Sky News slashes freelance budgets as viewing figures slump

Sky Information has begun to slash its freelance budgets as bosses look to chop prices amid a decline in viewing figures.

The Telegraph has seen proof that the broadcaster has diminished its use of freelance staff in roles together with producers and visitor bookers.

Workers have reported a pointy discount within the variety of shifts out there in current months.

It comes as Sky Information tries to reverse a droop in viewers numbers as conventional TV viewing continues its decline.

Figures seen by The Telegraph present Sky’s The Information Hour with Mark Austin has pulled in simply 47,000 viewers in current months – lower than a 3rd of the 165,000 that tuned into BBC Information at Six.

Night information programme The World with Yalda Hakim, which launched earlier this 12 months, was averaging round 60,000 viewers in comparison with greater than 100,000 on the similar time for BBC Information. Insiders pointed to a droop in morale amongst workers as bosses tried to spice up viewers numbers whereas reducing prices.

It comes amid questions over the way forward for Sky Information, which has an annual price range of greater than £100m however racks up tens of thousands and thousands of kilos in losses.

US media big Comcast assured to keep up the channel’s funding for a decade as a part of its $39bn (£30.7bn) takeover, however these commitments are as a consequence of run out in 2028.

Comcast has already taken an $8.6bn write-down on its funding in Sky.

Sky is grappling with a broader exodus of viewers from conventional TV to streaming rivals and social media platforms akin to TikTok.

It’s also contending with the emergence of opinionated broadcasters akin to GB Information and TalkTV, although each start-ups are additionally closely loss-making. Rupert Murdoch pulled TalkTV off air earlier this 12 months after dropping at the least £90m on the enterprise.