Sky Sports is a group of sports television channels operated by the satellite pay-TV company Sky plc. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It has played a major role in the increased commercialisation of British sport since 1991, sometimes playing a large role in inducing organisational changes in the sports it broadcasts, most notably when it encouraged the Premier League to break away from the Football League in 1992.
Sky Sports Main Event, Premier League, Football, Cricket, Golf, F1, Action and Arena are available as a premium package on top of the basic Sky package. These channels are also available as premium channels on nearly every satellite, cable and IPTV broadcasting system in the UK and Ireland. Sky Sports News and Sky Sports Mix are both provided as part of basic packages. The Sky Sports network is managed by Barney Francis.
Video Sky Sports
History
Predecessors
British Satellite Broadcasting, operated The Sports Channel, which launched in April 1990. In the BSB years, it shared the same frequency with its underpromoted sister channel, the Computer Channel, which broadcast in the mornings when the Sports Channel was off-air.
BSB merged with Sky Television plc to form British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Television had co-founded another sports network known as Eurosport with the European Broadcasting Union. Eurosport was the subject of a complaint by a competitor, Screensport, who argued that the venture had the effect of restricting and distorting competition in the sports market. Sky later pulled out of the venture, and the channel was later sold to the TF1 Group and merged with Screensport.
Launch
The Sports Channel was renamed Sky Sports on 20 April 1991, and began broadcasting to Sky viewers via the newly launched Astra 1B satellite on that date, alongside its existing transmissions on BSB's Marcopolo satellite. The channel was sold as one of the major draws of the Sky system and initially aired sports such as rugby and golf in 1991, before acquiring rights to German and Italian league football in 1996 (both carried over from the Sports Channel). The channel was initially encrypted but broadcast free-to-view, requiring an analogue VideoCrypt decoder, but no paid subscription, to be viewed. Since VideoCrypt decoders were only officially available within the UK, this measure was intended to prevent viewing of the service outside the UK and Ireland.
However, it was following the formation of the Premier League for the 1992/93 football season, believed to have been assisted by the promise of higher TV payments, that Sky Sports became well known. By bidding £304m, BSkyB beat the BBC and ITV to acquire the live and exclusive Premier League football broadcasting rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland for a five-year period. In doing so, they had taken live top-flight English league football from terrestrial and free-to-air television for the first time in its history. At this point, Sky Sports became a subscription channel, available with a monthly subscription on a standalone basis, or at a reduced price if taken with Sky's movie channels.
On 19 August 1994, a secondary channel known as Sky Sports 2 was launched; likewise, the original service was renamed Sky Sports 1. On 1 November 1995, Sky launched a classic sports channel known as Sky Sports Gold; however, the channel ceased broadcasting after only a year on the air. On 16 August 1996, Sky launched Sky Sports 3. Sky Sports also acquired the rights to Scottish football and the Coca-Cola Cup.
Digital era
With the launch of the Sky Digital satellite platform in October 1998, Sky Sports launched Sky Sports News--a channel carrying rolling sports news coverage, in March 1999, followed by Sky Sports Xtra (later branded as Sky Sports 4 since 2010) in April.
During a Premier League match on 22 August 1999, Sky Sports launched an interactive television service known as Sky Sports Active via the digital platform, allowing viewers to watch matches with access to additional on-screen statistics, and a choice of alternate camera angles and replays. Sky expected to extend the interactive services to other sports the following year.
Sky Sports' football coverage was at the centre of controversy in January 2011 when footage emerged of presenters Andy Gray and Richard Keys making comments perceived as sexist. On 25 January 2011, Gray was sacked over the comments. On 25 January 2011, fellow reporter Andy Burton was suspended by Sky due to his involvement in the sexist comments made about a female assistant referee, Sian Massey, which also involved Gray and Keys. However, unlike Gray and Keys, Burton later returned to his regular duties at Sky.
Om 29 July 2011, it was announced that Sky Sports had acquired rights to Formula One racing from 2012 through 2018, with the BBC to share free-to-air rights to roughly half of the events, and have highlights rights for the remainder. Sky subsequently announced that it would introduce a new channel dedicated specifically to its coverage, Sky Sports F1, which would air practices, qualifying, and commercial-free coverage of each race; the channel was made available at no extra charge to all Sky high-definition subscribers, regardless of whether they were a Sky Sports subscriber. Sky extended its contract in 2016, to last through 2024; beginning in 2019, Sky will hold exclusive rights to all F1 races.
On 12 August 2014, Sky launched Sky Sports 5, which would be dedicated primarily to European football, including UEFA European Championship qualifiers, La Liga and the Eredivisie.
On 24 August 2016, Sky launched Sky Sports Mix, a new channel designed to offer a sampling of content from the full range of Sky Sports networks to those who are not subscribers. On Sky, the channel is included as a basic channel with all plans, and was also available on certain Virgin Media packages on-launch.
Channel re-alignment and expansion (2017)
On 18 July 2017, Sky re-aligned its sports channels, dropping the numbered services in favour of dedicated channels devoted to their core sports properties, including cricket, Formula One, golf, and two football channels (with one specifically dedicated to the Premier League), and three channels dedicated to general sports coverage. It also announced the purchase of a majority stake in At The Races, which it will rename Sky Sports Racing
In addition, Sky announced that it would revise the pricing structure of the channels to make them more attractive to viewers; Sky customers can purchase up to three of the channels on an a la carte basis, or the entire bundle. On Sky's Now TV service, the entire Sky Sports service continues to be available through the timed pass system. The availability and packaging of the new service varies on other providers.
Maps Sky Sports
Channels
Ten main channels comprise the Sky Sports service:
In addition to Sky Sports Main Event, BT TV customers receive a channel named Sky Sports Extra which broadcasts Premier League games that are not shown on Main Event.
Temporary channels
Sky occasionally gives one of their channels a temporary rebrand to coincide with a sports event. Examples of this include:
- Sky Sports Ashes: To coincide with the 2013 Ashes series, Sky Sports 2 was renamed as Sky Sports Ashes on 30 June until 31 August 2013. As well as covering the Ashes, the dedicated cricket channel also featured the Women's Ashes, domestic cricket and various magazine and review shows. The practice was repeated for the 2015 Ashes series.
- Sky Sports Ryder Cup: From 18 September to 2 October 2014, Sky rebranded Sky Sports 4 as Sky Sports Ryder Cup. The channel was dedicated to the coverage of the 2014 Ryder Cup, from Gleneagles. It repeated from 26 September to 5 October 2016 for the Ryder Cup for that year.
- Sky Sports Darts: In recent years Sky Sports 3 has become Sky Sports Darts for the duration of the PDC World Darts Championship. The channel mixes live coverage with replays of the most recent sessions and classic moments from the tournament's history. Sky Sports Darts was first seen for the 2015 William Hill World Darts Championship and it returned on 14 December 2015 however, Sky Sports F1 was temporarily renamed Sky Sports Darts until 5 January 2016. For the 2017 event it was Sky Sports 3 that was renamed.
- Sky Sports World Cup: From 14 February to 29 March 2015, Sky rebranded Sky Sports 2 as Sky Sports World Cup. The channel was dedicated to the coverage of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, from Australia and New Zealand.
- Sky Sports The Open: During their first live broadcast of golf's Open Championship, from 11 to 18 July 2016, Sky Sports 1 rebranded as Sky Sports The Open. From 17 July to 24 July 2017, Sky Sports 4 was rebranded Sky Sports The Open, and would be replaced by Sky Sports 4's replacement, Sky Sports Golf.
- Sky Sports The Players: From 8 May to 14 May 2017, Sky renamed Sky Sports 4 as Sky Sports The Players. The channel was dedicated to the coverage of the 2017 Players Championship.
Sky Sports Racing (formerly At the Races)
At the Races is the only Sky Sports channel not wholly owned by Sky, although Sky purchased majority control of it in 2017. It was founded by the Go Racing consortium, a partnership of Channel 4, BSkyB and Arena Leisure plc (owner of Ascot Racecourse, and acting on behalf of a further 27 out of the 59 UK racecourses) in July 2004. Following its high-profile collapse (and Channel 4 removing itself from the consortium) the station - now purely a joint venture between BSkyB and Arena Leisure - focuses on horse racing from the UK, Ireland, North America and Germany, showing many live races and related shows. The station is "affiliated" with various betting companies, since gamblers are generally the sport's main audience, and its pictures, provided by satellite link provider SIS, are also commercially distributed to betting shops across the country.
Defunct channels
PremPlus
PremPlus was a pay-per-view channel dedicated to airing live Premier League Football. PremPlus launched on 18 August 2001, showing 40 pay-per-view Premier League matches. The main presenter on PremPlus was Marcus Buckland with former Arsenal manager George Graham providing punditry. The channel was called Premiership Plus from 2001 to 2004, before being shortened to the later PremPlus for the beginning of the 2004-05 season. PremPlus closed down after the last match of the 2006-07 season after Setanta Sports obtained a third of the Premier League rights for 2007-10 This left Sky with only 92 live matches, meaning a Pay-Per-View service was unsustainable. An internet television service named Now TV was launched in 2012 offering a non contract subscription to Sky Sports thus making the service a part spiritual successor to PremPlus.
Sky Sports News Radio
Sky Sports News Radio was a British online radio station broadcasting sports news, results and information 24 hours a day. It is a sister service to the television channel Sky Sports News HQ.
The station was launched in June 2010 and broadcasts online and via digital platforms from the Teamtalk studios in Leeds. It originally broadcast from 08:00 to 18:00 only, expanding to a full 24-hour schedule in August 2010 to coincide with the start of the 2010-11 football season. The station was initially only available to Sky Sports subscribers, but became free to all listeners when its sister TV channel was removed from Freeview. The station can also be listened to via the Sky Sports Apps and third party platforms such as TuneIn Radio and The Pure Lounge.
News reports were sourced from the Sky Sports News newsroom, Sky News Radio and information was shared with SkySports.com, based in the same office. The station's managing editor was Mark Chesworth.
The station closed in September 2014
Technological advances
Sky Sports HD channels
Sky Sports 1 HD launched on 22 May 2006 as Sky Sports HD, and airs live cricket, Premier League and The Football League as well as English Premiership and Super League Rugby. The 2008 Ryder Cup was also screened in HD.
In July 2006, Sky Sports HD2 launched on Sky Digital channel 409, at the same time Sky Sports HD1 moved to channel 408, with Sky Sports News switching to channel 405. There was also a HD version of PremPlus, called PremPlus HD, which broadcast on Sky channel 483 until the football season ended. It was briefly branded Sky Sports HDX and used to broadcast other Sky Sports content in HD, before it ceased broadcasting.
HD broadcasts of rugby league's Super League began from the start of the 2007 season in February 2007. Super Bowl XLI marked the first NFL broadcast in HD in the UK; additional NFL games in HD have since been phased in. Monday Night Football, Thursday Night Football, Thanksgiving Day games and the NFL Playoffs were shown in HD from 2008.
Sky Sports HD3 launched on 17 March 2008, to coincide with WWE's first UK HD broadcast. The channel broadcasts a large quantity of WWE and golf.
Sky Sports HD4 launched on 29 April 2010.
Due to an Ofcom review of premium services, Sky Sports HD1 and HD2 launched on the Virgin Media platform on 2 August 2010. This marked the first time that Sky's HD programming was shown via a rival service. Smallworld Cable added Sky Sports HD1 and HD2 in the first quarter of 2012. UPC Ireland added Sky Sports 1 HD and 2 HD along with Sky Sports News HD on 16 August 2012.
Sky Sports News HD launched on 23 August 2010. It was rebranded as Sky Sports News HQ HD on 12 August 2014 along with the standard channel.
On 1 March 2012, the HD channels were given a minor rebrand, with the 'HD' moving to the end of the channel names, for example Sky Sports 1 HD instead of Sky Sports HD1. Sky Sports F1 HD launched on 9 March 2012.
Sky Sports 2 HD was also rebranded to 'Sky Sports Ashes HD' in the same move used for the standard channel on 30 June until 31 August 2013. Sky Sports 4 HD was also rebranded to 'Sky Sports Ryder Cup HD' in the same move used for the standard channel on 18 September 2014 until 2 October 2014.
Sky Sports 3 HD, Sky Sports 4 HD and Sky Sports F1 HD launched on Virgin Media on 15 July 2014. Sky Sports 5 HD launched on 12 August 2014 as well as being added on Virgin Media. Sky Sports 3, 4 and 5 HD launched on Virgin Media Ireland on 15 October 2014.
On 1 January 2015, Sky Sports News HQ HD, along with Sky News HD were added on Virgin.
Sky 3D
Sky Sports has made a number of high-profile sports broadcasts available on its 3D television service. The first sports broadcast on Sky 3D was the Manchester United vs. Chelsea Premier League game on 3 April 2010. But as of 25 September 2014 future of Sky 3D looked in serious doubt as Sky announced they will not be airing a Premier League game for the 2014-15 season. The channel closed on 9 June 2015.
3D Broadcasting Tests
On Sunday 31 January 2010, the Arsenal vs. Manchester United game was shown in 3D in around 30 pubs around the UK. The special glasses were seen being tried by Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, and the commentators and the studio presenters mentioned of this being a world premiere live Sports 3D presentation several times.
4K UHD
On 13 August 2016. Selected Sky Sports events became available to watch in UHD for the first time. 124 Premier League matches were broadcast in the 2016-17 season along with every race, qualifying session and practice in the 2017 Formula One season and England cricket's Test series against South Africa in summer 2017. Customers need to be Sky Q 2TB multiscreen customers who subscribe to Sky Sports pack in order to receive UHD broadcasts.
4K broadcasting tests
It was widely reported that Sky used the West Ham United v Stoke City Premier League game on 31 August 2013 as an internal production test for broadcasting 4K / Ultra HD picture.
In the "Sky Views Blog", Barney Francis, managing director Sky Sports stated that, although it was only viewed internally, the test has been key in helping Sky evaluate whether it will start broadcasting in 4K.
"We saw enough in this test event to know that live sport in UHD has real potential. The broadcast also demonstrated the capability of our satellite platform, which is ideally placed to continue supporting high-bandwidth video."
"That said, we've still much more to learn, particularly about how to make full use of UHD from a live production perspective."
Sky later tested 4K by broadcasting a whole week of Ryder Cup in 4K format.
It was later reported that Sky would launch their own 4K set top box to broadcast sporting events in mid-end of 2015.
Programming
Sky owns exclusive UK and Ireland, or UK-only exclusivity rights to a number of sports, most notably the ones listed below. They also transmit a large range of other sports. Some of the BSB's Sport Channel programming were The Football League, US Open tennis, and American football from the NFL.
Many of the BSB Sport Channel's rights packages, such as those for the FA Cup, Wimbledon and Test cricket, were acquired in tandem with the BBC.
Football
Club football
Premier League
For the 2016-17 to 2018-19 seasons, Sky Sports will show 126 live Premier League matches each season. These games are played on Friday nights, Saturday lunchtimes, Sundays and Monday nights, for which Sky broadcasts the dedicated programmes Nissan Friday Night Football (FNF), Nissan Super Sunday and Bet365 Monday Night Football (MNF). Previously, games on Saturday late afternoon were broadcast as Saturday Night Football (SNF), although this slot passed to BT Sport.
David Jones is the presenter of Super Sunday and Monday Night Football, following the departure of former host Ed Chamberlin to ITV's horse racing coverage. Simon Thomas also hosts live Premier League action on Saturday lunch times, under the banner Premier League Live. Friday night games were introduced by the Premier League for the 2016-17 season, and for this inaugural season Sky launched a new show, Friday Night Football, to broadcast these games. Rachel Riley and Jeff Stelling presented the show during 2016-17 season before Riley announced that she had left Sky Sports in May 2017. In August 2017, Sky announced that Kelly Cates will take over as host.
Since the 2016-17 season, Sky Sports broadcasts a 3pm Saturday match exclusively for subscribers in the Republic of Ireland. The coverage also goes out under the Premier League Live banner and is fronted by David Garrido.
The main studio pundits include Jamie Carragher, Graeme Souness, Thierry Henry, Gary Neville, Jamie Redknapp and Alan Pardew. Sky Sports' lead commentators include Martin Tyler, Rob Hawthorne, Bill Leslie and Alan Parry while co-commentary is regularly provided by Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Alan Smith, Andy Hinchcliffe and Davie Provan. Geoff Shreeves, Patrick Davison and Greg Whelan are the reporters on the Premier League coverage.
EFL
Sky Sports broadcasts exclusive live coverage of the English Football League and EFL Cup. Sky show a total of 148 matches each season, up to 2023-24 from the EFL Championship, EFL League One, EFL League Two, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy. Scott Minto and Kelly Cates are the presenters of the EFL coverage with Minto hosting on Friday and Sunday and Cates hosting the games played on Saturday evenings. Daniel Mann, Gary Weaver and Bill Leslie are the main match commentators while co-commentators and pundits include Don Goodman, Andy Hinchcliffe, Danny Higginbotham, David Prutton and Garry Birtles. Jonathan Oakes, David Craig and Guy Havord report. Rob Palmer does the occasional commentary on an international matchday weekend.
Sky Sports broadcast two matches live per round in the EFL Cup, the two-legged semi-finals and the Final; a total of 15 live games per season with Simon Thomas hosting all of the action. The majority of presentation and commentators used are from the Premier League or EFL coverage. Martin Tyler and Gary Neville commentated on the 2017 final.
Scotland
Sky share rights to the Scottish Professional Football League with BT Sport. Both broadcasters show 30 games per season, with Sky having first pick of matches including all Old Firm Derbies shown live on Sky. Sky also show up to nine live Scottish Cup matches per season and share the rights with BBC Scotland, who show 5-8 matches per season. The Scottish Cup final is simulcast on both Sky Sports and BBC One Scotland. Coverage is presented by Hayley McQueen. Lead commentary comes from Ian Crocker, while pundits/co-commentators are Andy Walker and Neil McCann.
La Liga
Sky Sports also show live matches from La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football, on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights. Sky's La Liga deal is from the 2015/16 to the 2017/18 season and includes La Copa, the Spanish cup competition. Sky broadcast at eight matches from each weekend of the season (both live and as-live) and is hosted by David Garrido and the commentators include Rob Palmer, Kevin Keatings, Jon Driscoll, Dominic Johnson, Gerry Armstrong and Terry Gibson. Highlights and weekly review of La Liga, are shown on Revista de La Liga, presented by the Spanish football expert Guillem Balagué.
Major League Soccer
In 2015, Sky Sports took over the UK TV rights for Major League Soccer, making it the exclusive home of the US top-tier division on UK TV. The rights were previously held by BT Sport. The commentary is taken from the World Feed.
Eredivisie
In 2014, Sky Sports signed an exclusive 4-year deal to show live matches from the Dutch top-flight league Eredivisie. The commentary is taken from the World Feed provided by IMG Worldwide.
Chinese Super League
In 2016, Sky Sports added yet another competition to its unrivaled schedule of live football with the addition of the Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League (CSL).
International football
Sky Sports holds the rights to every home and away match featuring Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Wales and cover every other match in the European Qualifiers except the England match which is on ITV and one other qualifier per round which is on ITV4, under this Sky Sports have highlights of England matches. England Matches are commentated on by Martin Tyler & Alan Smith, Scotland by Ian Crocker & Davie Provan, Northern Ireland by Daniel Mann & Gerry Armstrong and Wales by Bill Leslie & Barry Horne. The Republic of Ireland gets commentary from Rob Hawthorne and Ray Houghton.
Supplementary programming
Soccer AM
Launched in 1995, Soccer AM, is a Saturday morning talk show presented by John Fendley, ex-footballer Jimmy Bullard and comedian Lloyd Griffith, with a focus on humorous analysis of British football, largely but not exclusively based around the Premier League.
Soccer Saturday
Launched in 1992, Soccer Saturday is a live updates show, broadcast on Saturdays during the football season. The programme updates viewers on the progress of association football games in the United Kingdom on Saturday afternoons. The current host is Jeff Stelling, with studio pundits Phil Thompson, Matt Le Tissier, Paul Merson and Charlie Nicholas. Regular reporters include Chris Kamara, Alan McInally, Tony Cottee, Iain Dowie, Matt Murray, Neil Mellor, Rob Palmer, David Craig, Bianca Westwood, Bryn Law, Dickie Davies and Johnny Phillips. A midweek programme with the same format is also broadcast when there are a number of major games taking place, such as on UEFA Champions League nights, and is called Soccer Special. Since 2011, Soccer Special has been hosted by Julian Warren.
Sunday Supplement
Launched in 1999, Sunday Supplement is a Sunday morning magazine style pundit show, presented by Neil Ashton since 2012. Originally Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement, but after a revamp in 2007, Hill was dropped.
Goals on Sunday
Goals on Sunday is a Sunday morning highlights show, presented by Ben Shepherd & Chris Kamara.
Football presenters, pundits and commentators
Pundits / Co-Commentators
Commentators
Cricket
Sky was the first broadcaster to show live coverage of a complete overseas tour involving England when they toured the West Indies in 1990. Since then Sky has acquired the rights to show home international series involving England, Australia, West Indies, India, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh at various times as well as showing almost every England overseas tour, ICC tournaments such as the Cricket World Cup, Champions Trophy and World Twenty20 as well as the Stanford Super Series in 2008. Sky also shows extensive coverage of county cricket, with over 60 live games each season involving every county in all competitions.
Sky Sports first started broadcasting Home England Tests in 1999. In a joint deal with terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4, it began showing 1 home Test each summer plus one-day internationals (Channel 4 were the senior broadcast partner). This arrangement continued until 2006, when Sky Sports' flagship live coverage of England's home test series began. The previous year, it was announced by the ECB that it had awarded Sky exclusive coverage of all of England's home tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 Internationals including the 2009 Ashes with highlights on Channel 5 produced by Sunset & Vine who produced Channel 4's coverage. The ECB have since renewed Sky Sports' deal until 2024 with BBC taking over the rights held by Channel 5 and picking up additional rights. The Fifth Test vs India at the Oval, (commencing 15 August 2014) was the 200th England Test shown live on Sky Sports.
Cricket coverage is presented by former England captain David Gower and an illustrious commentary team including former captains Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton and Sir Ian Botham, popular former England batsman and coach and first-class umpire David Lloyd, former West Indian fast bowler Michael Holding and Australian legend Shane Warne, who joined the team during the 2009 Ashes. The team is completed by Ian Ward, or commentators from the touring side such as former internationals Ricky Ponting (Australia), Rameez Raja (Pakistan), and Shaun Pollock (South Africa). Highlights are broadcast in a prime time slot each evening, presented by David Gower, alongside Bob Willis and another guest.
Coverage of county cricket is presented and commentated on by former Surrey and England batsman Ian Ward and Charles Colvile. In addition to the presenters and those commentators involved in the international coverage, Paul Allott, Mark Butcher, Robert Key and Andrew Flintoff commentate on county cricket along with special guests such as Glamorgan's former England offspinner Robert Croft, veteran seamer Dominic Cork and former Australia and Gloucestershire all-rounder Ian Harvey.
Overseas series involving England are presented either from the ground by David Gower or from a London studio by Ian Ward or Charles Colvile. The commentary team is largely unchanged from that used for England home series.
Other international cricket is presented by Matt Floyd, Paul Allott and Nick Knight in the Sky Sports studio alongside pundits such as Ian Harvey, Jeremy Coney, Colin Croft, Robert Croft, Robert Key, Mark Butcher, Marcus Trescothick and Vikram Solanki.
Match coverage is taken from host broadcasters around the world such as Channel Nine in Australia, Sky TV in New Zealand, Supersport in South Africa, and STAR Sports in India, with ONE World Sports carrying the network's coverage of the England team's tours in the United States. This ensures the voices of the likes of Mark Nicholas, Ian Chappell, Simon Doull, Ian Smith, Robin Jackman, Pommie Mbangwa, Ramiz Raja, Wasim Akram, Mohammad Akram, Kepler Wessels, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar are heard each winter on Sky.
Coverage of the 2011 World Cup was presented from London by David Gower and Matt Floyd along with a team of pundits which included the regular guests as well as Ajit Agarkar and Marvan Atapattu.
Sky Sports additional Cricket programming includes:
- Cricket Extra
- The Verdict
- Cricket Writers on TV
Rugby Union
In 2003, Sky Sports began its coverage of the Heineken Cup, when it outbid the previous rights holder BBC Sport with its offer of £20 million for 3 years. Coverage of 10 matches each pool weekend and all knockout matches from the Heineken Cup was the norm. Additionally, up to three matches per round in the Amlin Challenge Cup were usually shown. Following the demise of the Heineken Cup, Sky Sports will now share the rights to the newly formed Rugby Champions Cup with BT Sport, from the 2014-15 season. Each broadcaster will exclusively broadcast up to 30 pool matches, 2 quarter-finals and 1 semi-final from each competition with the finals being shown by both. Sky will also receive first pick on Challenge Cup matches involving Premiership Rugby clubs.
In 2014, Sky Sports extended their already long-term deal with the RFU to continue showing England Internationals (outside of the Six Nations) exclusively live up until the end of the 2019-20 season. This includes their autumn test matches at Twickenham and their annual Spring fixture. Furthermore, Sky broadcast live England Saxons, under 18, under 20 & England Women. As a part of the deal with the RFU, Sky also has the rights to broadcast at least 11 games per season from the RFU Championship.
They have also signed contracts to cover Ireland's Autumn Internationals until 2018. Furthermore, Sky hold the rights to broadcast New Zealand, Australia, South Africa Tests and The Rugby Championship). This means that, aside from Italy, France, Wales and Scotland, Sky hold the right to show all Tier 1 nations home Tests (outside the Six Nations Championship). Highlights of England Internationals are shown on BBC Sport and Ireland Internationals are shared with RTÉ Sport, commentary on Ireland matches were provided by Mark Robson & Alan Quinlan.
Sky also hold the rights to tour matches by England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand (as a part of their contract with SANZAAR) until 2018.
Commencing from the 2014-15 season, Sky Sports began showing games from the Pro14 (covering 30 matches alongside the current terrestrial broadcasters BBC Wales, S4C, TG4, BBC NI and BBC Alba). Furthermore, they broadcast two live matches each weekend from the Top 14. Sky's contract with SANZAR also allows them to show live matches from the Super Rugby competition.
Sky Sports' rugby union coverage is presented by one of Alex Payne, James Gemmell and Rupert Cox. Graham Simmons and Bill Latham are the main touchline reporters. Miles Harrison, Mark Robson, Martin Gillingham, Johnnie Hammond and Simon Ward are the main commentators who are often alongside Stuart Barnes, Ieuan Evans, Dewi Morris, Frankie Sheahan, Scott Hastings and Alan Quinlan. Analysis comes from Will Greenwood, Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Lynagh, Paul Wallace, Scott Quinnell, Pat Sanderson, Rory Lawson and Shane Horgan.
Rugby League
The power of television over sport can perhaps be best portrayed by the change of rugby league from a winter sport to one played during the summer months under the banner of Super League. These changes caused great controversy when they were introduced in 1996, yet they have been seen by many as positive and as having an impact even greater than the broadcaster has had with football.
The sport is now seen as being in a healthy state with two or three live matches from the Super League every week fronted by 'Eddie and Stevo' - Eddie Hemmings and former Great Britain World Cup winner Mike Stephenson - who are a rare example of a dual studio-presentation and commentary-box partnership in sports broadcasting. Brian Carney and Jon Wells present parts of the pre-match build up and half time coverage. For the remaining pre-match coverage Eddie Hemmings is joined in the studio by two of Phil Clarke, Barrie McDermott, Terry O'Connor, Tony Rea, John Kear, Paul Cullen or Mike Stephenson . Eddie Hemmings, Phil Clarke and Stevo commentate on Super League matches, with an additional pundit (usually one of the above). Bill Arthur is the pitch-side reporter.
Live Super League broadcasts routinely rank amongst the top 10 most watched programmes in a week on Sky Sports. Sky has sold rights to a highlights package of the Super League to BBC Sport, who air The Super League Show on Sunday nights/Afternoon in Northern regions, with a nationwide replay on Monday afternoon.
Sky also held the rights to show the majority of the matches from the Four Nations and the previous competition the Tri Nations live, with the other games being shown live or in highlights form on BBC Sport and Sky Sports previously showed the 2008 World Cup exclusively live with only highlights on the BBC. This agreement ended in 2012 and Sky Sports surprisingly lost the rights to International Rugby League from the 2013 Rugby League World Cup to the BBC and Premier Sports. The matches for the 2013 and 2017 Rugby League World Cup are being shared between the BBC and Premier Sports with BBC covering all England matches, Wales v Italy, One Quarter Final, One Semi-final and the Final in 2013. The BBC & Premier Sports have also signed a deal to cover the 2014 and 2016 Four Nations.
Beginning in 2012, the channel airs Challenge Cup matches alongside the BBC: usually, they will air one match in the fourth and fifth rounds and two of the quarter-finals with highlights of the Semi-Finals and Finals which are exclusively live on the BBC. Rod Studd and Bill Arthur are the main commentators for these matches, with Carney, Clarke, Jon Wells and Graham Beecroft as summarisers/reporters. Until 2012, Sky aired Championship and Northern Rail Cup games on Thursdays and Sundays, until the rights for these were purchased by Premier Sports.
They also broadcast a weekly midweek rugby league magazine show, Boots N' All, during the season; Super League's Super Men, an interview show with legends of the game hosted by Brian Carney and Sam Tomkins; the Sunday night roundup show Super League Full Time, and a half-hour summary of the weekend's Super League matches on Sky Sports News on Sundays presented by Martin Offiah. In addition, during the summer Super League Back Chat, usually a roundtable vodcast starring Stephenson, Studd and a rotating panel of rugby league journalists, is promoted to the regular TV schedule.
Coverage of the Australian NRL Grand Final as well as the State of Origin series and the Anzac Test between Australia and New Zealand in May, returned to Sky Sports in 2010 on a two-year contract but have since ended and gone to Premier Sports who are the main broadcasters of the National Rugby League.
Motorsport
Sky Sports broadcasts major motorsport events. This includes:
- Formula One World Championship - since 2012, all race weekends Exclusively Live except British GP from 2019 to 2024.
- Race of Champions, Goodwood Festival of Speed, Formula Two, GP3 Series all shown on Sky Sports F1
Formula One
In July 2011, Sky Sports acquired joint rights to broadcast Formula One in the United Kingdom from 2012 until 2018. The deal included the rights to show all practice and qualifying sessions, in addition to the races. The joint broadcast rights were held by BBC but transferred to Channel 4 from the 2016 season. The shared nature of the contract means that Sky Sports F1 show 10 races exclusively live, with the remaining races being shown by both Sky and Channel 4 (who are televising the remaining races live and highlights of all races on a delayed basis). Whilst the initial announcement did prove controversial (with early promises that the races wouldn't be uninterrupted by commercials doing little to quell the negative initial reaction from many fans and observers), in its first two years of broadcasting, the coverage has twice won F1 International Broadcaster of the Year from the FIA (in 2012 & 2013)
Sky Sports F1 will broadcast the entire 2017 Formula One season in 4K Ultra-HD, on the Sky Q Silver Ultra-HD package.
Presentation team at Grand Prix's:
Simon Lazenby hosts coverage with Martin Brundle, Paul Di Resta, Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert, Pat Symonds and Anthony Davidson as race weekend analysts across the season.
David Croft provides commentary with co-commentators including Brundle, Di Resta and Davidson.
Ted Kravitz, Natalie Pinkham and Rachel Brookes report/present across pit-lane and paddock and cover for Lazenby in some practise sessions.
Sky Sports additional F1 programming includes:
- The F1 Show
- Ted's Notebook
- F1 Report with Marc Priestley as regular analyst.
- The Inside Line(not a sky production)
Tennis
Sky also has broadcast rights the ATP World Tour and the ATP World Tour Finals (all matches live) until 2017. Prior to this, six round-robin matches, one semi-final and final live on BBC until 2013. Sky Sports dropped coverage of their only Grand Slam the US Open after the 2015 edition citing increased spending on Premier League rights.
Commentators:
- Chris Bailey : 1995-2007
- Sue Barker : 1990-1993
- Boris Becker : 2011-2013
- Marcus Buckland : 2007-present
- Andrew Castle : 1992-2000 & 2011-present
- Barry Cowan: 2002-present
- Annabel Croft : 2007-present
- Peter Fleming
- David Mercer : 1993-1996
- Greg Rusedski : 2008-present
- Leif Shiras
- Bill Threlfall: 1989-2007
Golf
Golf is one of the most broadcast sports across the Sky Sports channels, with at least one tournament shown live in 50 weeks of the year. Sky's major event coverage is fronted by David Livingstone, expert analysis from Butch Harmon, on course commentary from Howard Clark, in-depth 18th hole interviews from tour coach and golfing expert, Tim Barter and main commentary from Ewen Murray and Bruce Critchley. Other golfers such as Peter Oosterhuis, Tony Johnstone, Thomas Bjørn, David Howell, Richard Boxall, Jamie Spence, Mark Roe, Robert Lee, Ross McFarlane, Sandy Lyle, Colin Montgomerie, Paul McGinley, Philip Parkin and Ken Brown contributing to their coverage over the years.
Major championships
Sky Sports has exclusive UK rights for, the US Open The Open and the US Masters. From 2011 Sky have broadcast all four days of The Masters in High Definition and 3D, as well as the Par 3 Tournament. BBC Sport broadcast the final two rounds simultaneously with Sky. They also grabbed the rights for The Open Championship which the BBC had shown live from the 1950s, Sky outbid the BBC and rebranded Sky Sports 1 as Sky Sports The Open for the tournament with the BBC only showing 2-hour highlights each day on BBC Two and live coverage on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Sky also broadcast major championships from the women's tour and senior tour, including the Kraft Nabisco Championship, US Women's Open, Senior PGA Championship, Senior British Open Championship and US Senior Open.
World Golf championships
Since its inception in 1999, Sky Sports has broadcast the World Golf Championships exclusively live, with the exception of the 2001 WGC-American Express Championship, which was broadcast on the BBC. They usually present the broadcast on site, as they do for major championships and the Ryder Cup, reflecting their importance in the game as the next most important series of events after the majors.
PGA Tour
Sky also have exclusive live UK rights to broadcast the PGA Tour (until 2017) including The Players Championship and PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup. Sky were the exclusive UK broadcasters of the PGA Tour from 1993 to 2006 until Setanta Sports bought the rights in 2007, the Irish subscription network went into administration midway through the 2009 season and the rights for the remainder of the season were awarded to Eurosport.
European Tour
Sky showed at least 32 events on the European Tour (until 2012) including the Dubai World Championship. Since 2009, Sky Sports and BBC Sport have shared live coverage of the BMW PGA Championship and Barclays Scottish Open, with Sky broadcasting live coverage of Thursday and Friday and the BBC screening the weekend action.
Ryder Cup
Sky Sports shows live coverage of the sport's premier event, the Ryder Cup. Since 1995, they have held the exclusive live UK rights to the biennial team event between USA and Europe, broadcasting the event in its entirety for the first time at Oak Hill in 1995. The event was broadcast in High Definition for the first time in 2006 at the K Club in County Kildare Ireland. Since 1999 it has also offered interactive coverage with options including the American coverage, Highlights and course guides. Sky holds the rights until 2012, with BBC broadcasting evening highlights. In 2010, Sky broadcast the Ryder Cup in 3D, making it the first live event on Sky 3D, Europe's first residential 3D channel.
They also broadcast all of the other major professional team events in the sport such as the Presidents Cup, Seve Trophy, Royal Trophy, Omega Mission Hills World Cup and Solheim Cup.
In 2010, Sky Sports broadcast in excess of 150 tournaments from the men's and women's tours.
Darts
Sky Sports covered some BDO Tournaments during its inception including the 1992 Winmau World Masters which was previously broadcast on ITV. Since the creation of the World Darts Council in 1992, since renamed the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), formed when many of the leading darts players, including Phil Taylor, Eric Bristow, John Lowe and Dennis Priestley, broke away from the British Darts Organisation (BDO), the game's then sole ruling body, Sky Sports has broadcast the new organisation's main darts tournaments live, which currently includes the following. Between 1993 and 2007 Sky were the only regular UK broadcaster of PDC Darts (apart from the 1999 BDO v PDC showdown between Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld which was broadcast on ITV). However this changed in 2007 when ITV covered the PDC/BDO tournament the Grand Slam of Darts, this moved to Sky in 2011 however ITV continued to show the European Championship and Players Championship Finals, their coverage expanded in 2014 to cover the UK Open and the Masters.
Sky's coverage includes the PDC World Darts Championship which it shows on a temporary channel Sky Sports Darts. The tournament has been broadcast live and in its entirety by Sky Sports in the UK since its inception. Since 2009 the tournament has been shot in High Definition (HD). The tournament has become more and more popular in recent years with the 2007 World Final achieving a viewing figure in excess of 1 million for the first time. Sky also shows the PDC World Cup of Darts, Premier League Darts, the World Matchplay, the World Grand Prix, the Grand Slam of Darts and the PDC Under-21 World Championship (final only). Sky used to show the UK Open but since 2014 this has been shown on ITV.
Sky Sports has not covered any BDO Darts since the split in darts.
Sky Sports Darts coverage was initially presented by Jeff Stelling with Eric Bristow and commentary by John Gwynne and Dave Lanning while Sid Waddell joined Sky from the BBC in 1994. Dave Clark replaced Stelling in 2002 although covered some tournaments in 2001, Pyke joined the commentary team in 2003, Rod Harrington and Nigel Pearson joined in 2005, Rod Studd joined in 2008 and former BBC Darts commentators David Croft and John Part joined in 2013. David Croft only works for Sky Sports Darts on the PDC World Darts Championship and some weeks of the Premier League Darts and Stuart Pyke also works for ITV coverage of PDC Darts.
Sky Sports Darts Team: Dave Clark: (2002-present) Stuart Pyke: (2003-present, Also works for ITV Sport Darts Coverage 2007-present) Rod Harrington: (2005-present) Nigel Pearson: (2005-present) Rod Studd: (2008-present) Wayne Mardle: (2010-present) David Croft: (2013-present, previously worked for BBC Sport darts coverage 2003-2012) John Part: (2013-present, previously worked for BBC Sport darts coverage 1995-2007)
Former Sky Sports Darts Team: Eric Bristow (1993-2016) John Gwynne: (1993-2013, subsequently with Eurosport's BDO Darts coverage) Dave Lanning: (1993-2010 & 2013. Died in 2016. Previously worked for ITV Sport 1972-1988) Jeff Stelling: (1993-2002) Sid Waddell: (1994-2012, Died from Cancer. Previously worked for BBC Sport 1978-1994)
Boxing
Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing enjoys an exclusive television deal with Sky Sports through 2021 and provides Sky Sports with upwards of 20 events per year. Some of the coverage is shown on a pay-per-view basis via Sky Sports Box Office. A number of former boxing world champions are part of Sky's coverage, including Johnny Nelson, Carl Froch and Glenn McCrory.
WWE
In 1989, Sky acquired the rights to WWE, from America. Sky Sports Arena is considered the home of WWE programming on Sky, as the majority of the programmes are shown on it.
Part of the current deal with Sky states that major PPV's such as WrestleMania, Survivor Series, the Royal Rumble and SummerSlam are part of the Sky Sports Box Office pay-per-view service, and that SmackDown's first broadcast moved from Sky One to Sky Sports. As part of the deal, Raw is now shown live on Sky Sports Arena early Tuesday morning because of the time difference. As of 19 July 2016, SmackDown! is broadcast live early Wednesday morning for the same reason.
Sky also broadcast WWE's third brand, ECW on Sci Fi before it was cancelled. For a couple of months it replaced WWE Velocity on Sunday mornings. It is shown two nights after the US broadcast after a viewer complained to Ofcom in August 2006 about an image in the opening credits, and Sky agreed to air the program after the watershed.
The deal of 14 Pay-Per-Views did not account for WWE's extra pay-per-views which have been added subsequently, and therefore WWE Cyber Sunday would not have been picked up by Sky. However, a last-minute deal was struck between Sky and WWE, that allowed the PPV to be shown live on Sky Sports 1.
The first WWE event to be shown in wide-screen (16:9) format on Sky Sports was No Way Out on 18 February 2008 at 1 am on Sky Sports 1. Although after this, other WWE programming were still in standard (4:3) format however due to complaints all WWE programming will now be airing in widescreen from a down-scaled HD feed.
When WWE Heat ended in June 2008, it was replaced with WWE Vintage Collection, a programme which showcases classic archive matches from the extensive WWE Video Library.
On 30 January 2014, Sky Sports announced they had signed another five-year deal with WWE. Sky will now continue to exclusively broadcast WWE's flagship shows in the UK and Ireland through to 2019.
WWE pay-per-views were previously shown on Sky Sports for free roughly every 5 months, with all remaining pay-per-views being broadcast on Sky Sports Box Office at an additional cost. However, as of 2015, all pay-per-views were broadcast on Sky Sports Box Office at a cost of £19.95.
WWE shows on Sky
The following list excludes WWE pay-per-view events where a minority are broadcast on Sky Sports while the rest are broadcast on Sky Sports Box Office at an additional cost of £19.95 (EUR24.95 in Ireland) per event.
Gaelic Games
On 2 April 2014, Sky Sports signed a deal with the Gaelic Athletic Association to broadcast both the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. The deal gives Sky Sports 20 championship matches across both sports including both semi-finals and both All-Ireland Finals. Sky will have exclusive rights in both the Republic of Ireland and the UK to 14 of these matches with the remaining 6 matches being simultaneously broadcast by RTÉ in the Republic of Ireland. The deal covers the years, 2014 to 2016. It is estimated that the GAA make EUR0.5 million from this deal. The deal has sparked much debate in Ireland with many loyal fans being unable to watch some key games during the All- Ireland season. The debate was reignited with Michael Duignan stating publicly on RTE, "The biggest disgrace of the weekend was on Saturday evening, that Waterford and Kilkenny (Round 2 hurling match) wasn't shown free-to-air in this country", a statement which resounded with many GAA fans across Ireland and gained much public sympathy, bringing further into question the continuation of the Sky GAA deal in the long term.
Summary of sports rights
Football
Cricket
Rugby Union
Tennis
Golf
Motorsport
Boxing
Athletics
Rugby League
Horse racing
Equestrianism
Darts
Cycling
Triathlon
Gridiron (American) football
Gaelic games
Netball
Badminton
Bowls
- International Open Bowls: Live Coverage
Previous coverage
Football
Sky Sports covered the Champions League between 2003 and 2015 but in 2013 Sky was outbid by BT Sport and the rights transferred at the end of the 2014/15 tournament. with highlights on ITV Sport.
Sky Sports covered the FA Cup since it first went on air as BSB's Sports Channel in 1990 alongside the BBC but has not broadcast the FA Cup since 2008 after both broadcasters were outbid by ITV and Setanta, after the collapse of Setanta Sky did not bid for the rights and went to ESPN UK. In 2014-15 the rights transferred from ITV/ESPN to BBC and BT Sport after bidding together.
Sky Sports had been the first channel to show the Community Shield live and as with the FA Cup, Sky has not broadcast this event since 2011 after rights transferred to Setanta then ITV and now BT Sport.
One of Sky's first major live football rights deal was exclusive live coverage of the England football team and held these rights throughout the 1990s. The live rights transferred to BBC Sport in 2001-2008 and remain free to air on ITV now with Sky covering England Friendlies & highlights of qualifiers.
Fantasy Football Club
Launched at the start of the 2012-2013 season, Fantasy Football Club was a Friday night show focused on fantasy football. Originally presented by John "Fenners" Fendley and Paul Merson, it is now presented by Max Rushden, Rachel Riley & Paul Merson. In August 2017, Sky announced that the programme had been dropped for the upcoming Premier League campaign.
Rugby Union
Sky Sports was the first channel to show live rugby union every week when it picked up the rights to show the top division of England club rugby in the mid 1990s. The rights transferred to ESPN in 2009 and the league is now covered by BT Sport. Sky Sports also covered England matches from the 5/6 nations from 1997 to 2002 as well as France v England with all other matches being live on the BBC, the rights were sold to the BBC in 2003 and they covered every match live from the 6 Nations until 2015 when BBC and ITV teamed up to keep the rights free to air after the BBC were outbid by Sky Sports with BBC covering France, Wales & Scotland home matches and ITV covering England, Ireland & Italy.
Tennis
Sky Sports was the main broadcaster of the US Open until 2015 but decided not to renew its contract to broadcast this event in 2016 because of overspending on Premier League Rights, Sky also previously covered Davis Cup tennis but these rights moved to the BBC and Eurosport.
Ice Hockey
In 2006, Sky Sports began showing a replay from a match in the Elite Ice Hockey League every week. Due to large audience numbers, even though it is normally on Sky Sports 4, they decided to show a live game for the first time in several years when they showed the play-off finals in 2010. A new deal was signed for the 2010/11 season in which Sky agreed to show eight live games throughout the season and a weekly highlights show. However, the broadcast rights have since moved to Premier Sports.
References
Notes
External links
- Official website
- Sky Sports Virgin Media
- Football rights hat-trick for Sky BBC News, 28 April 2006
- Sky Sports snub sees three Brits get stripped of titles SecondsOut.com
- Sky Sports drafts in Flintoff for cricket coverage promotion Brand Republic, 15 February 2006
- EU tackles Premier League TV deals BBC News, 17 August 2005
- Sky unveils high-definition shows BBC News, 22 November 2005
- ITV and Sky rapped over World Cup BBC News, 12 August 2002
Source of article : Wikipedia
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