditched his surname during play-off final victory
Dismay is rife at Sky's studios in Osterley after the surprise decision was taken to axe The Football Show, a popular and long-running programme broadcast every Monday on Sky Sports News. Respected host Rob Wotton was joined by Stephen Warnock and Sue Smith each week to discuss the major talking points from the weekend just gone. Warnock and Smith's analysis was always to the point. The trio were joined by former Premier League official Dermot Gallagher for an hour-long section called 'Ref Watch' and the quartet never shied away from looking at controversial decisions. Jurgen Klopp, when he was Liverpool manager, was a regular viewer and enjoyed the views of 'Mr Dermot'. But SSN suits have decided to remove this intelligent show, with the thirst to recruit a younger audience leading them to YouTube influencers and fans with big followings. Many in the building are bewildered by the direction of travel, although Sky insiders insist the changes are aimed at making them more agile and able to concentrate on breaking news stories across platforms. 'Ref Watch' and various other elements of the show are expected to remain in different formats. Seven reporters and presenters are leaving the channel in the wake of a recent restructure. Hey, Jobe! Many viewers will have noticed that Jobe Bellingham, brother of Jude, had his Christian name rather than his surname on the back of his shirt at Wembley. Players can ask for a 'appropriate variation' should they wish at the start of the season. The Black Cats' number seven's request is thought to have come from a desire to create his own identity away from that of his older brother. INEOS committed to United Given what has been a thoroughly underwhelming season, speculation has been rife over whether the interest of the Qatari group which failed to buy Manchester United may have been reignited. Mail Sport broke the story of Sheikh Jassim's bid, but it is understood that there is currently little appetite for such a move given how the process played out with the Glazer family. Regardless, Sir Jim Ratcliffe's INEOS group has no intention of walking away from their minority stake. Incoming regulator chief impresses Those in the Royal Box for the Championship play-off on Saturday wondered if it was a cunning, strategic move by EFL bosses to seat incoming football regulator chair David Kogan next to Sharon Brittan. The Bolton Wanderers chairman has a reputation for making her point and will no doubt have put the incoming official under the spotlight. While there remain concerns over the process behind the appointment of the former Premier League chief media rights advisor, he impressed some of those in the room. 'He's his own man who gets things done and is not someone who hides behind rules and regs guy,' said an exec from one EFL club. Flying without a parachute Sunderland's victory was good news and bad news for the EFL. Good news in that it was a rare promotion from a club not benefiting from parachute payments. Bad news in that it left another that does in the Championship for next season. Ping-pong politics Big sports politics are afoot in the imminent World Table Tennis presidential elections. The incumbent is one of only two female world sport presidents and is being challenged by a wealthy Qatari. Having worked so hard to get a female as his successor for IOC President, it is no surprise that Thomas Bach has just attended the World Table Tennis Championships in Qatar to help lobby for the Swedish president, Petra Sorling. Bach is understood to have also met with Qatar's Emir, himself an IOC Member. The German may well have asked for his support - reminding him that the host for 2036 Olympic Games is still not yet decided. All eyes are now on whether the Qatari candidate withdraws from the election. England IT gaffe A number of fans of England's men's team were left flummoxed last week when they ordered tickets to watch Thomas Tuchel's side play Andorra, only to be told via email that they had tickets for England women's clash with France. The situation was put down to an IT glitch and quicky rectified. Johnson looks to build bridges James Johnson, who announced he was leaving his role as the head of Football Australia earlier this month, has been appointed CEO at Canadian Soccer Business (CSB) ahead of a crucial year for the World Cup co-host. CSB was established in 2018 and represents all the commercial partnership and media rights of the Canada Soccer national teams along with the Canadian Premier League. Johnson has vowed to maximise the opportunities for the Canadian game and has close ties to the CONCACAF region, having worked with the confederation's president, Victor Montagliani, on FIFA's Football Stakeholder Committee in the past. It is understood Johnson's first call after being appointed at CSB last week was to to Kevin Blue, the CEO and General Secretary of Canada Soccer. The deal between CSB and Canada Soccer has been the subject of fierce criticism in recent years and the outreach to the federation is a sign of Johnson's determination to build bridges and make the most of the global spotlight that will be on Canada in 2026 and beyond.
BBC News
18-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
'Rag' price slump costs EACH charity £5k a week
A children's hospice charity has said a slump in the price of unwanted clothing has been costing it nearly £5,000 a Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH), which has 52 charity shops across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire, said prices for the clothing - known as "rag" - had plummeted by up to 73% over the past three Charity Retail Association (CRA) said the global market had been facing a "perfect storm" of wars, labour shortages and a drop in the quality of second-hand insisted its services would not be cut as a result, but said it was looking at other ways to fundraise. "[Rag] is a valuable income stream to EACH and we're losing nearly £250,000 a year," said the charity's retail director, Ian Nicolson."On top of that it's the potential landfill it creates as a result - as they're [clothing collectors] no longer picking up our rag, which is up to 11 tonnes every week."EACH, which runs three children's hospices, said the price of rag had fallen from 45p per kg (2.2lb) to 12p per kg over the past three 2024, the charity's total income was £21.1m, of which £7.7m was raised by its charity shops. EACH said it received, on average, about 9,000 bags of donated items each week - of which only four items per bag were good enough to items were too dirty, marked or many other charity shops, the unwanted clothing is sold to collectors, and distributed to markets around the world to be Osterley, CRA chief executive, said rag collectors had faced global transportation issues due to conflicts in places such as Africa and Ukraine."Not only has it reduced income it's also made it harder for charities to get the service they need to clear their back rooms of excess stock," he told the BBC."It doesn't seem as bad now as it did a year ago when I was receiving almost daily phone calls from clothing collectors and our members saying 'this is all going horribly wrong, what can we do about it?'."But it's a volatile market and things can change quite quickly."Mr Osterley said market analysis showed its members received "no more than 1.9% of their income" from the sale of used clothing to collectors. A spokesperson for the Textile Recycling Association, said other factors were behind the "economic crisis" facing the industry."This is driven by the rise of ultra-fast fashion, which is poor quality has no resale value, and a surge in collected clothing without market expansion," they said."A decade ago, most used clothing came from the UK, USA, and parts of Europe. "Now, collection rates have soared worldwide, with China emerging as the largest source alongside the USA, and Asian countries playing a much bigger role in the trade." Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
