All 15 of Sky Tyne and Wear’s employees are now going through a redundancy process, it has been confirmed this morning.
As we reported earlier this week, Sky closed down its North East-specific website suddenly on Monday lunchtime after operating for less than two years.
But the company told Broadcast this morning that it is committed to continuing its coverage in the north east through its main news service with hundreds of staff still based at Newcastle.
A Sky spokesman : “We hugely value the interest that people have shown in Sky Tyne and Wear. We set up the website and mobile app as a pilot project and through it we’ve learned a great deal about local news and sport.
“Now the pilot is at an end, we’d like to thank the editorial team whose hard work has contributed so much to the success of the project. The North East remains an important region for Sky, with 700 of our employees based in Newcastle.”
Announcing the closure, a statement on Sky Tyne and Wear’s website said the interest the project had prompted had been valued and reviewed: “Sky Tyne and Wear was set up as a pilot project, and with your help we have learned a great deal about local news and views. Now the pilot period is over, we have conducted a thorough review and the service is now closed.
”It’s been a great couple of years with many memorable moments which we have shared together. We are genuinely sorry to be signing off.”
The final tweet to Sky Tyne and Wear’s 29,000 Twitter followers said simply: “We were canny mint mind.”
