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Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay 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 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 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.

History:

1989–1991: Predecessors

British Satellite Broadcasting operated The Sports Channel, which launched on 27 March 1990. In the BSB years, it shared the same frequency with its underpromoted sister station, 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.

In 1989, Sky Television had co-founded another sports network, Eurosport, 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. Also in the same year, it was sold to the TF1 Group and merged with Screensport two years later.

1991–1998: Beginnings

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 before acquiring rights to German and Italian league football (both previously 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 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 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 ever. 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 often used 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 as the original channel was renamed to Sky Sports 1, they also acquired the rights to Scottish football and the League Cup. On 1 September 1997, Sky Sports 2 became a full-time service.

1998–2017: Digital era

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.

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, 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. However, unlike Gray and Keys, Burton later returned to his regular duties at Sky.

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. 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. 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).

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, Eredivisie and others.

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 service with all plans, and was also available on certain Virgin Media packages on-launch.

2017–present: Channel re-alignment and expansion

On 18 July 2017, Sky re-aligned its sports channels, dropping the numbered services in favour of dedicated services 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. 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. As before, Sky Sports Mix airs selected programming from across the channels, and is included in 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.

The American NBC Sports division became a sibling of Sky Sports following Comcast's acquisition of Sky plc. 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 lineup beginning 4 March. For the PGA Tour's 2019 Players Championship, Sky Sports Golf trialled similar synergies with its new sister Golf Channel. 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.

Channels

Eleven main channels comprise the Sky Sports service:

Channel name Content

Sky Sports Main Event Airs major events as Sky Sports' flagship channel like football, boxing, cricket, rugby, Formula 1, etc. When not showing a live event the channel simulcasts Sky Sports News.

Sky Sports Premier League Dedicated exclusively to the Premier League, including live coverage of matches, and other ancillary coverage and documentaries.

Sky Sports Football Dedicated to association football coverage of non-Premier League matches, e.g. the EFL Championship and the Scottish Premiership.

Sky Sports Cricket Dedicated to cricket coverage, including domestic and international competition.

Sky Sports Golf Dedicated to golf coverage. As with the former Sky Sports 4.

Sky Sports F1 Dedicated to coverage of Formula One racing as well as motor racing in general, including Formula 2, Formula 3, and IndyCar Series.

Sky Sports Action Dedicated to general sports coverage, including rugby, netball, the NFL and the NBA.

Sky Sports Arena Dedicated to general sports coverage, including Super League, darts and boxing.

Sky Sports Racing Available with Sky's basic TV package (Sky Signature). Dedicated to coverage of horse racing.

Sky Sports Mix Available with Sky's basic TV package (Sky Signature). Airs a mix of live sports and supplementary programming from across the network.

Sky Sports News Available with Sky's basic TV package (Sky Signature). Provides latest news and updates from across all sports.

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 services

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, various magazine and review shows.[25] 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 William Hill World Darts Championship as a rebrand of Sky Sports 3, and it returned on 14 December 2015 however, Sky Sports F1 was temporarily renamed Sky Sports Darts until 5 January 2016.[27] For the 2017 event it was Sky Sports 3 that was rebranded. From 2017 onwards, Sky Sports Arena was rebranded as Sky Sports Darts to coincide with the 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 events respectively.

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.[28] 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 May 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 COVID-19 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.

Sky Sports USA: From 3 January to 5 February 2019, Sky Sports Action was rebranded as Sky Sports USA, with a focus on the National Football League (highlighted by the playoffs leading up to Super Bowl LIII) and National Basketball Association coverage (highlighted by the NBA Global Games series at The O2 Arena in London), as well as shoulder and archive programmes.

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.[31][32] This was repeated from 26 April to 8 May 2021 and again from 23 August 2021 to February 2022.

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.

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