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Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the
satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...
pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...
company
Sky Group Sky Group Limited is a British media and telecommunications conglomerate, which is a division of Comcast, and headquartered in London. It has operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Sky is Europe's ...
(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 The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
to break away from
the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...
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 Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...
and
IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded med ...
broadcasting system in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British paid television sports news channel run by Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and later this was expanded into a ...
,
Sky Sports Racing Sky Sports Racing (formerly At The Races) is a British pay television channel devoted to horse racing. A joint venture between Sky Group and Arena Racing Company, it broadcasts coverage of domestic, European and international horse racing eve ...
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 British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) was a television company, headquartered in London, that provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom. They started broadcasting on 25 March 1990. The company was merged with ...
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 Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...
. In 1989, Sky Television had co-founded another sports network,
Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, ...
, with the European Broadcasting Union. However, in 1991, Eurosport was the subject of a complaint by the competitor
Screensport Screensport was a pan-European cable and satellite sports television network that was on air from 1984 until 1993 before merging with Eurosport. History 1984–1986: Early years Screensport was founded in 1981 by Bob Kennedy — who had sta ...
, 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 Astra 1B was the second of the Astra communications satellites launched and operated by SES (Société Européenne des Satellites) to add extra capacity to the satellite television (direct broadcasting) services from 19.2° East, serving Germ ...
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 Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...
and golf before acquiring rights to
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
and Italian league football (both previously carried over from the Sports Channel). The channel was initially
encrypted In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can deci ...
but broadcast free-to-view requiring an analogue
VideoCrypt VideoCrypt is a cryptographic, smartcard-based conditional access television encryption system that scrambles analogue pay-TV signals. It was introduced in 1989 by News Datacom and was used initially by Sky TV and subsequently by several other bro ...
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 The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
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
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...
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 Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...
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 In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
. 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 Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British paid television sports news channel run by Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and later this was expanded into a ...
, 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 Interactive television is a form of media convergence, adding data services to traditional television technology. It has included on-demand delivery of content, online shopping, and viewer polls. Interactive TV is an example of how new informatio ...
service known as
Sky Sports Active Sky Sports Active is a term used by British TV channel, Sky Sports, to describe its interactive sports service. It was launched in April 1999, on Sky Sports 1. Presented by Richard Keys, the first football game that was interactive was Arsenal ...
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 Richard Keys (born 23 April 1957) is an English sports presenter who has worked for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Talksport, Al Jazeera, Fox Sports, ESPN Star Sports , BeIN Sports; and has presented many top-level football matches. Career ...
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 Sian Louise Massey-Ellis MBE (née Massey; born 5 October 1985) is an English football match official who officiates generally in the role of assistant referee in the Premier League and the Football League. She has also been appointed to mat ...
, 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 Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
racing from 2012 through 2018, with the
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...
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 Sky Sports F1 is a television channel created exclusively for Sky's UK and Ireland coverage of Formula One, with Sky having a package of rights from the 2012 season to the 2029 season. From 2012 to 2029, Sky Sports F1 has the exclusive rights ...
, 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 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
(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 The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...
qualifiers,
La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
,
Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...
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 Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...
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 A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
'' 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 Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * No ...
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 The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
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 The 2019 Players Championship was the 46th Players Championship and was played March 14–17 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. It was the 38th edition held at the Stadium Course and the first in March in thirteen years. On Janua ...
, Sky Sports Golf trialled similar synergies with its new sister
Golf Channel Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply Golf) is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently based out of NBC S ...
. 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: In addition to Sky Sports Main Event,
BT TV BT TV is a subscription IPTV service offered by BT; a division of United Kingdom telecommunications company BT Group, and was originally launched as BT Vision in December 2006. As of the end of June 2019, BT TV had 1.9 million customers ...
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 The 2013 Ashes series (known as the Investec 2013 Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons) was a series of Test cricket matches contested between England and Australia for the Ashes. It formed part of the 2013 Australian tour of England, which al ...
, 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 The Women's Ashes is the perpetual trophy in women's international cricket series between England and Australia. The name derives from the historic precedent of the Ashes in male cricket and, until 2013, was similarly decided exclusively on the ...
, domestic cricket, various magazine and review shows. The practice was repeated for the
2015 Ashes series The 2015 Ashes series (named Investec Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons) was a series of Test cricket matches played between England and Australia for The Ashes. The venues were Sophia Gardens ( Cardiff), Lord's (London), Edgbaston (Birmingha ...
and also for the
2019 Ashes series The 2019 Ashes series (officially the Specsavers Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons) was a series of Test cricket matches played between England and Australia for The Ashes in August and September 2019. The venues were Edgbaston, Lord's, Headi ...
. * 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 The 40th Ryder Cup matches were held 26–28 September 2014 in Scotland on the PGA Centenary Course at the Gleneagles Hotel near Auchterarder in Perth & Kinross. This was the second Ryder Cup held in Scotland; it was previously at Muirfield i ...
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. It returned for the 2016 event when Sky Sports F1 was temporarily renamed Sky Sports Darts instead, while in
2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
it was Sky Sports 3 that was rebranded again. After this, Sky Sports Arena was rebranded as Sky Sports Darts for the
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...
,
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
,
2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
,
2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
and
2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...
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 The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by A ...
, from Australia and New Zealand. * Sky Sports The Open: During their first live broadcast of golf's
Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later th ...
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. 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 The 2017 Players Championship was the 44th The Players Championship, Players Championship, held May 11–14 at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and the 36th edition held at the Stadium Course. Kim Si-woo, age 21, shot a final round 6 ...
. 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 The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. * 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 The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(highlighted by the
playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...
leading up to Super Bowl LIII) and
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
coverage (highlighted by the
NBA Global Games The NBA Global Games are a series of games featuring NBA teams that are played outside the United States and Canada. Its purpose is to bring teams from the National Basketball Association (NBA) to play games against either another NBA team or a for ...
series at
The O2 Arena The O2 Arena, commonly known as the O2 (stylised as The O2 arena), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of the O2 entertainment complex on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the s ...
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 The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted between 30 May ...
in
England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...
. *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 The 2019 Netball World Cup (also known as the 2019 Vitality Netball World Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th edition of the INF Netball World Cup. It was held from 12–21 July 2019 at the Liverpool Arena in Liverpool, England with match ...
. *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 ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...
'' and ''
Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to 20 ...
'' games. 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 The 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour that took place in South Africa in July and August 2021. The British & Irish Lions, a team selected from players eligible to represent England, Ireland, Scot ...
. *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 The 2021 season of The Hundred was the inaugural season of The Hundred, a professional franchise 100-ball cricket tournament involving eight men's and women's teams located in major cities across England and Wales. The tournament was run by the ...
. This returned during the 2022 season.


Sky Sports Racing

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 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
, Sky and Arena Leisure plc (owner of
Ascot Racecourse Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races a ...
, 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 Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...
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 Sky Studios (also known as Sky Campus) is the headquarters of satellite broadcaster Sky, and home to much of their programming output. The Isleworth campus consists of nine buildings plus ancillary structures, with three of those buildings c ...
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.


Defunct channels


PremPlus

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 George Graham (born 30 November 1944), nicknamed "Stroller", is a Scottish former Association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. In his successful playing career, he made 455 appearances in England's Football ...
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 Setanta Sports is a sports television company based in Dublin, Ireland broadcasting throughout select Eurasian. The company was formed in 1990 to facilitate the broadcasting of Irish sporting events to international audiences. The company previo ...
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 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 Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
. 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 Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
, Premier League and
English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...
as well as
English Premiership The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
, 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 ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...
'', ''
Thursday Night Football ''Thursday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''TNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that broadcast primarily on Thursday nights. Most of the games kick off at 8:15 Eastern Time (8:20 prior to 20 ...
'', '' 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 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vari ...
's first UK HD broadcast. The channel broadcast 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 Smallworld Fibre (previously Smallworld Cable, Wightcable North and OMNE) was a British telecommunications company based in Irvine, North Ayrshire. The coverage area was Irvine, Dreghorn, Troon, and Kilmarnock in the west of Scotland, and Carl ...
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 broadcasts available on its 3D television service. The first sports broadcast on
Sky 3D The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...
was the Manchester United vs.
Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
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. 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 Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all tim ...
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 The 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship was the 71st season of Formula One motor racing. It featured the 68th Formula One World Championship, a motor racing championship for Formula One cars which is recognised by the sport's governin ...
and England cricket's Test 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.


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: 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.


Permanent UHD channel

On 27 July 2022, Sky Sports launched a UHD channel for Sky Sports Main Event.


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 The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
, 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 155 live Premier League matches this season. 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), ''Renault Super Sunday'' and ''
Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...
'' (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 Kelly Cates (née Dalglish) is a Scottish presenter, currently working for Sky Sports, Radio 5 Live, and ESPN. Early life Born in Glasgow, Kelly is the eldest of four children of former Celtic and Liverpool player and manager Sir Kenny Dalgl ...
is the presenter of ''Friday Night Football'' and ''Saturday Night Football''. Both presenters take it in turns to present ''Premier League Live''. The main studio pundits include
Gary Neville Gary Alexander Neville (born 18 February 1975) is an English football pundit and former player. He is also a co-owner of English Football League club Salford City. After retiring from football in 2011, Neville went into punditry and was a comm ...
,
Jamie Carragher James Lee Duncan Carragher (; born 28 January 1978) is an English football pundit and former footballer who played as a defender for Premier League club Liverpool during a career which spanned 17 years. A one-club man, he was Liverpool's v ...
,
Jamie Redknapp Jamie Frank Redknapp (born 25 June 1973) is an English former professional footballer who was active from 1989 until 2005. He is a pundit at Sky Sports and an editorial sports columnist at the ''Daily Mail''. A technically skillful and creat ...
,
Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, and current TV pundit. A midfielder, Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s, player-manager of Ranger ...
, Roy Keane,
Micah Richards Micah Lincoln Richards (born 24 June 1988) is an English former professional footballer, sports pundit for Sky Sports and BBC Sport, and as an ambassador of Manchester City. As a player, he was a right back who played in the Premier League and ...
, Karen Carney and Michael Dawson. Sky Sports' lead commentators include
Martin Tyler Martin Tyler (born 14 September 1945) is an English football commentator. He has worked as a commentator for Sky Sports since 1990, covering the Premier League and UEFA Champions League, as well as other domestic and international competition ...
, Rob Hawthorne and Bill Leslie with
Ian Crocker Ian Lowell Crocker (born August 31, 1982) is an American former competition swimmer, five-time Olympic medalist, and former world record-holder. During his career, he set world records in the 50- and 100-meter butterfly (long course and short ...
, Gary Weaver and Seb Hutchinson appearing occasionally, while co-commentary is regularly provided by Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Alan Smith,
Andy Hinchcliffe Andrew George Hinchcliffe (born 5 February 1969) is an English former professional footballer, sports television pundit, and co-commentator for Sky Sports. As a player, he was a left-back from 1986 until 2002. He began his career with Mancheste ...
, Karen Carney and occasionally,
Don Goodman Donald Ralph Goodman (born 9 May 1966) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. His professional career spanned for nearly 20 years, during which he played nearly 600 Football League games and scored 162 goals. Car ...
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 Martin Tyler, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher is used.
Geoff Shreeves Geoff Shreeves (born October 1964) is a reporter on Sky Sports. He joined the channel in 1992, the first season of The Premier League. Career Shreeves went to Verulam School in St Albans. His media career began in the United States in 1990, w ...
, Patrick Davison, Greg Whelan,Emma Saunders and Eilidh Barbour are the main reporters on the Premier League coverage. Woods also presents from pitch-side from the ground at which the earlier game is held on Super Sunday coverage.


=''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
BT Sport BT Sport is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe and BT Group, they first launched on 1 August 2013. The channels are based at the former International Bro ...
. Viewers on the Sky Digital and
Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...
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. The lead commentators that appear on ''Game of the Day'' and ''Premier League Replay'', consist of a variety of freelancers including :
Peter Drury Peter Drury (born 24 September 1967) is a British sports commentator who currently works for NBC Sports as the lead main (play-by-play) commentator for its Premier League coverage in the United States. Prior to joining NBC Sports, Drury was the ...
,
Jim Proudfoot Jim Proudfoot (born 16 December 1972) is an English football commentator who has worked on national radio and television since the late 1990s. Early life Proudfoot was born in the West Country on 16 December 1972 but moved to the Midlands at a yo ...
, Joe Speight,
Ian Darke Ian Darke (born 1954) is an English association football and boxing commentator who currently works for ESPN and BT Sport. Darke was previously one of Sky's "Big Four" football commentators alongside Martin Tyler, Alan Parry and Rob Hawthorne. ...
,
Gary Taphouse Gary Taphouse is a football commentator from Bournemouth, England. He mainly works for Sky Sports and Premier League Productions. He has worked for Sky Sports since 2005 and commentates on English Premier League matches for Sky Sports' Match Ch ...
, Nigel Adderley, Mark Scott and Jonathan Beck. Whilst the co-commentators include,
Tony Gale Anthony Peter Gale (born 19 November 1959) is an English football coach, former professional footballer and television pundit for Sky Sports. He is also the chairman of non-league club Walton Casuals. As a player, he made 636 appearances as a ...
, Keith Andrews, Andy Walker,
Garry Birtles Garry Birtles (born 27 July 1956) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a forward in the Football League between the 1970s and 1990s. He is best known for his time at Nottingham Forest, during which he won the 1979 and 19 ...
, Davie Provan,
Don Goodman Donald Ralph Goodman (born 9 May 1966) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. His professional career spanned for nearly 20 years, during which he played nearly 600 Football League games and scored 162 goals. Car ...
, David Phillips,
Danny Gabbidon Daniel Leon Gabbidon (born 8 August 1979) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played for West Bromwich Albion, Cardiff City (two spells), West Ham United, Queens Park Rangers, Crystal Palace, and Panteg. He a ...
, Terry Gibson,
Iain Dowie Iain Dowie (born 9 January 1965) is a football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. He played as a striker from 1983 until 2001, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Ham Unit ...
and
Efan Ekoku Efangwu Goziem Ekoku (born 8 June 1967) is a former Nigerian professional footballer, and sports commentator. As a player, he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Norwich City and Wimbledon and in Switzerland for Grassh ...
. These are the same feeds as
IMG img or IMG is an abbreviation for image. img or IMG may also refer to: * IMG (company), global sports and media business headquartered in New York City but with its main offices in Cleveland, originally known as the "International Management Group ...
use for the
Premier League Productions Premier League Productions is an IMG produced company with studio shows and commentators for worldwide viewers of Premier League association football. English-language broadcast team The company has a group of UK based commentators, pundits, and pr ...
World Feed to broadcast to international audiences. Games that air on BT Sport, that Sky Sports show highlights clips of, across their digital and interactive platforms, feature Premier League Productions World Feed commentary.


English Football League

Sky Sports broadcasts exclusive live coverage of the
English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...
and EFL Cup. Sky show a total of 148 matches each season, up to 2023–24 from the
Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...
,
League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...
,
League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...
, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy.
David Prutton David Thomas Michael Prutton (born 12 September 1981) is an English former footballer, who last played for Sheffield Wednesday. He currently works as lead presenter of the EFL Championship on Sky Sports. He has previously played for Notting ...
and Michelle Owen are the presenters of the EFL coverage. Gary Weaver, Daniel Mann,
Alan Parry Alan Parry (born 1948 in Garston, Liverpool) is an English sports commentator, concentrating on football and athletics. He has commentated for all four main broadcasters of football in the UK – the BBC, BT Sport, ITV and Sky TV, as well a ...
, 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 Clinton Hubert Morrison (''né'' Chambers; born 14 May 1979) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Since his retirement from playing he works as a pundit. Morrison began his career at local side Crystal Palace in 1998, f ...
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 The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
commentators, Kevin Keatings, Jon Driscoll and Dominic Johnson also commentating. Tony Gale, Lee Hendrie and Danny Gabbidon provide co-commentary on these games.


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. Martin Tyler, Rob Hawthorne, Bill Leslie, Gary Weaver, Alan Parry, 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 or occasionally Mark Benstead, alongside studio pundits,
Kris Boyd Kris Boyd (born 18 August 1983) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a forward. Boyd grew up in the South Ayrshire village of Tarbolton and started his senior career with Kilmarnock. He transferred to Rangers in Januar ...
and
James McFadden James Henry McFadden (born 14 April 1983) is a Scottish football coach and former professional player who played as a forward. McFadden started his playing career with Motherwell, where he came to prominence in the 2002–03 season by scoring ...
.
Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist, (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Johnstone before moving to English side Sunderland in ...
and John Hartson also appear as non-regular studio pundits. The lead commentator on coverage is Ian Crocker, and he is joined by co-commentator, Andy Walker. Luke Shanley is the main match reporter or occasionally, ''
Soccer Saturday ''Gillette Labs Soccer Saturday'' is a weekly television programme broadcast on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland during the football season. The programme updates viewers on the progress of association football games in the United ...
'' reporter, Charles Paterson also reports.


NIFL Premiership

In February 2017, Sky Sports gained rights to show five
NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...
games per season until the end of the 2021/2022 season, as well as live coverage of the
Northern Ireland Football League Cup The Northern Ireland Football League Cup (BetMcLean League Cup for sponsorship purposes), also known colloquially as the Irish League Cup, is a national football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland open to all member clubs of the North ...
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.


Major League Soccer

In 2015, Sky Sports secured rights to broadcast Major League Soccer for eight seasons through 2022. Coverage is shared with
FreeSports Viaplay Xtra is a British free-to-air sports television channel operated and owned by Viaplay Group. History Viaplay Xtra launched as FreeSports on 31 August 2017, with the aim to provide free-to-air sports coverage and become a top three ded ...
, and commentary is taken from the World Feed.


Bundesliga

On 5 August 2021, Sky Sports acquired the rights to Germany's
Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...
and Supercup for the following four seasons.


Women's Super League

On 21 June 2021, Sky Sports won the live broadcast rights to the
FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features ...
for the next three seasons through to 2024. As part of the deal, Sky Sports will broadcast 35 games per season. The presenter of the WSL on Sky Sports is
Caroline Barker Caroline Barker (born 1981) is a British sports journalist and broadcaster who works in television and radio. She currently presents mainly for BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC World Service, Sky Sports and Premier League Productions. Barker was the fir ...
, and the main studio pundits are Karen Carney and
Casey Stoney Casey Jean Stoney (born 13 May 1982) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of San Diego Wave FC. A versatile defender, she was capped more than 100 times for the England women's national footbal ...
. Lead commentators comes from Seb Hutchinson and
Jacqui Oatley Jacqueline Anne Oatley (born 28 December 1974) is a leading English broadcaster. She is a football commentator for Sky Sports, calling Premier League and FA Women's Super League matches. She is a sports presenter on Quest TV channel, covering ...
alongside co-commentators
Sue Smith Sue Smith may refer to: * Sue Smith (politician) (born 1951), member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council * Sue Smith (footballer) (born 1979), English footballer * Sue Smith (trainer) (born 1948), British horse trainer * Sue Smith (writer), Austra ...
and
Siobhan Chamberlain Siobhan Rebecca Chamberlain (born 15 August 1983) is an English sports pundit, commentator, and former professional footballer who last played as a goalkeeper. She joined Manchester United in 2018 after playing for Liverpool. Before joining Li ...
. Lynsey Hooper is the pitchside reporter


Supplementary programming


=''Soccer AM''

= Launched in 1995, ''
Soccer AM ''Soccer AM'' is a British football-based comedy/talk show, produced by Sky Sports. First broadcast in 1995, the programme currently airs on Sky Showcase, Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football at 10.30am on Saturdays during the f ...
'', is a Saturday morning talk show presented by John "Fenners" Fendley and ex-footballer
Jimmy Bullard James Richard Bullard (born 23 October 1978) is an English former professional footballer, coach and television personality. He is the co-host of the Saturday morning Sky Sports show ''Soccer AM''. As a player he was a midfielder and played you ...
, 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 Robert Jeffrey Stelling (born 18 March 1955) is an English television presenter. He currently presents '' Gillette Soccer Saturday'' for Sky Sports and hosted coverage of the Champions League between 2011 and 2015. He also presented the Chann ...
, and the lead studio pundit is,
Paul Merson Paul Charles Merson (born 20 March 1968) is an English former professional footballer, manager, commentator and sports television pundit for Sky Sports. Originally a forward, Merson found success as an attacking midfielder and playmaker later ...
. Other studio pundits include,
Tony Cottee Antony Richard Cottee (born 11 July 1965) is an English former professional footballer and manager who now works as a television football commentator. As a player, he was a striker from 1982 until 2001, notably playing in the top flight of En ...
,
Iain Dowie Iain Dowie (born 9 January 1965) is a football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. He played as a striker from 1983 until 2001, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Ham Unit ...
,
Alan McInally Alan Bruce McInally (born 10 February 1963) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played for Ayr United, Celtic, Aston Villa, Bayern Munich and Kilmarnock. Ayr-born McInally variously went by the nicknames of Rambo and Big Mac ...
, Matt Murray,
Glen Johnson Glen McLeod Cooper Johnson (''né'' Stephens; born 23 August 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played predominantly as a right back. Johnson began his career at West Ham United, spending time on loan at Millwall, and was ...
,
Clinton Morrison Clinton Hubert Morrison (''né'' Chambers; born 14 May 1979) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Since his retirement from playing he works as a pundit. Morrison began his career at local side Crystal Palace in 1998, f ...
and
Sue Smith Sue Smith may refer to: * Sue Smith (politician) (born 1951), member of the Tasmanian Legislative Council * Sue Smith (footballer) (born 1979), English footballer * Sue Smith (trainer) (born 1948), British horse trainer * Sue Smith (writer), Austra ...
. Regular reporters include
Chris Kamara Christopher Kamara (born 25 December 1957) is an English former professional football player and manager who worked as a presenter and football analyst at Sky Sports from 1992 to 2022. As a player, he was known as a tough-tackling midfielder. H ...
, Bianca Westwood, David Craig, Dickie Davies, Rob Palmer, Johnny Phillips, Neil Mellor, John Gwynne, Peter Smith, Peter Stevenson, Stuart Jarrold,
Paul Walsh Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
, Simon Watts, Faye Carruthers, Tony Colliver, Jonathan Beales, Bob Hall, 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 The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
nights, and is called ''Soccer Special''. Warren also hosts ''Soccer Saturday'' when Stelling is unavailable.


=''Sunday Supplement''

= 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 Jacqueline Anne Oatley (born 28 December 1974) is a leading English broadcaster. She is a football commentator for Sky Sports, calling Premier League and FA Women's Super League matches. She is a sports presenter on Quest TV channel, covering ...
took over until the show ceased to air in August 2020. Originally ''Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement'', but after a revamp in 2007, Hill was dropped.


=''Goals on Sunday''

= ''
Goals on Sunday ''Goals on Sunday'' is a British football discussion television programme on Sky Sports that shows highlights and analysis of the Premier League, Scottish Premiership and Football League Championship matches. Shown every Sunday and Bank Hol ...
'' is a Sunday morning highlights show, presented by Alex Scott and Chris Kamara.


Football presenters


Lead commentators


Studio pundits/co-commentators


Reporters


Cricket

Sky was the first broadcaster to show live coverage of a complete overseas tour involving
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
when they toured the
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
in 1990. This was originally shown on Sky One acquired the rights to show home international series involving England,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
,
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
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 The ICC Men's T20 World Cup (earlier known as ICC World Twenty20) is the international championship of Twenty20. Organised by cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the tournament consists of 16 teams, comprising t ...
. 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 The Women's Cricket Super League (WCSL), known as the Kia Super League (KSL) for sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional women's Twenty20 cricket competition in England and Wales operated by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The comp ...
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. In 2018, Sky Sports won the rights off
BT Sport BT Sport is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe and BT Group, they first launched on 1 August 2013. The channels are based at the former International Bro ...
to broadcast all 34 games of the
Caribbean Premier League The Caribbean Premier League (abbreviated to CPL or CPLT20) is an annual Twenty20 cricket tournament held in the Caribbean. It was founded by Cricket West Indies in 2013 to replace the Caribbean Twenty20 as the premier Twenty20 competition in ...
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 The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...
for three years taking the rights from then broadcaster
ITV4 ITV4 is a British free-to-air television channel which was launched on 1 November 2005. It is owned by ITV Digital Channels, a division of ITV plc, and is part of the ITV network. The channel has a line-up that consists of sports, cult classic ...
and in 2018, these rights were renewed on a multi-year deal.
Star Sports Star Sports refers to several current or former Asian sports networks owned by The Walt Disney Company: * Star Sports (East Asian TV channel) * Star Sports (Indian TV network) * Fox Sports (Southeast Asian TV network) Fox Sports (formerly ESPN ...
, the global distributor of IPL coverage then unexpectedly cut their contract for the 2019 season, however, these rights were reinstated from the
2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
season onwards. In 2020, while 2021 IPL season all 60 matches also shown on Sky, Sky won rights to show all games from the inaugural season of the
Lanka Premier League The Lanka Premier League (abbreviated as LPL; , ) is a professional cricket league in Sri Lanka in Twenty20 format contested every year by teams representing Sri Lankan cities from 2020. The league was founded by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) in 201 ...
. As of 2021, Sky Sports have agreements with
Cricket South Africa Cricket South Africa (CSA) is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Afr ...
and the
Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Counc ...
, 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 The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league contested during February and March of every year by six teams representing six cities of Pakistan. The league was founded on 9 September 2015 with five teams by the Paki ...
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 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
, 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 The 2009 Ashes series was that year's edition of the long-standing and storied cricket rivalry between England and Australia, and was part of the Australian cricket tour of England in 2009. Starting on 8 July 2009, England and Australia played fi ...
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. Test cricket coverage is presented by Ian Ward alongside a commentary team of
Michael Atherton Michael Andrew Atherton (born 23 March 1968) is a broadcaster, journalist and a former England international first-class cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England, and occasional leg-break bowler, he achieved the ca ...
,
Nasser Hussain Nasser Hussain (born 28 March 1968) is a British cricket commentator and former cricketer who captained the England cricket team between 1999 and 2003, with his overall international career extending from 1990 to 2004. A pugnacious right-ha ...
, Nick Knight,
Ebony Rainford-Brent Ebony-Jewel Cora-Lee Camellia Rosamond Rainford-Brent (born 31 December 1983) is an English former cricketer who is now a commentator and Director of Women's Cricket at Surrey. She was the first black woman to play for England. She was also ca ...
and occasionally, Sir Andrew Strauss. Ward himself also appears in the commentary box regularly.
Michael Atherton Michael Andrew Atherton (born 23 March 1968) is a broadcaster, journalist and a former England international first-class cricketer. A right-handed opening batsman for Lancashire and England, and occasional leg-break bowler, he achieved the ca ...
usually conducts the post-match presentation after each game. Along with Sky's team, a guest commentator from the touring side also contributes to the coverage. In recent series, these have included,
Dinesh Karthik Krishnakumar Dinesh Karthik (born 1 June 1985) is an Indian professional cricketer and commentator who nationally plays for the Indian Cricket Team and currently in Indian Premier League playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore. He is also the ...
(
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
), Simon Doull (
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
), Ian Bishop (
West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
), Ricky Ponting ( Australia) and
Wasim Akram Wasim Akram HI (; born 3 June 1966) is a Pakistani cricket commentator, coach, and former cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team. Akram is widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers of all time, and several crit ...
(
Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
). Highlights are broadcast in a prime time slot each evening. Ian Ward fronts all of England's home ODI and T20 International games alongside commentators, Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Nick Knight,
Mark Butcher Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fin ...
, Ebony Rainford-Brent and occasionally,
Kevin Pietersen Kevin Peter Pietersen (born 27 June 1980) is a cricket commentator, conservationist, and former England international cricket player. He is a right-handed batsman and occasional off spin bowler who played in all three formats for England betw ...
,
Kumar Sangakkara Kumara Chokshananda Sangakkara ( si, කුමාර් චොක්ශනාද සංගක්කාර; born 27 October 1977) is a Sri Lankan cricket commentator, former professional cricketer, businessman, ICC Hall of Fame inductee and the ...
and
Stuart Broad Stuart may refer to: Names *Stuart (name), a given name and surname (and list of people with the name) Automobile * Stuart (automobile) Places Australia Generally *Stuart Highway, connecting South Australia and the Northern Territory Northe ...
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 Dominic is a name common among Roman Catholics and other Latin-Romans as a male given name. Originally from the late Roman-Italic name "Dominicus", its translation means "Lordly", "Belonging to God" or "of the Master". Variations include: Domini ...
, 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 Lydia Sophie Greenway (born 6 August 1985) is an English former cricketer who played as a left-handed batter and occasional right-arm off break bowler. She was also regarded as one of the best outfielders in the women's game. She appeared in 1 ...
,
Adam Collins Adam Collins is an Australian cricket journalist and broadcaster. He was named the 2020 Cricket Writers' Club Christopher Martin-Jenkins Broadcaster of the Year. Early life Collins attended Lyndale Secondary College in North Dandenong before ...
, 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 Melanie Jones (born 11 August 1972, Barnstaple, Devon, England) is an English-born Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer who represented Australia women's national cricket team. Early life Jones was born in England and moved wi ...
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 Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff (born 6 December 1977) is an English television and radio presenter and former international cricketer. Flintoff played all forms of the game and was one of the sport's leading all-rounders, a fast bowler, middle-ord ...
, Kass Naidoo and
Zainab Abbas Zainab Abbas ( Punjabi, ; born 14 February 1988) is a Pakistani television host, sports presenter, commentator, and former makeup artist. Personal life Zainab Abbas was born in Lahore to domestic cricketer Nasir Abbas and politician Andleeb A ...
, as presenters, and Simon Doull,
Daren Sammy Daren Julius Garvey Sammy (born 20 December 1983) is a Saint Lucian cricketer who played international cricket for the West Indies. He is a two time T20 World Cup winning captain. On making his One-Day International (ODI) debut against Bangla ...
,
Darren Gough Darren Gough (born 18 September 1970) is a retired English cricketer and former captain of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. The spearhead of England's bowling attack through much of the 1990s, he is England's second highest wicket-taker in one-da ...
and
Tammy Beaumont Tamsin Tilley Beaumont (born 11 March 1991) is an English cricketer who currently plays for Kent, The Blaze, Welsh Fire, Sydney Thunder and England. She plays primarily as an opening batter and occasional wicket-keeper. She has previously pla ...
, as analysts and commentators. Sky Sports' additional cricket programming includes: * ''The Cricket Debate'' * ''Cricket Classics'' * ''Masterclasses'' * ''In the Zone''


Presenters


Studio analysts and commentators


Rugby union

In 2014, Sky Sports extended their already long-term deal with the
RFU The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby (WR) in 1886. It pro ...
to continue showing
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
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 Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...
and their annual Spring fixture. Furthermore, Sky broadcast live
England Saxons England A is England's men's second national rugby union team. The team has previously been known by a number of names, such as England B, Emerging England and, most recently, England Saxons. England A play a key role in the development of emer ...
, 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 The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...
. Sky holds the rights to broadcast
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
, Australia,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
tests and The Rugby Championship. This meant that, aside from
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
,
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
, Sky held the right to show all Tier 1 nations home Tests (outside the Six Nations Championship). Highlights of England Internationals are shown on
BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...
and Ireland Internationals are shared with RTÉ Sport. Sky also held the rights to tour matches by England,
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, Scotland and France, to
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
, Australia and
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
(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 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...
. Sky's contract with SANZAAR also allowed them to show live matches from the Super Rugby competition, as well as the
Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...
and
Mitre 10 Cup The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in t ...
. Rugby union coverage on Sky Sports is fronted by
Alex Payne Alex Payne (born June, 1980) is a television presenter and broadcaster in the UK. Early life and education Payne attended Sandroyd School, Eton College and Edinburgh University. Career Until 2018 he spent much of his career presenting l ...
, James Gemmell and Rupert Cox. With guests including
Will Greenwood William John Heaton Greenwood, MBE (born 20 October 1972) is an English former rugby union player who played for Leicester Tigers and Harlequins and was a member of England's 2003 World Cup-winning team and the 1997 British & Irish Lions. H ...
,
Sean Fitzpatrick Sean Brian Thomas Fitzpatrick (born 4 June 1963) is a former rugby union player who represented New Zealand, and is widely regarded as one of the finest players ever to come from that country. Early life and family Fitzpatrick was born in Auc ...
, Michael Lynagh, Paul Wallace,
Scott Quinnell Scott Quinnell (born 20 August 1972) is a Welsh former dual-code rugby union and rugby league player who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He was a number 8 for Wales, Llanelli RFC, Llanelli Scarlets, Richmond and the British & Irish Lions in rugb ...
,
Pat Sanderson Pat Sanderson (born 6 September 1977 in Chester) is a former England international rugby union player and a former flanker for Worcester. He is the brother of the former England player Alex Sanderson. His early rugby union career blossomed ...
, Marcelo Bosch,
Johan Ackermann Johannes Nicolaas 'Johan' Ackermann (born 3 June 1970) is a South African professional rugby union coach and former player. He played as a lock during his playing career between 1995 and 2007. He is currently the head coach at Red Hurricanes. P ...
, Maggie Alphonsi,
Rory Lawson Rory Lawson (born 12 March 1981) is a Scottish former rugby union player who played his career in Scotland and England as a scrum half. He won 31 caps for Scotland. He attended Dollar Academy where he captained the school's 1st XV. After a nu ...
,
Shane Horgan Shane Patrick Horgan (born 18 July 1978) is an Irish former rugby union player who played Wing (rugby union), wing or centre for Leinster Rugby, Leinster and Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland. Early life He was born on 18 July 1978 in ...
, Stuart Barnes,
Ieuan Evans Ieuan Cennydd Evans (born 21 March 1964) is a former rugby union player who played on the wing for Wales and the British and Irish Lions. He is the fourth highest try scorer for Wales behind Shane Williams, George North and Gareth Thomas an ...
,
Dewi Morris Dewi Morris (born ) is a former rugby union footballer, who played scrum half for England. Morris was born in Crickhowell, Breconshire, Wales, and graduated from Crewe & Alsager College. He made his England debut in 1988, as a twenty-four yea ...
,
Frankie Sheahan Frankie Sheahan (born August 27, 1976) is a retired professional Irish rugby union player. During his career, Sheahan played for Munster from 1996 until 2009 and for Ireland from 2000 until 2007. Sheahan played his whole career as a hooker. H ...
, Scott Hastings and
Alan Quinlan Alan Quinlan (''Irish: Ailín Ó Caoindealbhain'', born 13 July 1974) is a retired Irish rugby union player. He played for Munster and was registered to All-Ireland League side Shannon. He retired from rugby in May 2011. Early years Quinlan ...
. Lead commentators include Miles Harrison, Rupert Cox, Johnnie Hammond and Martin Gillingham.


Rugby league

The power of television over sport can perhaps be best portrayed by the change of
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 11 ...
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. 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 Brian Carney who is joined in the studio by Terry O'Connor,
Phil Clarke Philip Clarke (born 16 May 1971) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A Great Britain and England international representative back-rower or , he played his club rugby league in England ...
,
Barrie McDermott Barrie "Baz" McDermott (born 22 July 1972) is a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1990s and 2000s. A Great Britain international representative , he played his club football at Oldham ( Heritage № 970), the ...
or Stuart Cummings. Jon Wells provides analysis from the touchscreen regularly. Bill Arthur, Ben Proe or Stuart Pyke lead the commentary team alongside the summarisers, Terry O'Connor, Phil Clarke, Jon Wells, Barrie McDermott and Jodie Cunningham. Jenna Brooks and Fraiser Dainton are the pitch-side reporters. Live Super League broadcasts routinely rank amongst the top ten most watched programmes in a week on Sky Sports. Sky has sold rights to a highlights package of the Super League to
BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...
, who air ''The
Super League Show The ''Super League Show'' is the BBC's principal rugby league programme, shown on BBC One in the North of England on Monday evenings, repeated nationally on BBC Two on Tuesday lunchtimes and also on BBC iPlayer. The programme, produced by PDI ...
'' on Sunday nights/Afternoon in Northern regions, with a nationwide replay on Monday afternoon. Beginning in 2012, Sky Sports 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. Coverage of the Australia and New Zealand's
National Rugby League The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
returned to Sky Sports in 2018 on a five-year contract. The deals includes selected matches from the Telstra Premiership plus the
NRL Grand Final The NRL Grand Final determines the champions of the National Rugby League club competition. It is a major sport event in Australia. Since 1999, it has been contested at Stadium Australia in Sydney. The first year it was held at Stadium Austral ...
as well as the
State of Origin series The State of Origin series is an annual best-of-three rugby league series between two Australian state representative sides, the New South Wales Blues and the Queensland Maroons. Referred to as “Australian sport's greatest rivalry”, the ...
, Pacific Tests, Auckland Nines and the All Stars Match.


Motorsport

Sky Sports broadcasts major motorsport events, this includes: *
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
– since 2012, all race weekends exclusively live except British GP from 2019 to 2024. *
Race of Champions The Race of Champions (ROC) is an international motorsport event held at the end/start of each year, featuring some of the world's best racing and rally drivers. It is the only competition in the world where stars from Formula One, World Ral ...
,
Goodwood Festival of Speed The Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual motorsports festival featuring modern and historic motor racing vehicles taking part in a hill climb and other events, held in the grounds of Goodwood House, West Sussex, England, in late June or ...
, FIA Formula 2,
FIA Formula 3 The FIA Formula 3 Championship is a third-tier international single-seater racing championship and organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The championship launched in 2019 as a feeder series for the FIA Formula 1 ...
and IndyCar all shown on
Sky Sports F1 Sky Sports F1 is a television channel created exclusively for Sky's UK and Ireland coverage of Formula One, with Sky having a package of rights from the 2012 season to the 2029 season. From 2012 to 2029, Sky Sports F1 has the exclusive rights ...
. *
Extreme E Extreme E is an FIA-sanctioned international off-road racing series that uses spec silhouette electric SUVs to race in remote parts of the world, such as the Saudi Arabian desert or the Arctic. All racing locations are chosen to raise awarenes ...
– for the inaugural 2021 series shown on Sky Sports Action (or Arena) and Sky Sports Mix.


Formula One

In July 2011, Sky Sports acquired joint rights to broadcast
Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...
in the United Kingdom from 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 season. The shared nature of the contract initially meant that
Sky Sports F1 Sky Sports F1 is a television channel created exclusively for Sky's UK and Ireland coverage of Formula One, with Sky having a package of rights from the 2012 season to the 2029 season. From 2012 to 2029, Sky Sports F1 has the exclusive rights ...
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), 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 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 FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backs ...
(in 2012 & 2013). Sky Sports F1 currently broadcast the entire 2021 season in 4K Ultra-HD, on the Sky Q Silver Ultra-HD package. Presentation team at Grands Prix: *
Simon Lazenby Simon Lazenby is a TV presenter and lead presenter of Formula One for Sky Sports. Lazenby graduated from Durham University with a degree in Natural Sciences. At university he played as a scrum-half for the rugby club and also captained his c ...
hosts coverage with
Martin Brundle Martin John Brundle (born 1 June 1959) is a British former racing driver, best known as a Formula One driver and as a commentator for ITV Sport from 1997 to 2008, the BBC from 2009 to 2011, and Sky Sports since 2012. Brundle contested the 1 ...
,
Paul di Resta Paul di Resta (born 16 April 1986) is a British racing driver from Scotland, competing in the FIA World Endurance Championship for Peugeot Sport in their LMH entry. He drove in Formula One for Force India from to , and became a reserve driver ...
,
Damon Hill Damon Graham Devereux Hill, (born 17 September 1960) is a British former professional racing driver from England and the 1996 Formula One World Champion. He is the son of Graham Hill, and, along with Nico Rosberg, one of two sons of a Formula ...
,
Johnny Herbert John Paul "Johnny" Herbert (born 25 June 1964) is a British former racing driver and current television announcer for Sky Sports F1. He raced in Formula One from 1989 to 2000, for seven different teams, winning three races and placing 4th in ...
,
Karun Chandhok Karun Chandhok (born 19 January 1984) is an Indian racing driver and television presenter who last competed in Formula E for Mahindra Racing. Previously, Chandhok has competed for Hispania Racing in Formula One in . Before this, he drove in t ...
,
Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German-Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 2006 to 2016, winning the World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. The only child of Fi ...
,
Jenson Button Jenson Alexander Lyons Button (born 19 January 1980) is a British racing driver. He won the 2009 Formula One World Championship when he drove for the Brawn GP team. After his F1 career, he became champion of the 2018 season of the Super G ...
, Naomi Schiff and
Anthony Davidson Anthony Denis Davidson (born 18 April 1979) is a British former racing driver, currently working as an analyst for the Sky Sports F1 television channel, as part of the commentary team for WEC TV, as colour commentator for the F1 series of vide ...
as race weekend analysts across the season.
Nico Rosberg Nico Erik Rosberg (born 27 June 1985) is a German-Finnish former professional racing driver. He competed in Formula One from 2006 to 2016, winning the World Drivers' Championship in with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport. The only child of Fi ...
also serves as an analyst for some races, either being at the track or live from his Monaco home. If Lazenby is unavailable for a weekend, hosting duties fall in the hands of
Natalie Pinkham Natalie Jane Pinkham (born 20 September 1977) is a British television presenter and Formula One pit lane reporter for Sky Sports F1, having held the same post for BBC Radio 5 Live in 2011. She is also known for hosting '' Police Interceptors Spe ...
. * 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 Ted Kravitz (born Theodore Joseph Nathaniel Slotover; 21 March 1974) is a British Formula One pit-lane reporter who works for Sky Sports F1. Early career Kravitz was born in Hammersmith, London. His mother is American and is from Union City, N ...
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. * Craig Slater reports on races for
Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British paid television sports news channel run by Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and later this was expanded into a ...
. Sky Sports' additional F1 programming includes: * ''The F1 Show'' * ''Ted's Notebook'' * ''Welcome to the Weekend'' * ''The Inside Line''


Golf

Golf is one of the most broadcast 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 Nicholas James Dougherty (born 24 May 1982) is a retired English professional golfer. Dougherty was born in Bootle, Merseyside, and attended Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Blackburn, Lancashire. He is a protégé of former professional g ...
, Sarah Stirk,
Rob Lee Robert Martin Lee (born 1 February 1966) is an English former professional footballer and sports co-commentator. As a player, he was a midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Newcastle United and West Ham United. His time at ...
and James Haddock. The expert analysts include
Paul McGinley Paul Noel McGinley (born 16 December 1966) is an Irish professional golfer who has won four events on the European Tour. At the 2002 Ryder Cup, he famously holed a ten-foot putt on the 18th hole in his match against Jim Furyk at The Belfry whi ...
,
Rich Beem Richard Michael Beem (born August 24, 1970) is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and is best known for his upset victory at the 2002 PGA Championship. Beem was born in Phoenix, Arizona, grew up in El Paso, Texas, and pla ...
,
Mark Roe Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fin ...
, David Howell and
Tony Johnstone Anthony Alastair Johnstone (born 2 May 1956) is a Zimbabwean professional golfer. Early life Johnstone was born in Bulawayo, Rhodesia. He attended Christian Brothers College. Professional career In 1979, Johnstone turned professional and h ...
. The lead commentators include Ewen Murray,
Richard Boxall Richard Boxall (born 28 April 1961) is an English professional golfer. Golf career Boxall turned professional in 1982 and won a place on the European Tour at that year's final qualifying school. He played on the Tour until 2000, and won one To ...
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 Andrew John Coltart (born 12 May 1970) is a Scottish professional golfer and TV commentator. He had a successful amateur career and played in the 1991 Walker Cup. As a professional he won twice on the European Tour, the 1998 Qatar Masters and t ...
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 Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply Golf) is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently based out of NBC S ...
's commentary for broadcasts of the PGA Tour.


Major championships

Sky Sports has exclusive UK rights for all four majors including the US Open,
The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later t ...
, the
PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...
and the Masters Tournament. Sky also broadcast major championships from the
women's tour A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...
and senior tour, including the
Kraft Nabisco Championship The Chevron Championship is a professional women's golf tournament. An event on the LPGA Tour, it is one of the tour's five major championships, and has traditionally been the first of the season since its elevation to major status in 1983. Fou ...
, US Women's Open,
Senior PGA Championship The Senior PGA Championship, established in 1937, is the oldest of the five major championships in men's senior golf. It is administered by the Professional Golfers' Association of America and is recognized as a major championship by both PGA ...
,
Senior British Open Championship The Senior Open Championship, or simply The Senior Open (and originally known as the Senior British Open) is a professional golf tournament for players aged 50 and over. It is run by The R&A, the same body that organises The Open Championship. Pr ...
, US Senior Open, and The Women's Open. 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 The World Golf Championships (WGC) are a group of annual professional golf tournaments created by the International Federation of PGA Tours as a means of gathering the best players in the world together more frequently than the pre-existing four ...
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 The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...
including
The Players Championship The Players Championship (commonly known as simply The Players, stylized by the PGA Tour as The PLAYERS Championship) is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour. Originally known as the Tournament Players Championship, it began in 1974. The ...
and PGA Tour Playoffs for the
FedEx Cup The FedEx Cup is a championship trophy for the PGA Tour. Its introduction marked the first time that men's professional golf had a playoff system. Announced in November 2005, it was first awarded in 2007. Rory McIlroy is the 2022 champion. T ...
until 2022, as well as up to seven events per year from the
LPGA Tour The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) is an American organization for female golfers. The organization is headquartered at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and is best known for running the LPGA Tour, a series of week ...
.


European Tour

Sky have rights to at least 32 events on the
European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...
until 2022, including the
Dubai World Championship The DP World Tour Championship is a golf tournament on the European Tour and is the climax of the DP World Tour Rankings. It is contested on the Greg Norman-designed Earth course at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The tit ...
and exclusive live coverage of the
BMW PGA Championship The BMW PGA Championship is an annual men's professional golf tournament on the European Tour. It was founded in 1955 by the Professional Golfers' Association, and originally called the British PGA Championship. History The BMW PGA Championship ...
with highlights only on the BBC.


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 The Presidents Cup is a series of men's golf matches between a team representing the United States and an International Team representing the rest of the world minus Europe. Europe competes against the United States in a similar but considerably ...
,
Seve Trophy The Seve Trophy was a biennial golf tournament between teams of professional male golfers; one team representing Great Britain and Ireland, the other team representing Continental Europe. The tournament was played in years when there is no Ryder ...
,US Open stays on Sky
Sky Sports, 16 June 2008
Royal Trophy The Royal Trophy was a men's professional team golf tournament which was played between 2006 and 2013. The competing teams represented Europe and Asia. Eight man teams played a series of 16 matches involving foursomes, four-ball and singles for the ...
,
Omega Mission Hills World Cup The World Cup of Golf is a men's golf tournament contested by teams of two representing their country. Only one team is allowed from each country. The players are selected on the basis of the Official World Golf Ranking, although not all of the fi ...
and
Solheim Cup The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named after the Norwegian- American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving force b ...
. In 2010, Sky Sports broadcast in excess of 150 tournaments from the men's and women's tours.


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 The World Masters, known for sponsorship reasons as the Mita/Sky World Masters, was a snooker tournament held between 13 and 26 January 1991. Conceived by promoter Barry Hearn, the tournament had a similar format to the Grand Slam events in tenn ...
, Gold Cup and British Nations Cup, all three 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 Eric John Bristow, (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player. He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981 and 1983–1985. He was ...
,
John Lowe John Lowe may refer to: Sports * John Lowe (darts player) (born 1945), English darts player. * John Lowe (footballer) (1912–1995), Scottish football player * John Lowe (rugby league), English rugby league footballer * John Lowe (cricketer) (18 ...
and
Dennis Priestley Dennis Priestley (born 16 July 1950) is an English former professional darts player. He has won two world championships, and was the first player to win both the BDO and WDC (now PDC) world championships, in 1991 and 1994 respectively. He is ...
, broke away from the
British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...
, 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 The Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and is known as the Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts for sponsorship purposes. The PDC also invited the best performing players from its rival, the British Dart ...
. 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 The Grand Slam of Darts is a darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation and is known as the Cazoo Grand Slam of Darts for sponsorship purposes. The PDC also invited the best performing players from its rival, the British Dart ...
,
Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
,
World Cup of Darts The PDC World Cup of Darts is a team darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation, and was one of the three new tournaments introduced into the PDC calendar in 2010. It is broadcast live by Sky Sports.World Youth Championship. Sky used to show the
UK Open The Cazoo UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. Often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts", the UK Open replicates the abolition of seedin ...
but since 2014 this has been shown on ITV. Sky Sports has not covered any BDO darts since the
split in darts The split in darts refers to the acrimonious dispute between top professional darts players and the game's governing body, the British Darts Organisation (BDO), in 1993, leading to the formation of the World Darts Council (WDC). Between 1994 and ...
. Sky Sports darts coverage was initially presented by
Jeff Stelling Robert Jeffrey Stelling (born 18 March 1955) is an English television presenter. He currently presents '' Gillette Soccer Saturday'' for Sky Sports and hosted coverage of the Champions League between 2011 and 2015. He also presented the Chann ...
with
Eric Bristow Eric John Bristow, (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player. He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981 and 1983–1985. He was ...
and commentary from John Gwynne and
Dave Lanning Dave Lanning (24 March 1938 – 29 October 2016) was an English sports commentator and journalist, best known for his coverage of Professional Darts. He was brought up in Poole and educated at Poole Grammar School. Broadcasting career He was o ...
, while
Sid Waddell Sid Waddell (10 August 1940 – 11 August 2012) was an English sports commentator and television personality. He was nicknamed the 'Voice of Darts' due to his fame as a darts commentator, and worked for Granada, Yorkshire, BBC and Sky Sports. D ...
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 John Part (born June 29, 1966) is a Canadian former professional darts player and current commentator. Nicknamed Darth Maple, he is a three-times World Champion, having won the 1994 BDO World Darts Championship on his world championship debut, a ...
joined in 2013. Former Sky Sports Darts team: *
Eric Bristow Eric John Bristow, (25 April 1957 – 5 April 2018), nicknamed "The Crafty Cockney", was an English professional darts player. He was ranked World No. 1 by the World Darts Federation a record five times, in 1980, 1981 and 1983–1985. He was ...
(1993–2016) * Dave Clark (2002–2020) * David Croft (2013-2021, only on the World Championship and Premier League) * John Gwynne (1993–2013, subsequently with Eurosport's BDO Darts coverage) * Rod Harrington *
Dave Lanning Dave Lanning (24 March 1938 – 29 October 2016) was an English sports commentator and journalist, best known for his coverage of Professional Darts. He was brought up in Poole and educated at Poole Grammar School. Broadcasting career He was o ...
(1993–2010 & 2013, previously worked for ITV Sport 1972–1988) * Nigel Pearson (2006–2022) *
Jeff Stelling Robert Jeffrey Stelling (born 18 March 1955) is an English television presenter. He currently presents '' Gillette Soccer Saturday'' for Sky Sports and hosted coverage of the Champions League between 2011 and 2015. He also presented the Chann ...
(1993–2002) *
Sid Waddell Sid Waddell (10 August 1940 – 11 August 2012) was an English sports commentator and television personality. He was nicknamed the 'Voice of Darts' due to his fame as a darts commentator, and worked for Granada, Yorkshire, BBC and Sky Sports. D ...
(1994–2012, previously worked for BBC Sport 1978–1994) * Laura Woods


Boxing

After Sky Sports' six-year contract with
Matchroom Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and run by Hearn and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool, bowling, go ...
ended in 2021, Sky announced it had signed a new contract with
Top Rank Top Rank, Inc. is a boxing promotional company founded by Jabir Herbert Muhammad and Bob Arum, which was incorporated in 1973, and is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since its founding, Top Rank has promoted many world class fighters, including Muh ...
and BOXXER to broadcast live coverage of their fights until 2025. Anna Woolhouse is the lead presenter, alongside former boxers,
Johnny Nelson Ivanson Ranny "Johnny" Nelson (born 4 January 1967) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1986 to 2005, and has since worked as a boxing analyst. He is currently the longest reigning world cruiserweight champion of all time, ...
, Spencer Oliver,
Paulie Malignaggi Paul "Paulie" Malignaggi (; ; born November 23, 1980) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2017 and has since worked as a boxing commentator and analyst. He held world championships in two weight classes, including ...
,
Carl Froch Carl Martin Froch, (born 2 July 1977) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2014, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held multiple super-middleweight world championships, including the W ...
and
Tony Bellew Anthony Lewis Bellew (born 30 November 1982) is an English former professional boxer who competed from 2007 to 2018, and has since worked as a boxing analyst and commentator. He held the WBC cruiserweight title from 2016 to 2017, and challeng ...
, with also the likes of Paul Smith and
Matthew Macklin Matthew Macklin (born 14 May 1982) is a British-Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2016, and has since worked as a boxing manager and commentator. He challenged three times for middleweight world titles between 2011 and ...
. 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 David Deron Haye (born 13 October 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 2002 and 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, and was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Ama ...
join the commentary team. Andy Clarke and Matthew Macklin commentate on undercard action. The reporter and post-fight interviewer is Andy Scott.


Mixed Martial Arts

In February 2019, Sky Sports announced a deal with Bellator to broadcast
mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...
events.


NFL

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. It was also confirmed that Sky Sports NFL, an in-season rebrand of Sky Sports Action would launch on 3 September 2020.


Basketball

In 2018, Sky Sports signed a four-year deal to broadcast the NBA in the United Kingdom. Jaydee Dyer presents coverage on Sky Sports alongside analyst, Mo Mooncey. In November 2020, coverage of the
British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...
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. This has been extended to cover the 2022/23 season.


Gaelic games

On 2 April 2014, Sky Sports signed a deal with the
Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include t ...
(GAA) to broadcast fixtures from both the
All-Ireland Senior Football Championship The All-Ireland Senior Football Championship (SFC) ( ga, Craobh Shinsir Peile na hÉireann) is the premier competition in Gaelic football. An annual tournament organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), it is contested by the county ...
(SFC) and the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship (SHC). 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 Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
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 County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in h ...
hurler and television match analyst Michael Duignan stating publicly on RTÉ: "The biggest disgrace of the weekend was on Saturday evening, that
Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...
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. 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.


Summary of sports rights


Football


Cricket


Rugby union


Golf


Motorsport


Boxing


Rugby league


Horse racing


Equestrianism


Darts


Triathlon


American football


Gaelic Games


Netball


Badminton


Bowls


Basketball


Previous coverage


Football


Premier League

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 Viaplay Sports and Premier Sports are a group of pay television sports channels owned by Viaplay Group. Viaplay Sports holds exclusive live UK and Republic of Ireland TV rights to La Liga, Scottish League Cup, Elite Ice Hockey League, NHL an ...
for the 2019–20 season onwards.


UEFA Champions League

Sky Sports covered the
UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...
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. Since 2018, BT Sport has also acquired the rights to the highlights of the Champions League and
UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...
.


FA Cup and FA Community Shield

Sky Sports covered the
FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
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 The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...
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 The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...
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 Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
,
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
,
Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
and
Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
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 The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...
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 France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
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 Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
, 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 Eleven Sports is a multinational sports and entertainment media group. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, it is owned by Andrea Radrizzani's sports and media investment platform Aser Ventures. Eleven Sports' business model initially centred a ...
, 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 The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...
. 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.


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. 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.


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 BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...
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 The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...
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 The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...
(covering 30 matches alongside the current terrestrial broadcasters BBC Wales, S4C,
TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known ...
, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Alba). From 2018, Premier Sports broadcast all 152 games live.


Rugby league

Until 2012, Sky aired
Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...
and
Northern Rail Cup The Championship Cup, (known as the Northern Rail Cup for sponsorship reasons), and previously known as the National League Cup, was a rugby league football competition for clubs in the United Kingdom's Rugby League Championships. Although the F ...
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

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. Sky also previously covered Davis Cup tennis but these rights moved to the BBC and Eurosport. Sky was the broadcaster of ATP Tour events from 2002 until 2018, when Amazon Prime Video became the exclusive UK broadcaster. The Sky Sports tennis coverage was presented by Marcus Buckland with pundits,
Annabel Croft Annabel Nicola Croft (born 12 July 1966) is a former professional British female tennis player and current radio and television presenter. As a tennis player she won the WTA Tour event Virginia Slims of San Diego and represented Great Britain i ...
,
Greg Rusedski Gregory Rusedski (born 6 September 1973) is a British and Canadian former tennis player. He was the British No. 1 in 1997, 1999 and 2006, and reached the ATP ranking of world No. 4 for periods from 6 October 1997 to 12 October 1997 and from 25 ...
and Peter Fleming. Commentators included Barry Millns,
Leif Shiras George Livingston "Leif" Shiras (born August 21, 1959) is an American former professional tennis player and current tennis commentator. Personal life George Livingston Shiras was born in August 21, 1959 in Norwalk, Connecticut and raised in Ro ...
, Mark Petchey and Barry Cowan. 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. Sky Sports will resume its coverage of tennis in 2023 when it resumes its coverage of the US Open.


Ice hockey

In 2006, Sky Sports began showing a replay from a match in the
Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...
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 Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and run by Hearn and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool, bowling, go ...
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. In June 2021, fights promoted by
Matchroom Sport Matchroom Sport is a sporting event promotions company founded by English entrepreneur Barry Hearn and run by Hearn and his son Eddie Hearn. It first came to attention in the sports of snooker and boxing and is also involved in pool, bowling, go ...
moved to streaming service
DAZN DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet. The ...
. In April 2019, Sky Sports aired nine fights of the
World Boxing Super Series The World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) is a professional boxing tournament organised by Comosa AG. Each weight class features eight boxers competing in an annual knockout competition with the champion from each weight class taking the Muhammad Al ...
in the 2018–19 season, starting with the semi-final world title bouts between
bantamweight Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is . The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...
s
Nonito Donaire Nonito Gonzales Donaire Jr. (; ; born November 16, 1982) is a Filipino American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from flyweight to featherweight, and is the oldest boxer in history to win a ...
and Stephon Young followed by super-lightweights
Regis Prograis Regis Prograis ( ; born January 24, 1989) is an American professional boxer. He has held the WBC super lightweight title since November 2022, and previously the WBA super lightweight title in 2019. As of February 2021, he is ranked as the world' ...
and
Kiryl Relikh Kiryl Olegovich Relikh (born 26 November 1989) is a Belarusian professional boxer. He held the WBA super lightweight title from 2018 to 2019 and challenged once for the same title in 2016. As of August 2020, he is ranked as the world's fifth bes ...
, and ending in November with the bantamweight final between Nonito Donaire and
Naoya Inoue is a Japanese professional boxer. He is a three-division world champion and currently the undisputed bantamweight world champion, having held the WBA (Super), IBF, '' Ring'' magazine titles since 2019, the WBC title since June 2022, and the ...
. Previously, the event had been aired on
ITV Box Office ITV Box Office was a pay-per-view channel from ITV plc launched in February 2017, and ceased operations in January 2020. The channel was available in HD-only on Sky, and events were also available on demand only on Virgin Media (UK) and TVPlaye ...
in the 2017–18 season but ITV did not renew the contract for the following season.


WWF/WWE

In 1989, Sky acquired the rights to
World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...
, which later changed its name to ''World Wrestling Entertainment'' in May 2002 due to legal issues with
World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...
. Part of the deal with Sky stated that major pay-per-view's such as
WrestleMania WrestleMania is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event held annually between mid-March and mid-April by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Since premiering in 1985, 37 editions followed, mos ...
,
Survivor Series Survivor Series is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, produced annually since 1987 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Held in November generally the week of Thanksgiving, it is the se ...
,
Royal Rumble The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming List of WWE pay-per-view and WWE Network events, event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. It is named afte ...
and
SummerSlam SummerSlam is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is considered WWE's secon ...
were part of the Sky Sports Box Office pay-per-view service, and that ''
SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes sim ...
''s first broadcast moved from Sky One to Sky Sports. As part of the deal, ''
Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...
'' 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 ''WWE Velocity'' was an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and ran from May 25, 2002 to June 11, 2006. It replaced two syndicated WWE shows, ''Jakked'' and ''Metal''. Once ...
'' 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 WWE Cyber Sunday (originally known as WWE Taboo Tuesday) was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. Established in 2004, th ...
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. 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. When ''
WWE Heat ''WWE Heat'' (formerly known as ''Sunday Night Heat'' and also known as ''Heat'') is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and aired from August 2, 1998 to May 30, 2008. Ori ...
'' ended in June 2008, it was replaced with WWE Vintage Collection, a programme which showcases classic archive matches from the extensive
WWE Video Library WWE Libraries Inc. (branded as WWE Legacy Department) is a WWE-owned subsidiary that consists of the largest collection of professional wrestling videos and copyrights in the world. It comprises not only past and current works by WWE (formerly ...
. 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. 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.


Darts

Sky Sports previously broadcast the
UK Open The Cazoo UK Open is a ranking major darts tournament held annually at the Butlins Minehead Resort by the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) in England. Often referred to as the "FA Cup of darts", the UK Open replicates the abolition of seedin ...
from its inception in 2003 up until the 2013 tournament, after which it moved to ITV.


References


Notes


External links

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