Do you think Sky would work if it were more like Fox, though?  Fox plays to the most hardcore of the crazy Republican elements -- a group that I never ran into in Britain.  Yes, I know the BNP types are out there, but they're a very small group (about 1% of the British public), according to the election results I've seen, whereas I'd pin the hardcore Fox crowd at about 15% of the American voting population.  (They're smaller taken within the entire population.  Non-voters tend to sit decidedly to the left in America, which is why, I suspect, polling on issues reveals America to be much more liberal than its recent voting record would suggest.)

I'm not sure the number of people with an appetite for Fox-level journamalism are sufficient for a profitable channel in Britain.  And only a small chunk of that 1% would likely watch.

And, despite the other news organizations getting us the real story on (say) the lack of WMD and al-Qaeda links in Iraq, Fox is still Fox.  I think it probably goes more to profitability than the BBC's influence.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.