News24 (formerly Sky News Australia) is an Australian conservative news channel owned by News Corp Australia. Originally launched on 19 February 1996, it broadcasts rolling news coverage throughout the day, while its prime time lineup is dedicated to opinion-based programs featuring a line-up of conservative commentators.
News24 is distributed on pay television in Australia and New Zealand, while a free-to-air version of the service, News24 Regional (which features programming from News24 and Fox Sports News) is distributed on digital terrestrial television by Network Ten Pty Ltd and selected WIN Television stations. The channel also operates two spin-off services, News24 Weather and world service News24 World (formerly A-PAC and Sky News Extra).
The channel was originally launched as Sky News Australia, a joint venture between British broadcaster BSkyB (thus making it a spin-off of the Sky News channel in the United Kingdom), Seven Network Limited, and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (owner of the Nine Network), as Australian News Channel. The company was acquired by News Corp Australia in 2016. With the subsequent sale of Murdoch's remaining shares in Sky UK to Comcast, Sky News Australia no longer had any direct ties to its UK counterpart, but continued to use the Sky News branding under licence from Sky UK until its expiration. In February 2026, it was announced that the network would rebrand as News24; the rebranding took effect on 27 July 2026.
History
News24’s parent company, Australian News Channel (ANC), was owned equally by British Sky Broadcasting, Seven Network Limited (later Seven Group Holdings then Seven West Media) and Publishing and Broadcasting Limited (later PBL Media then Nine Entertainment), each with a 33% stake in the company from its founding until December 2016, when it was acquired by News Corp Australia.
News24 launched as Sky News Australia at 5 pm on 19 February 1996, as the first Australian-produced television news channel. The channel aired its 50,000th unique newscast on 23 April 2003 at 11 am. Sky News was added to Austar on 1 April 2000.
In 2004, Sky News began broadcasting Sky News Active, its on-demand interactive TV news service. In 2008, Sky News launched the Sky News Business Channel, and on 20 January 2009, Sky News launched Australian Public Affairs Channel (A-PAC). It began widescreen broadcasting on 17 May 2009.
In 2013, Sky News Australia was granted 20 million in funding from its parent company to be used over three years.
News24 began broadcasting in high definition on 1 December 2015.
With the sale of Murdoch's remaining shares in Sky UK to Comcast in 2018, News24 no longer has any direct ownership ties to its UK counterpart, but continued to use the Sky News branding under licence from Comcast.
In February 2018, Sky News Australia launched a digital-first brand and content platform called 2600. The online political newsletter is sent out daily with breaking news from Canberra.
In November 2018, Sky News terminated the contract of former Liberal Party MP and late-night presenter Ross Cameron for using sinophobic language to describe Chinese people.
In mid-2019, the channel began expanding its digital operations. This included a content partnership with YouTube, Microsoft News, Facebook and Taboola. That led to new, opinion-focused videos being uploaded more frequently and across News Corp platforms, after having previously not uploaded any videos from February 2017 to April 2019.
In July 2024, it was reported that the network would relocate to the News Corp Australia headquarters in Surry Hills in 2025.
Rebranding as News24
News Corp's license to carry the Sky News brand expired in late 2026. As the expiration date approached, Sky Limited showed little interest in renewing the agreement between the companies, with some reports suggesting this was due to the change in ownership and divergence in editorial direction between the brands. Whereas Sky News UK is required to provide an impartial service under British broadcasting regulations, Sky News Australia has developed increasingly conservative content in its flagship opinion and discussion programs. Names News Corp were reported to be considering rebranding the network included "Australian News Channel" or a name containing either "Fox News"—derived from the U.S. sister network owned by Fox Corporation, or "Talk"—coming from News UK brand Talkradio, which operates a spin-off internet television service.
On 20 February 2026, during the official opening of their new Surry Hills headquarters to mark the channel's 30th anniversary, Sky News Australia announced that it would rebrand as News24. The rebrand was implemented on 27 July 2026. The new logo incorporates part of the News Corp wordmark, which itself is based on the handwriting of company founder Rupert Murdoch; News Corp described the new name as transitioning Sky News from being an Australia-centric television channel to a "globally ambitious", multi-platform news brand.
Programming
News24 programming consists of a mix of live news bulletins, live broadcasts from events (such as Parliament Question Time and selected press conferences), original commentary panel programs. Sky News has broadcast every sitting of Question Time from the House of Representatives since its launch in 1996.
In 2013, ahead of the federal election, Sky News Australia began to pivot its prime time programming to feature live current affairs programming, adding the new programme Paul Murray Live and the weekly Viewpoint with Chris Kenny. It also added a new sportscast presented by James Bracey, and named Stan Grant the new presenter of Newsnight. Following the acquisition of the channel by News Corp, News24 began to increasingly feature conservative, opinion-based programming during the evening and prime time hours.
On weekdays, throughout most of the day, rolling news coverage is presented from one of News24's studios. From 5 pm (AEST/AEDT), commentary programs begin, and continue through primetime until 11 pm AEST/AEDT. Most of these programs are presented by conservative commentators discussing the news of the day, often with a panel of other commentators, and feature a news update at the beginning of the program (and sometimes further updates during the program). Rolling news continues from 11 pm AEST/AEDT before coverage switches to an overnight simulcast of Sky News UK at 1 am AEST/AEDT.
Beginning in 2007, News24 aired local breakaway programming for New Zealand viewers in primetime, filmed at Prime NZ's Auckland studios and produced from Sydney. One of these programs, Prime News – First at 5:30, was also simulcast to Australian viewers. The debut of Sky News NZ Evening News was watched by just 1,500 viewers and panned by critics. Sky News Australia continued to produce news programming for Prime until 2015, when MediaWorks New Zealand took over production of Prime's news programming via its own news department. On 16 June 2018, Sky News Australia premiered New Zealand Agenda, a political program hosted by New Zealand bureau chief James O'Doherty from Wellington, New Zealand.
Current programmes Daytime First Edition with Peter Stefanovic (Monday to Friday) Weekend Edition with Alex Thomas (Saturday to Sunday) News24 Breakfast with Jaynie Seal and Samantha Chiari (Only on News24 Regional & News24 Weather) (Monday to Friday) AM Agenda with Laura Jayes (Monday to Friday) Weekend Agenda with Andrew Clennell (Saturdays) Outsiders with Rowan Dean, Rita Panahi, and James Morrow (Sundays) Business Weekend with Ross Greenwood (Sundays) NewsDay with Tom Connell and Ashleigh Gillon (Monday to Friday) Weekend Live (Saturday to Sunday) Afternoon Agenda with Kieran Gilbert (Monday to Friday) Politics Now (Monday to Friday) Business Now with Ross Greenwood (Monday to Friday) The Kenny Report with Chris Kenny (Monday to Thursday) NZ Edition with Jack Nyhof (Saturday to Sunday)
Nighttime Credlin with Peta Credlin (Monday to Friday) The Bolt Report with Andrew Bolt (Monday to Thursday) The Steve Price Show with Steve Price (Fridays) The World According to Rowan Dean with Rowan Dean (Fridays) Opinionated with Danica De Giorgio (Fridays) The US Report with James Morrow (Fridays) Sharri with Sharri Markson (Monday to Thursday) Paul Murray Live with Paul Murray (Sunday to Thursday) The Rita Panahi Show with Rita Panahi (Monday to Thursday) The Late Debate with James Macpherson, Danica De Giorgio and Caleb Bond (Monday to Thursday) The Media Show with Jack Houghton (Fridays) The Papers with James Macpherson, Liz Storer and Caleb Bond (Fridays) In Conversation with Laura Jayes (Sundays) Danica and James with Danica De Giorgio and James Macpherson (Sundays) The Sunday Showdown with Caleb Bond (Sundays) Lefties Losing It with Rita Panahi (Sundays) The Royal Report (Sundays) NewsNight (Saturday to Sunday)
Presenters and reporters
News presenters
Peter Stefanovic Jaynie Seal Laura Jayes Tom Connell Ashleigh Gillon Kieran Gilbert Tim Gilbert Kristie Lloyd Ortenzia Borre Rhiannon Elston Cheng Lei Candice Wyatt
Program presenters
Rowan Dean Rita Panahi James Morrow Ross Greenwood Chris Kenny Peta Credlin Andrew Bolt Paul Murray Jack Houghton Jenna Clarke James Macpherson Sharri Markson Laura Jayes Kieran Gilbert Cheng Lei Danica Di Giorgio Caroline Di Russo Gabriella Power
Reporters Julia Bradley, Caroline Marcus and Crystal Wu – Sydney Georgie Dickerson, Holly Stearnes and Jack Nyhof – Melbourne Trudy McIntosh, Cameron Reddin and Reuben Spargo – Canberra Kaiser Shields and Harry Clarke – Brisbane Lauren Forbes – Gold Coast Monique Van Der Heyden – Adelaide Ciara Hain – Perth Matt Cunningham – Darwin Aspen Blomfield – Hobart Jack Nyhof – Wellington, New Zealand Staś Butler – Taipei, Taiwan Annelise Nielsen – Washington DC, United States
Former presenters and reporters
Alan Jones Cory Bernardi (2023) John Gatfield (1996–2008) (now with Sky Racing) Co-anchored the first bulletin on 19 February 1996 with Juanita Phillips. Samantha Armytage Dan Bourchier Ross Cameron (2013–2018) Brooke Corte Freya Leach Helen Dalley Craig Emerson Georgie Gardner Amy Greenbank Stan Grant (2013–2017) Leigh Hatcher Patricia Karvelas (2016–2017) Kristina Keneally (2014–2017) Chris Kohler David Koch Mark Latham (2016–2017) Prue Lewarne Samantha Maiden John Mangos Sharon McKenzie Piers Morgan Melanie McLaughlin Jim Middleton Erin Molan Kelly Nestor Janine Perrett Juanita Phillips Cameron Price Chris Roe Celina Edmonds Vanessa Grimm Nina Stevens Amber Sherlock David Speers Greg Thomson Karen Tso Jacinta Tynan Peter van Onselen (2010–2017) Terry Willesee Michael Willesee Jr. Ahron Young Craig Norenbergs James Bracey Ticky Fullerton Peter Gleeson Fiona Willan Olivia Caisley
Bureaus
News24 has a bureau in every capital city in Australia, completing this with the opening of its Hobart studio in 2013. In 2016, it opened a bureau in Cairns, making it the first non-capital city bureau. In 2017, a Gold Coast bureau was opened marking the third non-capital city studio after Cairns and Geelong.
The base of News24 is in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, from which the majority of its news and programming is broadcast. Its Melbourne studio was upgraded in 2014, allowing it to be used as a secondary broadcast studio. Hinch Live became the first regular program to be broadcast from Melbourne.
The third major bureau is in Parliament House, Canberra, opened in 2000. Lyndal Curtis became Bureau Chief of in October 2015. Additionally News24 has a small office in the Channel Seven building in Martin Place, which includes a small street-level single camera studio which looks onto Elizabeth Street, Sydney.
Internationally, News24's only foreign bureau is in Wellington, New Zealand, opened in 2015.
Resources