QF IFE to ditch Channel 9 in favour of Fox

[dk4]

Sky News will not be streamed live in flight, but the airline will be able to load the latest news bulletin on the ground as it prepares the aircraft for take-off.Qantas will also receive additional programming from Foxtel and Fox Sports as part of the three-year contract, with the change-over from Nine set to occur on November 1.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/aviation/qantas-takes-sky-news-to-the-air-in-overhaul-of-its-inflight-entertainment-20140723-zvy3b.html

 

[Happy Trails]

Seems appropriate; ' fair and balanced' joins 'fairer and simpler'.

 

[SeatBackForward]

And now on fox news "Worlds scariest shopping trollies" followed by "When buildings collapse".

 

[UP4014]

I thought channel 9 was bad enough. :evil:

 

[777]

Personally, i think Sky News is fine -- not to be confused with the deranged and unhinged parallel universe that is fox news. They provide a pretty good service and actually have (had?) access to both the 9 and 7 network content as well as stuff of their own. It would be good if it allowed for more regular updates through the day.

 

[JohnPhelan]

It's not Fox News - it's Sky News !!

They are different services. The only link is that Sky News is broadcast via Foxtel.

 

[samh004]

Seems like a good change, I'd imagine the special Nine news bulletins crafted for Qantas were a pain.

 

[vertisol]

I must admit that I never watch the news inflight anymore. Between a newspaper in the lounge and my phone I find I am all 'newsed out' by the time sit down.

 

[QPProletarian]

Sky News is the pollies channel and the mainstay of the lounges. Probably a more targeted business/politics outlook for their customers than 9, but I did like the 9 Qantas bulletins.

 

[davidj]

Is this like the Live-to-Air Virgin had on its in flight entertainment now being phased out, only not live?

 

[Captain Halliday]

It will be an improvement IMHO. Still not live news but if the CSM is downloading the latest bulletin pre-flight you should be getting something that's no more than 120 mins old and at times less than 60 mins old. Far more timely than the Nine offer and certainly more up to date than an newspaper which is often has content close to 24 hours old by the time you read it. Editorial quality I will leave for others to comment on, but as 777 noted, Sky have access to material from both Nine and Seven.

 

[moa999]

Whilst the bulk of the fleet is still using 'tapes' I don't expect the updates to be that more frequent.

With the right hardware and a Secure Wifi feed in the 30min a plane is at the gate however you could do things much better.

 

[JohnK]

I don't have much interest in news programs. I used to watch the Nine news program on board if I was bored and it was good to get a brief outline of the main news of the day.

Fox news programs and to a lesser extent Sky news programs are boring as they can totally overdo the news. Interesting to see the type of news program that will be shown on board.

 

[pauly7]

I find sky news dumbs down the news sometimes even further than the fta networks....

It's always a nice surprise when the business lounge has abc news 24 on . Wish they'd use that on board.

 

[777]

It's not Fox News - it's Sky News !!

They are different services. The only link is that Sky News is broadcast via Foxtel.

The more obvious link is that they are both substantially owned, ultimately, by News Corp (via BSkyB in the case of Sky News) and developed as an arm of their pay TV interests. In tone and content they are very, very different.

 

[Birdblack]

It's not Fox News - it's Sky News !!

They are different services. The only link is that Sky News is broadcast via Foxtel.

I take it you've never watched Paul Murray or Chris Kenny's show then.

There is also an ownership overlap too.

 

[ajw373]

They provide a pretty good service and actually have (had?) access to both the 9 and 7 network content as well as stuff of their own.

Not a surprise considering Sky New Australia is 1/3 owned by Seven, 1/3 by Nine and 1/3 by bSkyB which in turn is owned by 21st Century Fox. News Corp has nothing to do with it anymore, if you recall it was split into publishing (News Corp) and TV and film (21st Century) a year or so back, but clearly still run and no doub influenced by Murdoch.

Oh before I get jumped on Murdochs interests in Australia, print and broadcasting (except Sky News) are owned by News Corp Australia which used to be News Limited. Guess he still has a soft spot for Aus to keep interests here seperate.

 

[777]

Not a surprise considering Sky New Australia is 1/3 owned by Seven, 1/3 by Nine and 1/3 by bSkyB which in turn is owned by 21st Century Fox. News Corp has nothing to do with it anymore, if you recall it was split into publishing (News Corp) and TV and film (21st Century) a year or so back, but clearly still run and no doub influenced by Murdoch.

Forgot about which side bsykyb ended up on in the split... I believe the correct term now is "Murdoch empire"...

 

[boomy]

Does it really matter if it's channel 9 or sky?
It's just a short news bulletin to help catch up with current events. It's really not meant to be anything more then that.

 

[drron]

BSkyB owns 1/3rd of Sky news.Fox has 39.14% of BSkyB.That is about 13% of Sky news.