Sky Sports News to axe ‘well-known reporters and presenters’ as statement given | Football | Sport
Sky Sports News are reportedly set to make several of the channel’s “well-known faces” redundant amid a planned shake-up. The reporters and presenters were informed about the news earlier this week, with claims it is a creative decision, not a cost-cutting one.
The channel was originally launched in 1998 and has provided around-the-clock sports news coverage ever since. But planned changes aim to enhance the channel’s coverage across all digital platforms, not just television.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, a Sky Sports News spokesperson said: “We’ve shared proposals with the Sky Sports News team to change how we’re structured, aimed at making us more agile and better equipped to serve audiences across TV, digital and social. A small number of roles are impacted, and we are now entering a period of consultation with those colleagues.”
As a result, it is expected that some of Sky Sports News’ established reporters and presenters will be axed from the channel’s coverage – a decision that is said to have come as a shock to employees when it was announced on Tuesday. Sky Sports News bosses have maintained output won’t be significantly altered in light of the changes.
It comes just two years after Sky Sports made hefty cuts to its football reporting team, with the likes of Geoff Shreeves, Bianca Westwood and Dickie Davies leaving the station. Legendary commentator Martin Tyler was also ditched by Sky Sports, with Peter Drury brought in to replace him.
A report at the time stated a chunk of their 13-strong reporting team were included in the job cuts, with some opting to leave voluntarily instead. Experienced and well-respected journalists Guy Havord, Greg Whelan, Lynsey Hooper and Jaydee Dyer were among those culled.
Elsewhere, popular panel show A League of Their Own is set to be taken off air by Sky. The sports comedy programme will have one final season before finishing for good in August.
It first aired in 2010 with James Corden as host, before Romesh Ranganathan took over the reins in 2019. The show has featured big hitters from the world of sport and comedy, including Freddie Flintoff, Jamie Redknapp, John Bishop, Micah Richards and Jack Whitehall.
