TRT World arrives on Sky

International Turkish news channel TRT World has made its official UK debut after months of testing on satellite, with its arrival on Sky.
Sky viewers can now access both standard and high definition versions of the English-language news channel, which is operated by Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT.

Under the motto “Where News Inspires Change”, the news channel promises to deliver news with a “360 degree perspective”. TRT World also contains programming from London, including Insight, a daily news magazine show presented by former Sky News presenter Martin Stanford, featuring familiar UK-based commentators with a look at the latest developments across the UK and the world.

TRT World is now available on Sky channel 519 (HD) and channel 693 (SD). The free-to-air service can also be manually tuned in on non-Sky devices. There is no information on if or when the channel will be available on the Freesat satellite platform.

Since the beginning of the year, TRT World has undergone a rapid expansion in coverage, with the channel being added to multiple satellites covering Europe, Africa and Asia. Test transmissions from TRT World have been broadcasting from the Astra 2 satellite cluster since February, allowing viewers to manually tune in the channel ahead of the official launch on Sky.

In addition to its coverage of international news, TRT also wants to provide a more balanced view of events in Turkey, addressing perceived biased reporting on the country’s affairs by other international channels. However, Turkey has been recently criticised by human rights organisations for clamping down heavily on news organisations and journalists that don’t report the official Government line.