Sky News Australia’s licensing of its name from the United Kingdom-based broadcaster is set to conclude by 2026, raising questions about whether the Murdoch-owned conservative network plans to rebrand under the Fox News banner in Australia.

Between the lapsing licence and David Rhodes, chairman of Sky News UK, describing the naming rights deal as a “legacy of our previous ownership”, Sky News Australia is considering rebranding the channel as either Fox News Australia, Talk Australia or Australian News Channel, according to the Australian Financial Review.

News Corp bought 39 per cent of Sky News Australia in 2016 from its previous owners, including Seven West Media and Nine Entertainment.

Rupert Murdoch sold his stake in Sky News UK in 2018.

Dr Glynn Greensmith, a journalism lecturer at Curtin University, said that Sky News UK and Sky News Australia’s daytime broadcasting has maintained a good reputation.

“There is a world of difference between Sky News Australia and Sky News After Dark,” he said.

“If you judge Sky News Australia by After Dark, you would realise that even though four people and their dog are watching, what they manage to do is generate the dumbest, most hateful and spiteful comments onto social media, which generates impact.”

Sky News Australia has been criticised for following the format pioneered by Fox News, where partisan and factually challenged hosts push conservative talking points and rail against major issues like “wokeness”.

It has grown a sizeable YouTube viewership, far outsizing its paltry broadcast numbers, by appealing to a global audience already hooked into Fox News modus operandi and sometimes publishing as many as 3500 videos a month.

Sky News Australia and Fox News prolifically blur the lines between news and opinion. Photo: YouTube

Fox News Australia

Having already borrowed a large part of Fox News’ business model, it would seem inevitable that the Murdoch-owned broadcast would assume its name.

Greensmith said despite the similarities in the way they function, Fox News has a terrible reputation among many people globally.

“How many billions have they had to pay out for the lies, sexual assaults and harassment charges?” he said.

“There’s going to be a marketplace for it in Australia because we have a certain proportion of our population who love that sort of thing.”

He said that the size of Sky News Australia and Fox News’ audiences does not “equate to the actual number of people who support it or the strength of any intellectual argument”.

“There are, however, people who are keen for the Fox application of news so that everything becomes insanely political,” he said.

“It is a damning indictment on Australia that the hosts find their way over here on speaking tours, no matter how discredited they have been in other places. This is a place where a [Nigel] Farage or a [Tucker] Carlson can reliably lock up and do a speaking tour.”

Fox News has spent billions paying out defamation settlements after it pushed false and discredited claims of voter fraud following the 2020 election, while its previous CEO Roger Ailes spent decades sexually harassing women who worked for the company.

The company spent millions settling sexual assault and harassment settlements for its then-star host Bill O’Reilly, whose contract they renewed, with company money and has been a conduit for the spreading of conspiracy theories.