Sky News revives Technofile

I suppose it isn’t untrue to say Sky News has resurrected its Technofile strand – a programme which yours truly graced on regular occasions between 1998 and 1999. But at just four minutes long, it hardly qualifies as ‘web TV’: that’s equivalent to a couple of packages, or a single high-profile interviewee. I must admit, I expected more – although it’s great to see Martin Stanford back doing what he enjoys most.

Meanwhile, the channel’s website has restored its Technology channel, populated principally by content sourced from Pocket-Lint (the previous day, in most cases). I’m still not convinced that Sky can or should support multiple news channels like this: for me, it’s much more sensible to focus on what you do best – in Sky’s case, speed over depth. They can’t match the BBC’s resources, so they shouldn’t try to match the BBC’s method. I’ve seen them try countless syndicated content deals over the years, and few have had any real impact or longevity.