EXCLUSIVE: Kay Burley is ready to turn off the 3am alarm clock.
Deadline understands that Burley, one of the UK’s highest-profile news anchors, is expected to vacate Sky News‘ 6am-10am breakfast slot after five years.
Burley moved to breakfast in October 2019. The show, titled Breakfast with Kay Burley, relaunched from studios in Westminster this year with a chattier tone and new co-hosts, including Gareth Barlow and Mhari Aurora.
Burley’s final show could be as early as this week. There has been newsroom speculation that she could be leaving altogether, though Deadline has been unable to verify the rumors circulating at the Comcast-owned network. Equally, sources are not ruling out a new role.
Sky News and Burley declined to comment.
If she did exit, it would be the end of an era. Burley was one of Sky News’ original presenters when Rupert Murdoch launched the pay-TV broadcaster in 1989. “It would be massive if she left,” said a Sky News insider.
Before hosting breakfast, Burley anchored a late afternoon show. She is usually relied upon by Sky News during major news events and hosted the network’s general election night coverage in July.
She has been in the hot seat for some of the biggest stories of the past four decades, including the invasion of Iraq, the death of Princess Diana, and the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York. The latter clinched Sky News the first BAFTA award in its history.
Burley was taken off air for six months in 2020 after it was revealed she broke Covid rules while celebrating her 60th birthday in London. She apologized for the “error of judgment.”
David Rhodes, the former CBS News president who serves as Sky News’ executive chairman, has been evolving the channel’s schedule amid changes in viewing habits and increased competition from GB News.
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