Sky Sports

**Sky Sports** is a group of British subscription television sports channels operated by the satellite pay-TV company BSkyB, a division of Sky Ltd. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It has played a major role in the increased commercialisation of British sport since 1991, sometimes playing a large role in inducing organisational changes in the sports it broadcasts, most notably when it encouraged the Premier League to break away from the Football League in 1992.

Sky Sports Football League, Football, Cricket, Golf, GAA, and Darts are available as a premium package on top of the basic Sky package. These channels are also available as premium channels on nearly every satellite, cable and IPTV broadcasting system in the UK and Ireland. Sky Sport Select, Sky Sports Racing, and Sky Sports Mix are all provided as part of basic packages. The Sky Sports network is managed by Rob Webster.

## **History**

### **1989-1991: Predecessors**

British Satellite Broadcasting operated **The Sports Channel**, which launched on 25 March 1990. In the BSB years, it shared the same frequency with its underpromoted sister channel, The Computer Channel, which broadcast in the mornings when the Sports Channel was off-air. On 2 November 1990, BSB merged with Sky Television plc to form British Sky Broadcasting.

In 1989, Sky Television had co-founded another sports network, Eurosport, with the European Broadcasting Union. However, in 1991, Eurosport was the subject of a complaint by a competitor, Screensport, who argued that the venture had the effect of restricting and distorting competition in the sports market, and Sky pulled out of the venture. Later in 1991, the channel was sold to the TF1 Group and merged with Screensport.

### **1991-1998: Beginnings**

The Sports Channel was renamed **Sky Sports** on 20 April 1991, and began broadcasting to Sky viewers via the newly launched Astra 1B satellite on that date, alongside its existing transmissions on BSB's Marcopolo satellite. The channel was sold as one of the major draws of the Sky system and initially aired sports such as rugby and golf before acquiring rights to German and Italian league football (both previously carried over from the Sports Channel). The channel was initially encrypted but broadcast free-to-view, requiring an analogue VideoCrypt decoder, but no paid subscription, to be viewed. Since VideoCrypt decoders were only officially available within the United Kingdom, this measure was intended to prevent viewing of the service outside the United Kingdom and Ireland.

However, it was following the formation of the Premier League for the 1992/93 football season, believed to have been assisted by the promise of higher television payments, that Sky Sports became well known. By bidding £304m, BSkyB beat the BBC and ITV to acquire the live and exclusive Premier League football broadcasting rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland for a 5-year period. In doing so, they had taken live top-flight English league football from terrestrial and free-to-air television for the first time ever. At this point, on 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 channel called Sky Sports Gold, however the channel ceased broadcasting after only a year on the air. On 16 August 1996, Sky launched Sky Sports 3, the original channel was renamed to Sky Sports 1. Sky Sports also acquired the rights to Scottish football and the League Cup. On 1 September 1997, Sky Sports 2 became a full-time service.

### **1998-2017: Digital era**

With the launch of the Sky Digital satellite platform on 1 October 1998, Sky Sports launched Sky Sports News, a channel carrying rolling sports news coverage, followed by Sky Sports 4 in August 1999. During a Premier League match on 22 August 1999, Sky Sports launched an interactive television service known as Sky Sports Active via the digital platform, allowing viewers to watch matches with access to additional on-screen statistics, and a choice of alternate camera angles and replays. Sky expected to extend the interactive services to other sports the following year.

Sky Sports' football coverage was at the centre of controversy in January 2011 when footage emerged of presenters Andy Gray and Richard Keys making comments perceived as sexist. On 25 January 2011, Gray was sacked over the comments. On 25 January 2011, fellow reporter Andy Burton was suspended by Sky due to his involvement in the sexist comments made about a female assistant referee, Sian Massey, which also involved Gray and Keys. However, unlike Gray and Keys, Burton later returned to his regular duties at Sky.

Om 29 July 2011, it was announced that Sky Sports had acquired rights to Formula One racing from 2012 until 2017, with the BBC to share free-to-air rights to roughly half of the events, and have highlights rights for the remainder. Sky subsequently announced that it would introduce a new channel dedicated specifically to its coverage, Sky Sports F1, which would air practices, qualifying, and advert-free coverage of each race; the channel was made available at no extra charge to all Sky high-definition subscribers, regardless of whether they were a Sky Sports subscriber. This however was removed in 2017 when Sky lost F1 rights to Channel 4.

On 12 August 2014, Sky launched a new channel called Sky Sports 5, which would be dedicated primarily to European football, including UEFA European Championship qualifiers, La Liga, Eredivisie and others.

### **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 channels devoted to their core sports properties, including , GAA, Golf, Darts, Racing and 2 football channels (with one specifically dedicated to the Football League), 2 Cricket channels and Mix which shows a mixture of sports. 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 3 of the channels on an *a la carte* basis, or the entire bundle. As before, Sky Sports Mix airs selected programming from across the channels, and is included in Sky's basic service. On Sky's Now TV service, the entire Sky Sports service continues to be available through the timed pass system. The availability and packaging of the new service varies on other providers.

## **Channels**

**Football graphic history**

* 1992/93 and 1993/94
* 1994/95
* 1995/96 and 1996/97
* 1997/98 and 1998/99
* 1999/2000 and 2000/01
* 2001/02
* 2002/03
* 2003/04 and 2004/05
* 2005/06 - 2006/07
* Premiership Plus
* PremPlus
* PremPlus v2
* 2007/08 - 2010/11 (score)
* 2011/12 - 2016/17 (score, League Cup) 2017/18 - present (match itself, score)

### **Football graphics**

UEFA. DAZN Studio, Channel 4 Studio

* Digital on screen graphic
* Match being played (Championship, Championship playoff, Championship playoff final, FA Cup, League Cup)
* Presenter lower 3rd (playoff edition)
* Pundit lower 3rd
* Table
* Manager lower 3rd (playoff edition)
* Player to watch (playoff edition)
* Team lineup
* Lower 3rd just on kickoff (League Cup, Championship, playoff, Championship playoff, FA Cup)
* Player who scored (playoff edition)
* Player booked
* Player sent off
* Normal transition (League Cup edition, Championship edition, Playoff edition, FA Cup edition). Goal transition
* Substitution
* Head-to-head record
* Referee (playoff edition)
* Score (Championship, League Cup, Playoff, Championship playoff, FA Cup edition)
* Match facts
* Substitution scoreboard

### **Rugby graphics**

* Match being played
* Dressing room
* Presenter lower 3rd
* Pundit lower 3rd
* Table
* Head coach lower 3rd
* Player to watch
* Team lineup
* Substitution bench
* Weather report
* Lower 3rd just on kickoff
* TV scoreboard digital on-screen graphic (Club) Rugby
* Player who scored the try
* Video referee
* Player taking the conversion/penalty kick
* Player sin binned
* Player sent off
* Kicker view
* Normal transition. Try transition
* Substitution
* Head-to-head record
* Referee
* Score (Half-time)

**Rugby graphic history**\*1991/92 - 1992/93

* 1992/93 - 1993/94
* 1994/95 - 1995/96
* 1995/96 - 1996/97
* 1997/98 - 1998/99
* 1999/2000 - 2000/01
* 2001/02 - 2002/03
* 2003/04 - 2004/05
* 2005/06 - 2006/07
* 2007/08 - 2010/11
* 2011/12 - 2016/17
* 2017/18 - present

Sky Sports Darts graphic history

**Current TV scoreboards**

* UEFA Euro Qualifiers
* La Liga
* Serie A
* Bundesliga
* DFB Pokal
* Ligue 1
* Coupe de France
* Liga NOS
* Copa del Rey
* Turkish Super League
* A-League

Darts coverage

Sky Sports F1 intro with BBC F1 theme

## **Programming**

### **Cricket**

 ICC Women's T20 World Cup
 England Women's Tour
 Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy

### **Darts**

 Premier League
 World Matchplay
 World Grand Prix
 Championship League
 World Cup of Darts
 PDC Pro Tour
 PDC World Youth Championship

### **Racquet sports**

* World Rowing Championships
* Rowing World Cup
* Swimming
* World Gymnastics Championship
* Gymnastics World Cup
* World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships
* Trampoline World Championships
* Aerobic Gymnastics World Championships
* Acrobatic Gymnastics World Championships
* Elite League Ice Hockey
* British Basketball League
* Constellation Cup
* Taini Jamison Trophy

## **Personnel**

Early Kick-off - Presented by Adam Smithy and Jimmy Bullard. Tubes and "Rocket" James Long also feature. 2 hours on Saturday from 10am, featuring debates, talking points, gossip & build up to upcoming football games as well as introducing celebrity football fans, comedy sketches (done by John "Fenners" Fendley and Tubes) and football quizzes. 8 fans of a British football club feature as studio guests every week, seated in a section of the set known as the "Luther Blissett Stand" and were featured in various aspects of the show, culminating in a team footballing challenge at the end of the programme. Clips of the Futsal Cup

UCL Magazine - Fridays

UCL Tonight

UEFA Cup Magazine

Matt Smith-General presenter

Gabby Logan-General presenter

#### **Presenters**

1. Richard Keys-Presenter
2. Mark Pougatch-Presenter
3. Mark Chapman-Presenter
4. Jake Humphrey-Presenter
5. Georgie Thompson-Presenter
6. Simon Thomas-Presenter
7. Ed Chamberlain-Presenter
8. Ray Stubbs-Presenter
9. David Prutton-EFL presenter
10. Scott Minto-EFL presenter
11. James Richardson-European presenter
12. Darrell Currie-Scottish presenter
13. David Tanner-Scottish presenter

**Pundit**

1. Andy Grey-Main pundit
2. Arsene Wenger-Pundit for Arsenal
3. Martin Keown-Pundit for Arsenal
4. Glenn Hoddle-Pundit for Chelsea, Tottenham, Swindon Town, Southampton or Wolverhampton Wanderers
5. Alan Shearer-Pundit for Newcastle, Man Utd or Southampton
6. Roy Keane-Pundit for Nottm Forest or Man Utd
7. Joe Cole-Pundit for Chelsea, Liverpool, West Ham, Aston Villa or Coventry
8. Paul Scholes-Pundit for Man Utd
9. Jose Mourinho-Pundit
10. Craig Bellamy-Pundit for Cardiff City
11. Slaven Bilic-Pundit for West Ham or WBA, also used for European matches
12. Peter Crouch-Pundit for Stoke City, Tottenham, QPR, Dulwich, Villa, Southampton, Portsmouth, Liverpool or Burnley
13. Rob Green
14. Richie Sadlier-Irish pundit
15. Eamon Dunphy-Irish pundit
16. Liam Brady-Irish pundit
17. Scott McDonald-Scottish pundit
18. Neil McCann-Scottish pundit
19. Shaun Maloney-Scottish pundit
20. Steven Naismith-Scottish pundit
21. James McFadden-Scottish pundit
22. Michael Stewart-Scottish pundit
23. Tam McManus-Scottish pundit
24. Craig Levein-Scottish pundit
25. Mark Wilson-Scottish pundit
26. Pat Nevin-Scottish pundit
27. Tom English-Scottish pundit
28. Derek Ferguson-Scottish pundit
29. Graeme Sourness-Pundit for Rangers
30. Conor McNamara-Irish commentator
31. Mark Clattenburg-Refeere expert

**Reporters**

1. Des Kelly-Chief interviewer
2. Tim Vickery-Reporter
3. Rebecca Lowe-Reporter
4. Andy May-Reporter
5. Chris Ford-Reporter
6. Emma Saunders-Interview for EPL
7. Emma Dodds

#### **Commentators**

1. Peter Drury and Jim Beglin-Commentator team
2. Clive Tyldesley and Ally McCoist-Commentator team
3. Ian Darke and Steve McManaman-Commentator team
4. Alan Parry and Robbie Savage-Commentator team
5. Jim Proudfoot-EPL commentator team
6. Steve Bower-EPL commentator team
7. Steve Wilson
8. Guy Mowbray
9. Jonathan Pearce
10. Arlo White-Commentator team
11. Jon Champion-Commentator team
12. Alistair Mann-EFL commentator
13. Daniel Mann-EFL commentator
14. Rob Hawthorne and Craig Burley-Football League (including playoffs) commentary team 2, UCL, UEFA Cup Winners Cup, Football League Cup, Internationals commentary team 5
15. Bill Leslie
16. Andy Hinchcliffe-Commentator
17. Gary Weaver and -Commentator
18. Mark Scott-Commentator
19. Gary Taphouse and Keith Andrews-Commentator
20. Adam Summerton and Kevin Davies-Commentator
21. Danny Mills
22. Ian Crocker and Andy Walker-Scottish commentator team
23. Rory Hamilton-Scottish commentator
24. Andy Halliday-Scottish commentator team
25. Derek Rae-Scottish commentator

### Rugby Personnel

* Alex Payne-Presenter
* Craig Doyle-Presenter
* Mark Durden-Smith-Presenter
* Emma Dodds-Presenter
* Nick Heath-Commentator
* Nick Mullins and Alastair Eykyn-Commentator
* Kevin Brown: Co-commentator
* David Flatman and Paul Grayson-Commendatory team
* Ben Kay-Pundit
* Lawrence Dallaglio-Pundit
* Will Greenwood-Pundit
* Jonny Wilkinson-Pundit
* Ian McGeechan-Pundit
* Jamie Peacock-Pundit
* Martyn Williams-Wales pundit
* Olivier Magne-France pundit
* Marco Bortolami-Italy pundit
* Brian O’Driscoll-Ireland pundit
* Paul O’Connell-Ireland pundit
* Keith Wood-Ireland pundit
* Martin Bayfield-Reporter/interviewer
* Helen Skelton-Reporter/interviewer
* Nigel Owens-Rugby referee expert

### GAA

GAA 4 Nations Cup theme

* Colin Murray-Presenter
* Darragh Maloney
* Dave McIntyre
* Marty Morrissey

### **Other**

* Marcus Buckland-Tennis presenter
* Catherine Whitaker
* Angus Scott
* Laura Woods-Darts presenter

Sky Sports Scores

* Jeff Stelling-Presenter
* Darrell Currie-Stand-in presenter
* Paul Merson, Matt Le Tisser, Charlie Nicolas and Phil Thompson-Studio pundit and reporter
* Suzanne Winters, Matt Murray, Iain Dowie, Dickie Davies, Rob Palmer, Johnny Phillips, Karen Carney, John Gwynne, Andy May, Alan McInally, Glen Johnson, Faye Carruthers, Paul Walsh, Courtney Sweetman-Kirk, 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-Reporter

### Theme songs

* Football League Live-"You Got The Love (New Voyager Radio Edit)" by The Source feat. Candi Staton (skip to 17:51)
* Football League Cup Live-"Watch Me Rise" by Mikky Ekko
* Football League Trophy-
* Division 4 and Division 5 Live-"Be Somebody" by The Enemy