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Sky News to switch to widescreen

Sky readies a switch from 4:3 to 16:9 on Sunday April 26th.

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skynews“Good news everyone!*” Sky News is preparing to broadcast in 16:9 widescreen with a prospective launch date of Sunday April 26th.

That will certainly be a pleasant change from the 4:3 ratio currently screened on Foxtel, Austar and Optus TV.

Sky News is owned and operated by Australian News Channel Pty Ltd – a joint venture of British Sky Broadcasting, PBL Media and Seven Media Group.

Australian-Media notes that date may be pushed back if internal preparations take longer to complete than expected.

*apologies to Futurama.

Source: Australian-Media.com.au

32 Responses

  1. @Craig: a 4:3 channel uses about 70% of the bandwidth of a 16:9 channel if both SD. It’s really not much. I’ve always thought, that if the bandwidth is maxed out, they should drop a poorly performing channel (like one of the +2’s) so the remainder of 4:3’s can become 16:9’s as well.

  2. I’ve read with the article being updated that it will be Sky news, Sky News Business Channel and A-Pac all at once going widescreen no wonder why it could of taken so long at the same time.

  5. Finally! it looks terrible on a 4:3 TV. The current onscreen graphics, really are not that old, but they are awful. The previous version was better.
    @Craig: “BBC World made the switch (with little fan-fare) a few months back ” I noticed that too, and same with Fox Classics (inc +2) and Nickeloden and Nick Jr. Hardly any contect on those channels are in widecreen except for the old movies on FC. Should have been TV1, Arena and Comdey

  6. Long overdue! But I wouldn’t expect Active to go fullscreen, or change at all, until Optus D3 is launched later this year. Fullscreen would require more satellite space.

  9. @Shane there is no reason they can’t pickup the HD feeds and just ‘downgrade’ the 16:9 feed to be shows on SD, they do it all the time for Drama and other shows on the main FTA and PayTV channels.

    I hate watching a showon a 16:9 channel with black bars down the side know it was originally shown in 16:9, movies especially!

  11. @Craig “When will the other US news channels make the move?”

    never because as far as i know the US doesn’t have widescreen SD tv only HD (i have never lived in the USA so i dont know that fir sure, thats what i heard on the Engadget HD podcast, so its very unlikely for them to go widescreen anytime soon.
    FOX News does now have a HD feed(FOXNews HD) so i hope foxtel does pick that up when they can, or they could just down-convert the HD Feed but i hope not and i wouldnt think foxtel would wont to do that anyway

  12. About time, it should of happen when Foxtel Digital came in 5 years ago or so. i hope they do change their graphics because these ones look old and out-dated.
    SkyNews HD might come soon, i hope so.

    its about time that the other channels like Comedy Channel and arena go widescreen as well. but if i had to choses comedy would

  14. Yes about time and ITA what of TV1, Comedy Channel, Arena, Discovery (not the HD one some of us don’t get.) and a few other key channels?

    The Weather channel has been 16:9 for as long as I remember and BBC World made the switch (with little fan-fare) a few months back and lets not forget SyFy.

    When will the other US news channels make the move?

  17. Time they upgraded either all or most of the 4:3 channels. As Mike said but include about freaking time, The Comedy Channel. That badly needs widescreen. Half its content is in widescreen.

  19. i wonder if the active channels will have a full screen option since skynews will have to update active anyway to accommodate widescreen video, also will this include skynews business channel and a-pac

  21. great news, widescreen makes any channel look a lot more modern and with the times, particular news channels, was just thinking a while ago it should be anytime now, i hope they will change the one screen graphics as well (a channel almost always does when it switches to widescreen) as the current ones look very clunky and old fashioned.

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