Sky News broadcast goes off air ‘after mass IT outage’

Sky News’ morning broadcast has been unable to reach viewers today after amass IT outage.

A message on the channel on Friday morning apologised for ‘disruption’ to the service, when scheduled programming was meant to begin at 6am.

It read: ‘We apologise for the interruption to this broadcast. We hope to restore the transmission of Sky News shortly.’

Many took to social media to complain, while presenter Jacquie Beltrao shared a behind-the-scenes snap of the broadcasting team patiently waiting.

‘We’re obviously not on air – we’re trying,’ she wrote.

Presenter Gareth Barlow added: ‘As you might have noticed, we’re not on air at the moment – tech issues that don’t seem limited to just @SkyNews. IT and production teams are working on a solution. See you, soon?!’

‘We need our Sky News morning fix lol! BBC news too dry!’ @gristdezza commented.

@tennisbabe77 added: ‘I was wondering what was happening. I can’t get up before having my @SkyNews fix!’

@mickjh joked: ‘Tried turning it off and back on again ?’

Carol Vorderman was also among those asking: ‘Where’s my @SkyNews this morning?’

According to the BBC, several Australian institutions across media, major banks and an airline, have been hit by a mass IT outage.

The cause of the outage is unclear, but many have linked it to Microsoft operating systems.

An official Microsoft 365 service update posted to social media earlier read: ‘We’re investigating an issue impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services.’

A Sky News spokesperson said in a statement to the PA news agency: ‘Sky News has not been able to broadcast live TV this morning, we apologise for the interruption.

‘All the news is still available online, on the Sky News app, website, and across our social media accounts. We are working hard to restore all services.’

It has also affected several flights, with the BBC noting airlines in the US are reported to having to delay or cancel flights, while Virgin Australia told travellers there was a ‘complete ground stop’ of flights and budget flight company Jetstar unable to check in passengers after an ‘issue with Microsoft’.

Australia’s cybersecurity watchdog said in a statement that there is no information suggesting it is a cybersecurity incident.

‘Our current information is this outage relates to a technical issue with a third-party software platform employed by affected companies,’ they said in a statement to the BBC.

Sky News is currently airing old documentaries instead of its usual Breakfast with Anna Jones programme.

Metro.co.uk has approached Sky News for comment.