BBC and Sky services join Apple News

BBC News and Sky’s Sky News service will both be available as part of the new Apple News service, which launches in the UK today.

The Apple News app, which is already available in the US, will include the BBC News app as part of a six month trial that will assess how users consume news inside an aggregation service alongside content from other publishers, and how that will impact their consumption of news from the BBC.

“This is part of making our output available in more places. The launch of Apple News, Facebook Instant Articles and Google’s Accelerated Mobile Publishing (AMP) formats present new opportunities and challenges for digital publishers,” said Robin Pembrooke, general manager, news product, in a blog post.

Apple News will give viewers the ability to customize Sky News’ feed on their mobile devices. Users of Apple devices that have updated to the iOS 9.1 operating system will see the Apple News icon on their home page from today.

The launch is the latest move by Sky News onto digital platforms, following launches on mobile, online and social TV platforms as well as Snapchat, smart TV platforms, radio and iPads.

“Sky News is always interested in embracing technology that lets us reach our customers wherever they want to access our content. I’m thrilled that our world-class journalism is now being showcased to millions of Apple News customers both in the UK and the US. This is an exciting time for Sky News’ digital development,” said Andrew Hawken, director of products, Sky News.