Can't get the title song out of my head.. (Sky Sports News)

Member Name: GeordieNick

Product:	Sky Sports News
Date:	04/08/09 (99 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great news source, On freeview, Attains news first

Disadvantages: Plug their own programming too much

In 1998 a new way of getting the latest sports news appeared. Internet, teletext and radio were popular forms of news but Sky Sports News gave us a whole new option and has been doing so for over a decade. 'SSN' as it is often called is a 24 hour news service which can be viewed on Sky and freeview and has been running since the 1st of October in 1998.

Sky Sports News has a very different layout to other Sky Sports channels and is similar to news channels such as Sky News. In the middle and to the left and top of the screen are two presenters who will usually be on air for three hours together telling the news. On the right hand side is a feed which changes every seven seconds or so showing fixtures, leagues and top scorers for various sports as well as football. At the bottom of the screen are tabs for various sports which change depending on what happens. In these tabs all of the latest news will be featured including results, transfers and injuries. The tabs are usually heavily football based with tabs for each English league, Scotland and Europe whereas the other tabs usually just have the name of the sport. Usually right at the bottom of the screen is a red ticker which displays what matches are happening that night or what results have just happened. The red ticker is mainly there to plug what is happening on the other Sky Sports channels though. Occasionally the famed 'Yellow Ticker' will replace the red ticker at the bottom which features news that is just breaking. The yellow ticker has quite a reputation with people often referring to it when a transfer has occurred.

Sky Sports News programming starts on every hour on the hour where the news rolls back to the start, obviously updated. At the top of the hour the headlines, usually football, are gone over thoroughly and in less detail half an hour in. In the final quarter of an hour slot they often show something obscure. For instance recently they have showed Ricardo Fuller delivering season tickets to Stoke fans and a crash a in a Nascar event. People often criticise the rolling news but I think it is essential. I admit I do find myself watching the channel for hours on end in the background but it has been designed to be watched every now and again to catch up on the news. The channel covers many sports but has a heavy focus on football and cricket which is fine as they are reacting to demand. The frustrating thing about what they cover though is how heavily geared it is to Sky Sports programming. For example, in the run up to Amir Khan fights on Sky Box Office they plugged the event way to much in my opinion.

Other things they do to take up time in their slots is read out emails which is a nice touch but often represents only a small portion of the general fan opinion. Sky Sports News often do this with Newcastle United when they stick the cameras outside the stadium in the city centre and the people who spend the day hanging around there and playing up to the Sky Sports News cameras get a lot of coverage. SSN often have guests in the studio to talk about certain topics. These guests include a man from Skybet who gives us the run down on the betting and Chris Kamara who comes in to announce the Football League managers of the month for instance. SSN also have reporters stationed in various positions around the country ready to report on stories and attend the games. David Craig, the North East correspondent arguably gets the most coverage, as he covers Newcastle United where something is always happening.

Sky Sports News changes from it's usual format on English football match days when they show a Soccer Special which is also shown on Sky Sports. This is a fantastic seperate programme which I will review another day.

Sky Sports News is a great source of news information and is a channel you find yourself watching hours on end.

Summary: A great channel for your footballing and cricket needs in particular.