Dalley, Sky get down to business

SKY News Australia has recruited prominent former Nine network presenter Helen Dalley to spearhead an expansion of its business programming, as it pursues plans to start a full business channel in Australia.

SKY News Australia has recruited prominent former Nine network presenter Helen Dalley to spearhead an expansion of its business programming, as it pursues plans to start a full business channel in Australia.

Media understands Sky News has been closely investigating setting up a round-the-clock business channel - which would be Australia's first - and is at an advanced stage of planning.

Helen McCombie, supervising producer, business, for Sky News, declined to comment on developments involving the channel other than to say: "It's something that we definitely want to do."

In her first role since leaving the Nine network early last year, Dalley will front Sky News's Sunday Business program from this Sunday. It is also likely she has been drafted for additional assignments.

She told Media yesterday: "I hesitate to use the term special projects because of the connotations that go with that, but I'll be involved with special interviews and the like."

Dalley said her role at Sky News may soon be broadened. "Sky seem very keen for that. I'm sure I can suggest things to them and they can suggest things to me."

Hiring Dalley is a coup for Sky News, which is looking to capitalise on a void left in business programming on commercial television by the axing of shows such as Business Sunday. Indeed, Sky's Sunday Business bears a strong resemblance to Business Sunday, which disappeared from Nine's schedule in September last year.

Three of the Sky Sunday business show's senior talent were prominent figures for many years on its Nine predecessor.

Dalley was a founding member of the Business Sunday team and a long-time alternative presenter and reporter on the show; McCombie was a former reporter there; and Terry McCrann served as a Business Sunday senior commentator.

When asked if whether represented the Nine diaspora reassembling at Sky, McCombie quipped: "Anyone watching could just forget that Business Sunday had disappeared."

Apart from beefing up Sunday Business - which was launched last year the week after Business Sunday was taken off Nine's programming schedule - Sky has been building other business programming. Last month it also launched Trading Day, a 15-minute lunchtime business news and market wrap. McCombie said the new programming capitalised on scant coverage of business on free-to-air television.

"Seven doesn't really do it, and Nine does a little bit in the Today show and some of the news bulletins. I think you'd call it business lite."

Sky is a joint venture of Australia's Nine and Seven networks and BSkyB (which is part-owned by News Corporation, publisher of The Australian). Each of the three has a one-third stake in the entity, and the Sky board is generally regarded as a rare oasis of peace in the midst of generally fierce competition between its media owners.

Dalley is joining Sky after a year she described as a sabbatical during which she "could have got used to not working". But Sky came along "at the right time, with the right offer".

Apart from her three years full-time as a reporter at Business Sunday, the Walkley Award-winner spent 16 years at the Sunday program as alternative host and reporter.

She was an anchor at Nine during several major news events - including the 2003 Iraq invasion and the September11 coverage - as well as a fixture on the network's election coverage over the years.

It is understood Dalley is likely to play a major role in Sky's federal election coverage this year.

How does she see her role at Sky evolving?

"There are endless possibilities for the media, and I want to be part of it, and I intend to be part of it," she said.