Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellitepay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and 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, and has sometimes played a large role inducing organisational changes in the sports it broadcasts, most notably when it encouraged the First Division to break away from the Football League to form the Premier League in 1992.
Sky Sports Main Event, Premier League, Football, Cricket, Golf, F1, Action and Tennis are available as a premium package on top of the basic Sky package. These services are also available as premium channels on nearly every satellite, cable and IPTV broadcasting system in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Sky Sports News, Sky Sports Racing and Sky Sports Mix are all provided as part of basic packages. The Sky Sports network is managed by Jonathan Licht.
Sky Television launched on 5 February 1989 and one of its four channels was Eurosport, which it co-founded with the European Broadcasting Union. However, in 1991, Eurosport was the subject of a complaint by the competitor Screensport, who argued the effect of restricting and distorting competition in the sports market and Sky pulled out of the venture.[1] Also in the same year, it was sold to the TF1 Group and merged with Screensport two years later.
British Satellite Broadcasting operated The Sports Channel, which launched on 27 March 1990. It broadcast part-time hours, especially during the week, and it therefore timeshared with The Computer Channel, which broadcast in the early mornings when it was off-air. That same year (2 November), BSB merged with Sky Television to form British Sky Broadcasting.
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. It continued to transmit 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 before acquiring rights to German and Italian league football (both previously carried over from the Sports Channel). The channel was initially encrypted. It was broadcast free-to-view but an analogue VideoCrypt decoder was required to watch the channel. Since VideoCrypt decoders were only officially available within the United Kingdom, this measure was intended to prevent viewing of the service outside the United Kingdom 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 television payments, that Sky Sports became well known. By bidding £304 million, BSkyB beat ITV to acquire the exclusive live 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. At this point, from 1 September 1992, Sky Sports became a monthly subscription channel and was sold either on a standalone basis, or at a reduced price if taken with Sky's movie channels.
On 19 August 1994, a secondary channel called Sky Sports 2 was launched, although it initially only aired at weekends. On 1 November 1995, Sky launched a classic sports service called Sky Sports Gold, however it was ceased broadcasting after only a year on the air. On 16 August 1996, Sky launched Sky Sports 3, and the original channel was renamed to Sky Sports 1. This meant that Sky could accommodate a substantial new set of rights that it had recent acquired, which included the English Football League, the League Cup and Scottish football. On 1 September 1997, Sky Sports 2 became a full-time service.
1998–2017: Digital era
Sky Sports share of viewing 2000–08
With the launch of the Sky Digital satellite platform on 1 October 1998, Sky Sports launched Sky Sports News, a channel carrying rolling sports news coverage, followed by Sky Sports Xtra (later branded as Sky Sports 4 since 2010, then Sky Sports Golf since 2017) in August 1999.
During a Premier League match between Arsenal and Manchester United 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 also expected to extend the interactive services to other sports for the following year.[2][3]
On 25 January 2011, Sky Sports' Premier League football coverage was at the centre of controversy when footage emerged of long serving presenters Andy Gray and Richard Keys making comments perceived as sexist where Gray was sacked over the comments,[4] and 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.[5] However, unlike Gray and Keys, Burton later returned to his regular duties at Sky.[6]
On 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.[7][8] Sky subsequently announced that it would introduce a new channel dedicated specifically to its coverage, Sky Sports F1, which would air practices, qualifying and advert-free coverage of each race; the service was made available at no extra charge to all Sky high-definition subscribers, regardless of whether they were a Sky Sports subscriber.[9] Sky extended its contract from 2016 to last through 2024; beginning in 2019, Sky became the exclusive broadcaster of all F1 races excluding the British GP which will also be broadcast on the free-to-air Channel 4 (who also hold rights for all the highlights races).[10]
On 12 August 2014, Sky launched a new channel called Sky Sports 5, which would be dedicated primarily to European football, including UEFA European Championship qualifiers, La Liga and Eredivisie.[11]
On 24 August 2016, Sky launched Sky Sports Mix, a new channel designed to offer a shop-window 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 service with all plans, and was also available on certain Virgin Media packages.[12][13]
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.[14][15] 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. Sky Sports Mix continued to air selected programming from across the channels as part of Sky's basic service. 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.[14][16][15]
The American NBC Sports division became a sibling of Sky Sports following Comcast's acquisition of Sky plc and on 29 January 2019, Sky and sister American pay television network NBCSN partnered on coverage of the transfer deadline (NBC holds the Premier League rights in America), and the network later announced that it would add an hour-long simulcast of the Sky Sports News channel to its weekday morning line-up beginning 4 March.[17][18] For the PGA Tour's 2019 Players Championship, Sky Sports Golf trialled similar synergies with its new sister Golf Channel.[19] For the 2019–20 season, NBC began more extensive on-air integration of Sky Sports resources into its American coverage of the Premier League, including adding Sky's studio programmes to its "Premier League Pass" subscription service, adoption of on-air presentation reminiscent of Sky, and originating coverage from Sky's studio during the opening weekend.[20][21]
In May 2023, Sky renewed its rights to the EFL through 2028–29 for £935 million, announcing that it planned to televise over a thousand matches per-season via linear television and streaming.[22]
In May 2024, Sky announced "Sky Sports+", a new streaming platform that will house its expanded EFL and tennis rights, among other properties; the platform will be capable of streaming up to 100 concurrent programmes. Sky also announced that one of its channels would also be rebranded under the Sky Sports+ name.[23] The new service launched on 8 August and the channel which was rebranded was Sky Sports Arena.
Channels
The Sky Sports network has twelve main channels[24] (with a thirteenth channel for BT TV):
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.[26] As well as covering the Ashes, the dedicated cricket channel also featured the Women's Ashes, domestic cricket, various magazine and review shows.[27] The practice was repeated for the 2015 Ashes series and also for the 2019 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. In 2018, Sky Sports Golf was rebranded to Sky Sports Ryder Cup to bring coverage of the 2018 tournament. The channel will return on 20 September 2021 after a 4-year hiatus.
Sky Sports Darts: In recent years, Sky Sports has launched 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 World Darts Championship as a rebrand of Sky Sports 3.[28] It returned for the 2016 event when Sky Sports F1 was temporarily renamed Sky Sports Darts instead,[29] while in 2017 it was Sky Sports 3 that was rebranded again. After this, Sky Sports Arena was rebranded as Sky Sports Darts for all subsequent events.
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 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.[30] Sky Sports The Open returned in 2018, 2019 and 2021 during the week in which the Open was held.
Sky Sports The Players: From 8 to 14 May 2017, Sky rebranded Sky Sports 4 as Sky Sports The Players. The channel was dedicated to the coverage of the 2017 Players Championship. This was repeated on Sky Sports Golf for the 2018, 2019 and 2021 competitions, and also the 2020 competition prior to it being cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Sky Sports US Open: From 11 to 19 June 2018, Sky rebranded Sky Sports Golf as Sky Sports US Open, dedicated to the coverage of the 2018 US Open golf tournament.
Sky Sports Cricket World Cup: From 31 May 2019 to 14 July 2019, Sky Sports Cricket was rebranded as Sky Sports Cricket World Cup. The channel was dedicated to the coverage of the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.
Sky Sports Netball: From July 2019 to August 2019, Sky Sports Mix was rebranded as Sky Sports Netball. The channel was dedicated to coverage of the 2019 Netball World Cup.
Sky Sports NFL: In August 2020, to mark its 25th season of its broadcast rights to the NFL, it was announced that Sky Sports Action would be rebranded annually as Sky Sports NFL, lasting from early September through the Super Bowl in February. It was stated that at least five games per-week would air on the channel, including all Monday Night Football and Thursday Night Football games.[33][34] This has been repeated in subsequent years.
Sky Sports The Lions: From 17 July 2021 to 10 August 2021, Sky Sports Action was rebranded as Sky Sports The Lions. This channel was dedicated to coverage of the 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa.
Sky Sports The Hundred: From 21 July 2021 to 23 August 2021, Sky Sports Cricket was rebranded as Sky Sports The Hundred. This channel was dedicated to coverage of the inaugural 2021 season of The Hundred. This returned since the 2022 season.
Sky Sports Tennis: From 28 August to 11 September 2023, Sky Sports Arena was rebranded as Sky Sports Tennis so that the channel could provide non-stop live and recorded coverage of the 2023 US Open. The channel was launched as a 24-hour channel on 11 February 2024.[35]
Sky Sports Racing is the only channel not wholly owned by Sky, although purchased majority control of it in 2017. The channel was founded in 2000 as At the Races by the Go Racing consortium, a partnership of Channel 4, Sky and Arena Leisure plc (owner of Ascot Racecourse, and acting on behalf of a further 27 out of the 59 British racecourses) in July 2004. Following its high-profile collapse (and Channel 4 removing itself from the consortium) the network – now purely a joint venture between Sky plc and Arena Leisure – focuses on horse racing from the United Kingdom, 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.
On 1 January 2019, At the Races relaunched as Sky Sports Racing; the relaunch includes wider availability and heavier integration with the remaining Sky Sports channels, the relocation of production facilities to Sky Campus in Isleworth from their former base at SIS's facilities in Milton Keynes, and availability in high-definition. The network also acquired rights to fixtures from the Ascot Racecourse.[36][37][38][39]
PremPlus was a pay-per-view channel dedicated to airing live Premier League football. It was 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 was a British online radio station broadcasting sports news, results and information 24 hours a day. It was 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 8.00am to 6.00pm, 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 television 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 channels in HD
Sky Sports Main Event HD launched on 22 May 2006 as Sky Sports HD, and airs live all sports screened in HD like cricket, Premier League and English Football League as well as English Premiership, Super League Rugby and among others. The 2008 Ryder Cup was also screened in HD.
In July 2006, Sky Sports HD2 launched on Sky channel 409, at the same time, the original HD channel was renamed Sky Sports HD1 and 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 broadcast a large quantity of WWE and golf.
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.[41]
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.[42]
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.[26] 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.[43][44]
Sky Sports has made a number of high-profile 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, the 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.[45] The channel closed on 9 June 2015.
3D broadcasting tests
On 31 January 2010, the match between Arsenal and Manchester United was shown in 3D in around 30 pubs around the United Kingdom. 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.[46]
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'sTest match 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.[47]
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 as the managing director stated that, although it was only viewed internally, the test has been key in helping Sky evaluate whether it will start broadcasting in 4K:[48]
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.[49][50]
It was later reported that Sky would launch their own 4K set top box to broadcast sporting events in mid-end of 2015.[51]
Permanent UHD channel
On 27 July 2022, Sky Sports launched a UHD channel for Sky Sports Main Event.[52]
In March 2023 The Sky Sports F1 UHD channel was launched in time for the start of the 2023 season. The channel is also available on Virgin Media as one channel, which usually only broadcasts when certain events, such as the Premier League, are being shown.[53]
Programming
Sky owns exclusively United Kingdom and Ireland or 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 Sports Channel programming were the FA Cup, US Open tennis, and American football from the NFL.
Many of the BSB Sports Channel's rights packages, such as those for the FA Cup, Wimbledon and Test cricket, were acquired in tandem with the BBC.
Football
Premier League
Sky Sports will show 128[54][55] live Premier League matches each season until 2024–25.[56] These games are played on Friday nights, Saturday evenings and nights, Sundays and Monday nights, for which Sky broadcasts the dedicated programmes Friday Night Football (FNF), Saturday Night Football (SNF), Super Sunday and Monday Night Football (MNF). Games that Sky Sports broadcast outside these time slots have the programme title, Premier League Live. David Jones is the presenter of Super Sunday and Monday Night Football and Kelly Cates is the presenter of Friday Night Football and Saturday Night Football. Both presenters take it in turns to present Premier League Live. The later (16:30) Super Sunday game, is usually billed as the "main event" of that Premier League matchweek.
The main studio pundits include Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Jamie Redknapp, Roy Keane, Micah Richards, Karen Carney, Daniel Sturridge, Shay Given and Michael Dawson. Sky Sports' lead commentators include Peter Drury, Rob Hawthorne and Bill Leslie with Ian Crocker, Daniel Mann, Gary Weaver and Seb Hutchinson appearing occasionally, while co-commentary is regularly provided by Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Alan Smith, Andy Hinchcliffe, Karen Carney and occasionally, Don Goodman and Lee Hendrie. Sky Sports usually utilise a standard two-person commentary team across the Premier League coverage, however, on bigger games, a three-person commentary team of Peter Drury, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher is used. Patrick Davison, Greg Whelan and Emma Saunders are the main reporters on the Premier League coverage. Saunders also presents from pitch-side from the ground at which the earlier game is held on Super Sunday coverage.
It was announced in December 2023 that the number of matches that Sky will televise from the start of the 2025–26 season will almost double, increasing to a minimum of 215 games per season. The increase is partly due to Sky taking over the midweek rounds previously shown by Amazon and by showing all ten fixtures from the final day of the season. This arrangement will be in place until the end of the 2028/29 season.[57]
Game of the Day/Premier League Replay
Game of the Day: On-air at 8.30pm every Saturday evening with the full 90 minutes of a match selected from the day's 3.00pm kick-offs.
Premier League Replay: On-air at 10.30pm every Saturday with a choice of extended highlights of every Premier League game played that day except matches shown live on TNT Sports. Viewers on the Sky Digital and Virgin TV platforms can choose extended highlights of up to eight games. Viewers who do not use the interactive service will see 30 minutes of highlights from one match.
Sky Sports broadcasts exclusive live coverage of the English Football League and EFL Cup. Sky show a total of 148 matches[58] each season, up to 2023–24 from the Championship, League One, League Two, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy. David Prutton, Michelle Owen and Julian Warren are the presenters of the EFL coverage. Gary Weaver, Daniel Mann, David Stowell, Pien Meulensteen, Ian Crocker, Seb Hutchinson, Rob Palmer and Gary Taphouse are the main commentators. The main studio pundits and co-commentators include Andy Hinchcliffe, Keith Andrews, Don Goodman and Lee Hendrie. Freelance pundits, Clinton Morrison, Jobi McAnuff and Danny Gabbidon also occasionally appear in the studio and in co-commentary respectively. Jonathan Oakes, David Craig and Guy Havord are the reporters.
As of the 2018/2019 season, Sky gained rights to show all midweek Championship fixtures across interactive and digital platforms. This means that whilst one game is being shown on the main channel, Sky Sports Football, alternative channel, Sky Sports Action, the red button and the Sky Sports app shows coverage of numerous other games on at the same time, with commentary. Commentators of these games include, Guy Havord, Andy Bishop, Rob Palmer, Ian Crocker, Gary Taphouse, David Stowell and Phil Blacker with former La Liga commentators, Kevin Keatings, Jon Driscoll and Dominic Johnson also commentating. Tony Gale, Lee Hendrie and Danny Gabbidon work as summarisers.
From the start of the 2024–25 season, Sky will broadcast over 1,000 matches per season, including 328 Championship, 248 League One, 248 League Two, all 15 play-off, all 93 EFL Cup, all 127 EFL Trophy matches respectively. This will include a live stream every match of the opening weekend of the 2024/25 season live, including games scheduled for 3pm.[59]
EFL Cup
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. Mark Chapman is the main host of EFL Cup games. Punditry is provided by select guests associated with the clubs involved, but in the latter stages of the competition, pundits from the Premier League output are used on coverage too. Rob Hawthorne, Bill Leslie, Gary Weaver, David Stowell, Ian Crocker, Pien Meulensteen, Daniel Mann, Seb Hutchinson and Rob Palmer are the lead commentators throughout the competition with the co-commentators including, Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Alan Smith, Andy Hinchcliffe, Don Goodman and Lee Hendrie. The main reporter on EFL Cup games is Guy Havord however Jonathan Oakes and David Craig are occasionally called upon to cover.
EFL Trophy
Alongside coverage of the 15 EFL Cup games per season, Sky's EFL contract also allows coverage of the two semi finals and final of the EFL Trophy every season. The same personnel that appear on Sky's EFL coverage, also appear on EFL Trophy coverage.
Scottish Professional Football League
Sky owns full exclusive live rights to the Scottish Professional Football League, showing 48 games per season. SPFL Coverage is presented by Eilidh Barbour, alongside regular studio pundits, Kris Boyd and James McFadden. Ally McCoist and John Hartson also appear as non-regular studio pundits.[60] The lead commentator on coverage is Ian Crocker, and he is regularly joined by co-commentator Chris Sutton.[61] If there is a SPFL double header, Gary Weaver would also appear as a lead commentator. Luke Shanley is the main match reporter or occasionally, Soccer Saturday reporter, Mark Benstead also reports.
NIFL Premiership
In February 2017, Sky Sports gained rights to show five NIFL Premiership games per season until the end of the 2021/2022 season, as well as live coverage of the Northern Ireland Football League Cup Final. Presentation comes from freelance presenter, Graham Little who hosts games, on-site, at the ground. Commentary comes from Northern Ireland national game reporter, Paul Gilmour.
Bundesliga
On 5 August 2021, Sky Sports acquired the rights to Germany's Bundesliga and Supercup for the following four seasons.[62][63]
Women's Super League
On 21 June 2021, Sky Sports won the live broadcast rights to the FA Women's Super League for the next three seasons through to 2024. As part of the deal, Sky Sports will broadcast 35 games per season.[64] The presenter of the WSL on Sky Sports is Caroline Barker, and the main studio pundits are Karen Carney and Casey Stoney. Lead commentators comes from Seb Hutchinson and Jacqui Oatley alongside co-commentators Sue Smith and Siobhan Chamberlain. Lynsey Hooper is the pitchside reporter[65]
In October 2024 a new deal with Sky Sports and the BBC for the broadcast rights for the rest of the decade was announced, extending Sky Sports' coverage of the competition until 2030.[66][67]
Launched on 20 August 1994, Soccer AM, is a Saturday morning talk show presented by John "Fenners" Fendley and ex-footballer Jimmy Bullard, with a focus on humorous analysis of British football, largely but not exclusively based around the Premier League. The programme ended its run on 27 May 2023, the day before the end of the 2022–23 Premier League season.[68][69]
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 Simon Thomas, who had replaced Jeff Stelling at the start of the 2023–24 season. Stelling had hosted the programme since 1998. The lead studio pundit is, Paul Merson. Other studio pundits include Tony Cottee, Iain Dowie, Alan McInally, Matt Murray, Glen Johnson, Clinton Morrison and Sue Smith. Regular reporters include Bianca Westwood, David Craig, Dickie Davies, Rob Palmer, Johnny Phillips, Neil Mellor, Peter Smith, Peter Stevenson, Stuart Jarrold, Paul Walsh, Simon Watts, Faye Carruthers, Tony Colliver, Jonathan Beales, Steve Jackson, Mike Jones, Russ Taylor, Mark Benstead, Charles Paterson, Frank Gilfeather, Andy Walker, Stuart Lovell, Davie Donaldson and John Temple. A midweek programme with the same format, fronted by Julian Warren, 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. Warren also hosts Soccer Saturday when Thomas is unavailable.
Launched in 1999, Sunday Supplement was a Sunday morning magazine style pundit show, presented by Neil Ashton from 2012 to January 2020, when Jacqui Oatley took over until the show ceased to air in August 2020.[70] Originally Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement, but after a revamp in 2007, Hill was dropped.
Sky was the first broadcaster to show live coverage of a complete overseas tour involving England when they toured the West Indies in 1990. This was originally shown on Sky One acquired the rights to show home international series involving England, South Africa, New Zealand and West Indies at various times as well as showing almost every England overseas tour and ICC tournaments such as the Cricket World Cup, Champions Trophy and T20 World Cup. Sky also shows extensive coverage of county cricket, with over 60 live games each season involving every county in all competitions. The Kia Super League was added to Sky's coverage of Women's cricket in 2017 when it shows eight matches from the 2017 Women's Cricket Super League.[71] In 2018, Sky Sports won the rights off BT Sport to broadcast all 34 games of the Caribbean Premier League from the 2018 season which continued into the 2019 and 2020 seasons. In 2015, Sky Sports won exclusive UK rights to broadcast the Indian Premier League for three years taking the rights from then broadcaster ITV4 and in 2018, these rights were renewed on a multi-year deal. Star Sports, the global distributor of IPL coverage then unexpectedly cut their contract for the 2019 season, however, these rights were reinstated from the 2020 season onwards.[72] In 2020, while 2021 IPL season all 60 matches also shown on Sky,[73] Sky won rights to show all games from the inaugural season of the Lanka Premier League. As of 2021, Sky Sports have agreements with Cricket South Africa and the Pakistan Cricket Board, to show live Tests, ODIs and T20Is from these countries. As part of the deal with the Pakistan Cricket Board, Sky won rights to show the Pakistan Super League for three years until 2024. Having not won the rights to the Test series of England's tour of India in 2021, Sky Sports gained the rights to the white ball series of this tour and subsequently, for the remainder of 2021, will broadcast all Indian home games.
Sky Sports first started broadcasting Home England Tests in 1999. In a joint deal with terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4, it began showing one 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.[74] The Fifth Test vs India at the Oval, (commencing 15 August 2014) was the 200th England Test shown live on Sky Sports.
Ian Ward fronts all of England's home ODI and T20 International games alongside commentators, Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Nick Knight, Mark Butcher, Ebony Rainford-Brent and occasionally, Kevin Pietersen, Kumar Sangakkara and Stuart Broad along with other international guest analysts from the touring side. Ward also contributes to commentary.
Overseas series involving England are presented from the London studio by Nick Knight alongside the likes of Mark Butcher, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Dominic Cork, Niall O'Brien, Stuart Broad and many other guests. Ian Ward, Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain contribute to coverage from where England would be touring, as they would usually join the host broadcaster for these series.
Sky Sports also have international cricket rights to matches played in India, Pakistan and South Africa. The match coverage is taken from the host broadcasters from these countries.
Coverage of county cricket is presented by Nick Knight or Mark Butcher. Commentary comes from Charles Dagnall, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Lydia Greenway, Adam Collins, Niall O'Brien, Dominic Cork and Alex Tudor, along with many other guest commentators. Knight and Butcher also contributes to commentary.
Coverage of women's cricket on Sky Sports is presented by Nick Knight, Mark Butcher or Mel Jones alongside commentators, Charles Dagnall, Adam Collins, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Lydia Greenway and Charlotte Edwards. Knight, Butcher and Jones also contribute to commentary.
In 2021, the inaugural season of The Hundred commenced with Sky Sports broadcasting every single game live. Sky Sports unveiled a new presentation team for coverage of The Hundred. Joining Sky's existing presentation and commentary team, were Andrew Flintoff, Kass Naidoo and Zainab Abbas, as presenters, and Simon Doull, Daren Sammy, Darren Gough and Tammy Beaumont, as analysts and commentators.
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 and England Women. As a part of the deal with the RFU, Sky also had the rights to broadcast at least 11 games per season from the RFU Championship.
Sky also held the rights to tour matches by England, Ireland, Scotland and France, to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand (as a part of their contract with SANZAAR until 2018 and from 2022).
Sky Sports broadcast two live matches each weekend from the Top 14. Sky's contract with SANZAAR also allowed them to show live matches from the Super Rugby competition, as well as the Currie Cup and Mitre 10 Cup.
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 as positive and as having an impact even greater than the broadcaster has had with football.
Live Super League broadcasts routinely rank amongst the top ten most watched programmes in a week on Sky Sports [citation needed]. As of the 2024 season, Sky Sports broadcast every Super League match live. This was announced in October 2023 as part of a new three-year contract, extending the partnership with the Super Leaguebeyond 30 years. All six matches in each round are shown live, with two of these being exclusive to Sky Sports. These two matches have additional TV cameras and a studio team; the remaining four matches use six TV cameras and are presented solely by the commentary team. Non-exclusive matches are shown via the Sky Sports + Red Button service, as well as the new dedicated streaming platform SuperLeague+. Non-exclusive matches are sometimes shown on free-to-air television via BBC Sport.[75]
In addition to coverage of the men's game, Sky Sports show three matches live from the Women's Super League per season, in addition to two play-off matches and the Grand Final. Sky Sports also broadcasts the Wheelchair Super League Grand Final.
Between 2012 and 2021, Sky Sports aired Challenge Cup matches alongside BBC Sport: usually, Sky Sports' coverage included one match in the fourth and fifth rounds and two of the quarter-finals - with highlights of the Semi-Finals and Finals which are shown live exclusively on the BBC.
In July 2011, Sky Sports acquired joint rights to broadcast Formula One in the United Kingdom from 2012 until 2018.[80] 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 initially meant that Sky Sports F1 showed all races live, with 10 races being shown by both Sky and Channel 4 (who were also televising highlights of all races on a delayed basis),[81][82] however since the start of the 2019 season, Sky have had exclusive rights to broadcast every race live except the British GP, which is both live on Sky and Channel 4, however Channel 4 still show highlights of both qualifying and the race from every other GP. Whilst the initial announcement did prove controversial (with early promises that the races would not be uninterrupted by commercials[83] doing little to quell the negative initial reaction from many fans and observers[84]), 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 currently broadcast the entire 2023 season in 4K Ultra-HD, on the Sky Q Silver Ultra-HD package.
Paul Di Resta, Anthony Davidson and Karun Chandhok all serve as touchscreen analysts to the coverage.
David Croft provides commentary on practice sessions, qualifying and the race. During practice sessions, two of, Di Resta, Davidson, Herbert or Chandhok join Croft for co-commentary, while Brundle provides trackside analysis. For qualifying sessions and the race, Brundle is the primary co-commentator, but if unavailable for a race weekend, Di Resta, Davidson or Button stand in as replacements, with Ted Kravitz or Karun Chandhok contributing from the pit lane depending on the race.
Ted Kravitz, Natalie Pinkham and Rachel Brookes report/present across the pit-lane and paddock and cover for Lazenby as host of some practice sessions.
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 Sports' golf presenters include, Nick Dougherty, Sarah Stirk, Rob Lee and James Haddock. The expert analysts include Paul McGinley, Rich Beem, Mark Roe, David Howell and Tony Johnstone. The lead commentators include Ewen Murray, Richard Boxall and Richard Kaufman, as well as presenter, Rob Lee. The co-commentators include expert analysts, McGinley, Beem, Roe, Howell, Johnstone, and presenter, Nick Dougherty, as well as many other guests, with Wayne Riley and Andrew Coltart providing on-course commentary. Tim Barter and Sarah Stirk are the main interviewers on the golf coverage, with James Haddock reporting on majors for Sky Sports News. Sky Sports also use Golf Channel's commentary for broadcasts of the PGA Tour.
Sky will use Golf Channel (another Comcast property) feeds for USGA championships.
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.
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.[88]
In 2010, Sky Sports broadcast in excess of 150 tournaments from the men's and women's tours.[90]
Darts
During its first two years, Sky Sports covered some BDO tournaments, in a contract it inherited from BSB. The tournaments covered were the World Masters, Gold Cup, British Open and British International Championships, all four of which were previously broadcast on ITV. Since the creation of the World Darts Council in 1992, since renamed the Professional Darts Corporation (which was formed when many of the leading players, including Phil Taylor, Eric Bristow, John Lowe and Dennis Priestley, broke away from the British Darts Organisation, which had been the game's sole ruling body), Sky Sports has broadcast their main darts tournaments live. Between 1993 and 2007, Sky were the only regular UK broadcaster of PDC Darts (apart from the 1999 PDC v BDO showdown between Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld which was broadcast on ITV). However this changed in 2007 when ITV covered the Grand Slam of Darts. This moved to Sky in 2011, but ITV continued to show the Players Championship Finals, with their coverage expanding to include the Masters and the return of the European Championship from 2013, the UK Open (formerly on Sky) from 2014, and the World Series of Darts events from 2015.
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 United Kingdom since its inception. From 2009 onwards, this event has been shot and broadcast in high-definition. The tournament has become more and more popular in recent years with the 2007 World Final achieving a viewing figure in excess of one million for the first time. Sky also shows the World Matchplay, World Grand Prix, Grand Slam of Darts, Premier League, World Cup of Darts, and the final of the World Youth Championship. 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 from John Gwynne and Dave Lanning, while Sid Waddell joined Sky from the BBC in 1994. Dave Clark replaced Stelling in 2002 although he had already covered some tournaments in 2001. Stuart Pyke joined the commentary team in 2003 (he also works for ITV coverage of PDC Darts), 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.
After Sky Sports' six-year contract with Matchroom ended in 2021, Sky announced it had signed a new contract with Top Rank and BOXXER to broadcast live coverage of their fights until 2025.[91]
Anna Woolhouse is the lead presenter, alongside former boxers, Johnny Nelson, Spencer Oliver, Paulie Malignaggi, Carl Froch and Tony Bellew, with also the likes of Paul Smith and Matthew Macklin. Commentator Adam Smith is alongside Carl Froch or Matthew Macklin for the primary commentary pairing on main event cards. On larger pay-per view events, Tony Bellew, Paulie Malignaggi or David Haye join the commentary team. Andy Clarke and Matthew Macklin commentate on undercard action. The reporter and post-fight interviewer is Andy Scott.
Sky Sports has covered the NFL since 1995 and following a deal in August 2020 in which Sky and the NFL has agreed a new five-year partnership which sees Sky continue to broadcast games until the end of the 2024 season. Sky Sports broadcasts every Thursday night, Sunday night and Monday night game live, alongside two Sunday evening games.[94]
It was also confirmed that Sky Sports NFL, an in-season rebrand of Sky Sports Action would launch on 3 September 2020 and run for the entire duration of the season.[95] Sky Sports NFL has returned in subsequent seasons.
In November 2023, Sky announced an agreement with ESPN International to acquire rights to ESPN College Football broadcasts for the remainder of the 2023 season and in the 2024 season on Sky Sports NFL, including weekly games, studio programs such as College GameDay, and ESPN-televised bowl games.[96]
Basketball
In 2018, Sky Sports signed a four-year deal to broadcast the NBA in the United Kingdom.[97] Jaydee Dyer presents coverage on Sky Sports alongside analyst, Mo Mooncey.
In November 2020, coverage of the British Basketball League returned to Sky Sports in a new two-year deal which sees Sky broadcasting 30 games per season, including BBL Trophy Final, BBL Cup Final and BBL Playoffs.[98] This has been extended to cover the 2023/24 season.
For nearly 25 years, Sky Sports was the main broadcaster of the US Open, covering the even between 1991 and 2015 but decided not to renew its contract to broadcast this event in 2016. The company was able to bid to regain broadcast rights to the US Open for 2023 when Amazon did not extend its contract in 2022.[99] This bid was successful and Sky will now show the tournament until 2027.[100]
Sky was the broadcaster of ATP Tour events from 2002 until 2018, when Amazon Prime Video became the exclusive UK broadcaster.[101][99] Sky has now regained these rights and will provide coverage of more than 80 events each year until 2028. The events covered will include the Nitto ATP Finals and WTA Finals, all ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 events, 500s and 250 events (excluding domestic events) and the Next Gen ATP Finals. Gigi Salmon will present the coverage with Tim Henman and Laura Robson being the main pundits.[102]
138 live matches per-season and all 15 play-off matches, including all three finals until May 2024[103][104][105][106] From 2024–25, Sky will broadcast over 1,000 matches each season, including 328 Championship, 248 League One and 248 League Two games.
15 live matches per-season, including semi-finals and final until 2024. From the 2024/25 season they will broadcast every game from every round. Many will be on their new service Sky Sports +.
All races live until 2024 on Sky Sports F1 with two prime time races and British Grand Prix on Sky Sports Mix, as well as events exclusively available in 4K
Exclusive live rights from 2019 to 2024 with British Grand Prix and highlights free to air
Between the 2016–17 and 2018–19 seasons, Sky Sports broadcast a 3.00pm Saturday match exclusively for subscribers in the Republic of Ireland. The coverage went out under the Premier League Live banner and was anchored by the match commentators. The rights for these games were taken over by Premier Sports for the 2019–20 season onwards.
UEFA Champions League
Sky Sports covered the UEFA 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,[119] with highlights on ITV Sport. Since 2018, BT Sport has also acquired the rights to the highlights of the Champions League and UEFA Europa League.
FA Cup and FA Community Shield
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 so they went to ESPN UK. In 2014–15, the rights transferred from ITV and ESPN to BBC and BT Sport after bidding together. From 2020, ITV won the rights back off BT Sport meaning live coverage of all FA Cup games is on free-to-air television with BBC and ITV sharing the rights.
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 ITV and then BT Sport, then later back to ITV.
England National Football Team
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 until 2008, and currently remain free to air with ITV owning the rights.
Sky Sports currently still provide coverage of England matches, however not nearly on the same scale as in the 1990s. They are limited to just UEFA Nations League and mid-season international friendlies which thanks to the aforementioned competition, have not occurred as often as they once did.
UEFA Nations League
Until 2022 Sky Sports held 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, under this Sky Sports have highlights of England matches. However, in 2018, Sky won the rights to show the UEFA Nations League meaning all home nations games would be broadcast exclusively by Sky, including England games. England matches in the Nations League are presented by David Jones with pundits including Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Jamie Redknapp. The commentators include Martin Tyler and Alan Smith with Patrick Davison reporting. For highlights of England matches in the European Qualifiers, there is no studio presentation and Martin Tyler and Alan Smith provide commentary.
The games were broadcast across four channels, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Mix. Other UEFA Nations League, European Qualifiers and international friendly matches broadcast on these channels involve countries such as France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Portugal or games that kick off at an earlier time than the prime time 7.45pm slot. These games are commentary only broadcasts with no studio presentation. The rest of the UEFA Nations League and European Qualifiers are broadcast via the Sky Sports Football Red Button feature or online via the Sky Sports App with World Feed commentary.
La Liga
Sky Sports was the long-time home of La Liga, the top-tier of Spanish domestic football, having broadcast the competition for 21 years. From the 2018–19 season, the rights to broadcast La Liga were won by Eleven Sports, then subsequently Premier Sports. During Sky Sports' tenure as La Liga broadcaster, live matches were broadcast on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights. Towards the end of the contract, Sky Sports broadcast up to ten live matches each round with the coverage handled by the commentators who included Rob Palmer, Kevin Keatings, Jon Driscoll and Dominic Johnson. They would usually be joined by summarisers, Gerry Armstrong, Terry Gibson, David Phillips, Garry Birtles and Efan Ekoku. Highlights and weekly review of La Liga, were shown on Revista de La Liga, presented by the Spanish football experts. Mark Bolton, and Guillem Balagué.
Eredivisie
In 2014, Sky Sports signed an exclusive four-year deal to show live matches from the Dutch top-flight league Eredivisie.[120] The commentary was taken from the world feed provided by IMG Worldwide. Starting with the 2018–19 season, live and exclusive rights were won by Eleven Sports.[121]
Chinese Super League
In 2016, Sky Sports added another competition to its schedule of live football with the addition of the Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League.[122] Commentary was from the World Feed, usually by Wayne Boyce, Paul Walker or Dan O'Hagan. From the start of the 2019 season, live and exclusive rights were won by Eleven Sports.[121]
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 Five/Six 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 Six 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 and Scotland home matches and ITV covering England, Ireland and Italy.
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 three years. Coverage of ten 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 shared the rights to the newly formed Rugby Champions Cup with BT Sport, until the 2017–18 season. Sky exclusively broadcast up to 30 pool matches, two quarter-finals and one semi-final from each competition with the finals being shown by both. Sky also received first pick on Challenge Cup matches involving Premiership Rugby clubs. From the 2018–19 season, Sky Sports no longer have the shared rights to the Champions Cup, these passed to Channel 4 and so did the contracts to cover Ireland's Autumn Internationals after 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 Northern Ireland and BBC Alba). From 2018, Premier Sports broadcast all 152 games live.
Rugby league
Until 2012, Sky aired Championship and Northern Rail Cup games on Thursdays and Sundays, until the rights for these were purchased by Premier Sports.
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 were 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 and Premier Sports had also signed a deal to cover the 2014 and 2016 Four Nations.
Tennis
Until 2015, tennis was a major staple of Sky Sports' output but decided to withdraw from the sport until 2023 when it resumed coverage of two events which it had previously shown for many years - the US Open and the ATP Tour.
Other previous tennis coverage on Sky had included the Davis Cup tennis but these rights moved to the BBC and Eurosport.[123] Sky was the broadcaster of ATP Tour events from 2002 until 2018, when Amazon Prime Video became the exclusive UK broadcaster.[101][99] And during the early 1990s, BSB and then Sky Sports broadcast highlights of Wimbledon.
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.
Boxing
In 1994, Sky Sports won the contract to show fights promoted by Matchroom Sport and the two enjoyed a deal which lasted for 27 years. The most recent contract provided Sky Sports with upwards of 20 boxing events per year.[124] In June 2021, fights promoted by Matchroom Sport moved to streaming service DAZN.[125][126]
Part of the deal with Sky stated that major pay-per-view's such as WrestleMania, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble and SummerSlam were 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 was shown live early on Tuesday morning because of the time difference. SmackDown was 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 was 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 pay-per-view to be shown live on Sky Sports 1.[129]
The first WWE event to be shown in widescreen (16:9) format on Sky Sports was No Way Out on 18 February 2008 at 1.00am 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.
On 30 January 2014, Sky Sports announced they had signed another five-year deal with WWE, it will now continue to exclusively broadcast flagship shows in the United Kingdom and Ireland through to 2019.[130] WWE pay-per-views were previously shown on Sky Sports for free roughly every five 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. On 20 June 2019, it was announced that WWE would be leaving Sky Sports after 30 years, with BT Sport taking over the rights from January 2020.[131]
Darts
Sky Sports previously broadcast the UK Open from its inception in 2003 up until the 2013 tournament, after which it moved to ITV.
Basketball
Sky has previously covered the NBA, including during the early 1990s, and most recently from 2019 until 2023.[132] However, after that deal expired, TNT Sports took over as the UK broadcaster of the NBA.[133]
Gaelic games
On 2 April 2014, Sky Sports signed a deal with the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to broadcast fixtures from both the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) and the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (SHC).[134] The deal gave Sky Sports 20 championship matches across both sports (hurling and football), including both semi-finals and both finals. Sky would have exclusive rights in both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom to 14 of these matches, with the remaining six matches being simultaneously broadcast by RTÉ as the deal covered the years from 2014 to 2016. It was estimated that the GAA would make €0.5 million from the deal. The deal led to debate in Ireland, with Many loyal fans were unable to watch some key games during the All-Ireland season. The debate was reignited, with former Offaly hurler and television match analyst Michael Duignan stating publicly on RTÉ: "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.[135] On the other hand, the GAA was unlikely to receive the same amount of money from RTÉ as it got from Sky, especially given increasing emphasis on soccer.
On 24 October 2022, Sky Sports and the GAA announced a mutual agreement to end their broadcast partnership after nine years.[136][137]
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