Redundancies expected as Fox Sports News team merges with Australian News Channel
Australian News Channel (ANC) – the operators of Sky News – will take on producing responsibilities for the Fox Sports News channel, with the News Corp-owned entities flagging “a small number of redundancies” will result from the merging of the teams.
Fox Sports News staff will have the opportunity to move across to ANC when the merge is completed within three months.
Production of the Fox Sports News channel will move from the Fox Sports headquarters in Artarmon to ANC’s Macquarie Park facility, with a statement from ACN saying this will create “a powerhouse for breaking sports news”.
The move will see Fox Sports News join ACN’s stable including Sky News Live, Sky News Business, Sky News Weather and A-PAC – however it will retain its original branding.
News Corp took full control of ACN late last year after it bought out Seven and Nine.
At the time of the acquisition, News Corp Australia CEO Michael Miller said: “This acquisition has come about because News Corp Australia recognises the increasing value of Sky News; its employees, the shows they host and the audience it attracts. Together, we will ensure the strengths and benefits of each company are leveraged fully in the long term.”
Fox Sports CEO Patrick Delany said the latest move would bolster the network’s offering.
“Fox Sports News is Australia’s only 24/7 sports news channel, powering News Corp’s national websites and the number one online destination news.com.au.
“ANC’s extensive news gathering capabilities and state of the art production facilities will enable it to deliver more up-to-the-minute breaking news to sports fans than ever before.
“The strengthened Fox Sports News channel will continue to provide video content for Fox Sports’ website, the Fox Sports App and social channels, with both teams working closely together.”
ANC CEO Angelos Frangopoulos said the business was built on quality journalism, and the Fox Sports News team would be welcomed to the fold.
News Corp Australia’s Miller said the move would see quality improve, and make the newsroom more viable in a competitive media environment.
“News and sport are the two sides of journalism most Australians care passionately about and today’s announcement brings together the two teams with acknowledged excellence in live and breaking coverage in these core areas.
“This new operation reflects News Corp Australia’s determination to constantly improve the service it provides and excel in an ever more competitive media environment.
“In doing so, it increases the quality and quantity of video available that reaches the greatest number of Australians across our various brands and platforms.”
The process begins this week and is expected to be finalised within three months. Both Fox Sports News and ANC were approached for comment about the number of expected redundancies, however neither responded prior to publication.
Foxtel subscribers will continue to access For Sports News on Channel 500.
“Fox Sports News staff will have the opportunity to moves across to ANC when the merge is completed within three months.”
From what I’ve heard….That’s another way of saying, everyone has to re-apply for their old jobs (some jobs won’t exist anymore).
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By the end of the year News will own Ten & I predict Sky News will take up a multichannel (onehd) with a mix of FoxSports content. Ten will become a dumping ground for cheap US Fox content and Sky News will produce Ten News. Ten and Fox will joint bid for sports like Cricket etc
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Agree 100%. The decision to produce Ten’s news from Sky was taken about 18 months ago. Just waiting now for News to take over full control of Ten.
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