Sky to axe .tv tech news channel

Sky TV is to close down its .tv technology channel, the latest sign of the dot-com deflation. According to independent sources, the channel, which was the UK's only television channel devoted to the rapidly changing world of technology and new media, will cease transmission in early September.

According to one source, all staff have been made redundant. The channel had attained a 100 per cent increase in overall viewing share. Its integrated website, www.tvchannel.co.uk, has also seen a 15-fold increase in page impressions year-on-year, according to the company's own figures.

News of the closure comes just one month after the Industry Standard Europe closed its doors after just six months in operation. The decision to shut down followed unsuccessful attempts to find a buyer for the title.

It also comes at the end of a mixed week for the European tech economy. Upbeat news included Microsoft saying that it expects a large majority of European companies to maintain or increase their spending on information technology, based on the results of a recent IDC survey, and French video games publisher Ubi Soft Entertainment sounding a rare note of optimism when it said it expected sales and profitability to rise this year as the games market picks up.

On the downside ICL, one of the oldest names in British computing, has been killed off by parent company Fujitsu, ten months after the Japanese company abandoned attempts to float the software and services business.

Sky was not immediately available for comment.

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