Sky Sports

Sky Sports
Launched	25 March 1990
Owned by	Sky Group (Comcast)
Picture format	1080i HDTV; (downscaled to 16:9 576i for the SDTV feed)
Audience share	0.96% (Main Event); 0.07% (Premier League); 0.02% (Football); 0.77% (Cricket); 0.43% (Golf); 0.25% (F1); 0.1% (Action); 0.1% (Arena); 0.51% (News); 0.1% (Mix); 0.08% (Racing); ~0.00% (all Active feeds) (July 2019, )
Slogan	Feel it all
Formerly called	The Sports Channel (1990–1991)
Sister channel(s)	Challenge; Crime & Investigation; Lifetime; Pick; Sky One; Sky Two; Sky Arts; Sky Atlantic; Sky Cinema; Sky Comedy; Sky Crime; Sky Documentaries; Sky History; Sky History 2; Sky Nature; Sky News; Sky Sports Box Office; Sky Sports F1; Sky Sports News; Sky Sports Racing; Sky Witness
Website	Sky Sports Website
Availability
Satellite
Sky	Channels 145, 401–409, 415 (HD); Channels 838, 855–863, 888 (SD)
Cable
Virgin Media	Channels 501–510 (HD); Channels 511–520, 535
Virgin Media ; (Ireland)	Channels 401–409, 418 (SD); Channels 431–439 (HD)
IPTV
TalkTalk TV	Channels 401–407, 417–418
BT TV	Channel 402 (Main Event); Channel 416 (Extra); Channel 437 (Main Event HD); Channel 438 (Extra HD)
BT TV (via Now TV)	Channels 419–429; Channels 439–449 (HD)
Eir Vision	Channels 401–405, 415–418
Streaming media
Sky Go	Watch live; (UK and Ireland only)
Now TV	Watch live (UK and Ireland only)
Virgin TV Go	Watch live (UK only)

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

Sky Sports Main Event, Premier League, Football, Cricket, Golf, F1, Action, and Arena are available as a premium package on top of the basic Sky package. These channels are also available as premium channels on nearly every satellite, cable and IPTV broadcasting system in the UK and Ireland. Sky Sports News, 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.[1] 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 UK, this measure was intended to prevent viewing of the service outside the UK and Ireland.

However, it was following the formation of the Premier League for the 1992/93 football season, believed to have been assisted by the promise of higher TV payments, that Sky Sports became well known. By bidding £304m, BSkyB beat the BBC and ITV to acquire the live and exclusive Premier League football broadcasting rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland for a five-year period. In doing so, they had taken live top-flight English league football from terrestrial and free-to-air television for the first time ever. At this point, Sky Sports became a subscription channel on 1 September 1992 is available with a monthly subscription on a standalone basis, or at a reduced price if taken with Sky's movie channels.

On 19 August 1994, a secondary channel 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.

1998-2017: Digital era

Sky Sports share of viewing 2000–08

With the launch of the Sky Digital satellite platform on 1 October 1998, Sky Sports launched Sky Sports News, a channel carrying rolling sports news coverage, in March 1999, followed by Sky Sports Xtra (later branded as Sky Sports 4 since 2010, then Sky Sports Golf since 2017) in April.

During a Premier League match on 22 August 1999, Sky Sports launched an interactive television service known as Sky Sports Active via the digital platform, allowing viewers to watch matches with access to additional on-screen statistics, and a choice of alternate camera angles and replays. Sky expected to extend the interactive services to other sports the following year.[2][3]

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.[4] 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.[5] However, unlike Gray and Keys, Burton later returned to his regular duties at Sky.[6]

Om 29 July 2011, it was announced that Sky Sports had acquired rights to Formula One racing from 2012 through 2018, with the BBC to share free-to-air rights to roughly half of the events, and have highlights rights for the remainder.[7][8] Sky subsequently announced that it would introduce a new channel dedicated specifically to its coverage, Sky Sports F1, which would air practices, qualifying, and advert-free coverage of each race; the channel was made available at no extra charge to all Sky high-definition subscribers, regardless of whether they were a Sky Sports subscriber.[9] Sky extended its contract in 2016, to last through 2024; beginning in 2019, Sky became the exclusive broadcaster of all F1 races excluding the British GP which will also be broadcast on the free to air Channel 4 (who also hold highlights rights for all the races).[10]

On 12 August 2014, Sky launched a new channel called Sky Sports 5, which would be dedicated primarily to European football, including UEFA European Championship qualifiers, La Liga, Eredivisie and others.[11]

On 24 August 2016, Sky launched Sky Sports Mix, a new channel designed to offer a sampling of content from the full range of Sky Sports networks to those who are not subscribers. On Sky, the channel is included as a basic channel with all plans, and was also available on certain Virgin Media packages on-launch.[12][13]

2017-present: Channel re-alignment and expansion

Pubs which have Sky Sports often display it, such as this one in Chequerfield, Pontefract, West Yorkshire.

On 18 July 2017, Sky re-aligned its sports channels, dropping the numbered services in favour of dedicated channels devoted to their core sports properties, including cricket, Formula One, golf, and two football channels (with one specifically dedicated to the Premier League), and three channels dedicated to general sports coverage.[14][15] In addition, Sky announced that it would revise the pricing structure of the channels to make them more attractive to viewers; Sky customers can purchase up to three of the channels on an a la carte basis, or the entire bundle. 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.[14][16][15]

The U.S. NBC Sports division became a sibling of Sky Sports following Comcast's acquisition of Sky plc. In January 2019, Sky and sister U.S. pay television network NBCSN partnered on coverage of the transfer deadline (NBC holds the Premier League rights in the U.S.), 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.[17][18] For the PGA Tour's 2019 Players Championship, Sky Sports Golf trialled similar synergies with its new sister Golf Channel,[19] For the 2019–20 season, NBC began more extensive on-air integration of Sky Sports resources into its U.S. coverage of the premiership, including adding Sky's studio programmes to its "Premier League Pass" subscription service, adoption of on-air presentation reminiscent of Sky, and originating coverage from Sky's studio during the opening weekend.[20][21]

On 5 June 2020, Sky Sports announced a trio of innovations to enhance its Premier League coverage, when matches are played behind closed doors as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In association with EA Sports FIFA, Sky Sports Crowds adds selectable bespoke and team-specific crowd noise and chants; Sky Sports Recap is a live catch-up highlights service, and Sky Sports Fanzone allows fans to watch matches online with friends in a video chat room environment.[22]

Channels

Eleven main channels comprise the Sky Sports service:[23]

Name	Content
Sky Sports Main Event	Airs major events as Sky Sports' flagship channel like football, boxing, cricket, rugby, Formula 1, etc. When not showing a live event the channel simulcasts Sky Sports News.
Sky Sports Premier League	Dedicated exclusively to the Premier League, including live coverage of matches, and other ancillary coverage and documentaries.
Sky Sports Football	Dedicated to association football coverage of non-Premier League matches.
Sky Sports Cricket	Dedicated to cricket coverage, including domestic and international competition.
Sky Sports Golf	Dedicated to golf coverage. As with the former Sky Sports 4.
Sky Sports F1	Dedicated to coverage of Formula One racing as well as Formula 2, Formula 3 and the IndyCar Series.
Sky Sports Action/Sky Sports NFL	Dedicated to general sports coverage, including rugby, netball, NFL and NBA. Also shows EFL Championship midweek fixtures. Named Sky Sports NFL between September and February. [24]
Sky Sports Arena	Dedicated to general sports coverage, including Super League, darts and boxing.
Sky Sports Racing	Available to all Sky TV customers. Dedicated to coverage of horse racing.
Sky Sports Mix	Available to all Sky TV customers. Airs a mix of live sports and supplementary programming from across the network.
Sky Sports News	Available to all Sky TV customers. Provides latest news and updates from across all sports.

In addition to Sky Sports Main Event, BT TV customers receive a channel named Sky Sports Extra which broadcasts Premier League games that are not shown on Main Event.[25]

Temporary channels

Sky occasionally gives one of their channels a temporary rebrand to coincide with a sports event. Examples of this include:

Sky Sports Ashes: To coincide with the 2013 Ashes series, Sky Sports 2 was renamed as Sky Sports Ashes on 30 June until 31 August 2013.[26] As well as covering the Ashes, the dedicated cricket channel also featured the Women's Ashes, domestic cricket and various magazine and review shows.[27] The practice was repeated for the 2015 Ashes series and also for the 2019 Ashes series.
Sky Sports Ryder Cup: From 18 September to 2 October 2014, Sky rebranded Sky Sports 4 as Sky Sports Ryder Cup. The channel was dedicated to the coverage of the 2014 Ryder Cup, from Gleneagles. It repeated from 26 September to 5 October 2016 for the Ryder Cup for that year. In 2018, Sky Sports Golf was rebranded to Sky Sports Ryder Cup to bring coverage of the 2018 tournament.
Sky Sports Darts: In recent years Sky Sports has launched Sky Sports Darts for the duration of the PDC World Darts Championship. The channel mixes live coverage with replays of the most recent sessions and classic moments from the tournament's history. Sky Sports Darts was first seen for the 2015 William Hill World Darts Championship as a rebrand of Sky Sports 3,[28] and it returned on 14 December 2015 however, Sky Sports F1 was temporarily renamed Sky Sports Darts until 5 January 2016.[29] For the 2017 event it was Sky Sports 3 that was rebranded. From 14 December 2017 until 3 January 2018 and from 13 December 2018 until 2 January 2019, Sky Sports Arena was rebranded as Sky Sports Darts to coincide with the 2018, 2019 and 2020 events respectively.
Sky Sports World Cup: From 14 February to 29 March 2015, Sky rebranded Sky Sports 2 as Sky Sports World Cup. The channel was dedicated to the coverage of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, from Australia and New Zealand.
Sky Sports The Open: During their first live broadcast of golf's Open Championship, from 11 to 18 July 2016, Sky Sports 1 rebranded as Sky Sports The Open. From 17 to 24 July 2017, Sky Sports 4 was rebranded Sky Sports The Open, and would be replaced by Sky Sports 4's replacement, Sky Sports Golf.[30] Sky Sports The Open returned in 2018 between 16 and 23 July.
Sky Sports The Players: From 8 May to 14 May 2017, Sky rebranded Sky Sports 4 as Sky Sports The Players. The channel was dedicated to the coverage of the 2017 Players Championship. This was repeated on Sky Sports Golf for the 2018 and 2019 competitions, and also the 2020 competition prior to it being cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sky Sports US Open: From 11 to 19 June 2018, Sky rebranded Sky Sports Golf as Sky Sports US Open, dedicated to the coverage of the 2018 US Open.
Sky Sports USA: From 3 January to 5 February 2019, Sky Sports Action was rebranded as Sky Sports USA, with a focus on the National Football League (highlighted by the playoffs leading up to Super Bowl LIII) and National Basketball Association coverage (highlighted by the NBA Global Games series at The O2 Arena in London), as well as shoulder and archive programmes.[31][32]
Sky Sports Cricket World Cup: From 31 May 2019 to 14 July 2019, Sky Sports Cricket was rebranded as Sky Sports Cricket World Cup. The channel was dedicated to the coverage of the 2019 Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.
Sky Sports Netball: From July 2019 to August 2019, Sky Sports Mix was rebranded as Sky Sports Netball. The channel was dedicated to coverage of the 2019 Netball World Cup.

Sky Sports Racing

Sky Sports Racing is the only Sky Sports channel not wholly owned by Sky, although Sky purchased majority control of it in 2017. The channel was founded in 2000 as At The Races by the Go Racing consortium, a partnership of Channel 4, Sky and Arena Leisure plc (owner of Ascot Racecourse, and acting on behalf of a further 27 out of the 59 UK racecourses) in July 2004. Following its high-profile collapse (and Channel 4 removing itself from the consortium) the channel – now purely a joint venture between Sky plc and Arena Leisure – focuses on horse racing from the UK, Ireland, North America and Germany, showing many live races and related shows. The station is "affiliated" with various betting companies, since gamblers are generally the sport's main audience, and its pictures, provided by satellite link provider SIS, are also commercially distributed to betting shops across the country.

On 1 January 2019, At The Races relaunched as Sky Sports Racing; the relaunch includes wider availability and heavier integration with the remaining Sky Sports channels, the relocation of production facilities to Sky Campus in Isleworth from their former base at SIS's facilities in Milton Keynes, and availability in high definition. The network also acquired rights to fixtures from the Ascot Racecourse.[33][34][35][36]

Defunct channels

PremPlus

PremPlus was a pay-per-view channel dedicated to airing live Premier League Football. PremPlus launched on 18 August 2001, showing 40 pay-per-view Premier League matches. The main presenter on PremPlus was Marcus Buckland with former Arsenal manager George Graham providing punditry. The channel was called Premiership Plus from 2001 to 2004, before being shortened to the later PremPlus for the beginning of the 2004–05 season. PremPlus closed down after the last match of the 2006–07 season after Setanta Sports obtained a third of the Premier League rights for 2007–10 This left Sky with only 92 live matches, meaning a Pay-Per-View service was unsustainable. An internet television service named Now TV was launched in 2012 offering a non-contract subscription to Sky Sports thus making the service a part spiritual successor to PremPlus.

Sky Sports News Radio

Sky Sports News Radio was a British online radio station broadcasting sports news, results and information 24 hours a day. It is a sister service to the television channel Sky Sports News HQ.

The station was launched in June 2010 and broadcasts online and via digital platforms from the Teamtalk studios in Leeds. It originally broadcast from 08:00 to 18:00 only, expanding to a full 24-hour schedule in August 2010 to coincide with the start of the 2010–11 football season. The station was initially only available to Sky Sports subscribers, but became free to all listeners when its sister TV channel was removed from Freeview. The station can also be listened to via the Sky Sports Apps and third party platforms such as TuneIn Radio and The Pure Lounge.

News reports were sourced from the Sky Sports News newsroom, Sky News Radio and information was shared with SkySports.com, based in the same office. The station's managing editor was Mark Chesworth.

The station closed in September 2014.

Technological advances

Sky Sports channels in HD

Sky Sports Main Event HD launched on 22 May 2006 as Sky Sports HD, and airs live all sports screened in HD like cricket, Premier League and English Football League as well as English Premiership, Super League Rugby and among others. The 2008 Ryder Cup was also screened in HD.

In July 2006, Sky Sports HD2 launched on Sky channel 409, at the same time, the original HD channel was renamed Sky Sports HD1 and moved to channel 408, with Sky Sports News switching to channel 405. There was also a HD version of PremPlus, called PremPlus HD, which broadcast on Sky channel 483 until the football season ended. It was briefly branded Sky Sports HDX and used to broadcast other Sky Sports content in HD, before it ceased broadcasting.

HD broadcasts of rugby league's Super League began from the start of the 2007 season in February 2007. Super Bowl XLI marked the first NFL broadcast in HD in the UK; additional NFL games in HD have since been phased in. Monday Night Football, Thursday Night Football, Thanksgiving Day games and the NFL Playoffs were shown in HD from 2008.

Sky Sports HD3 launched on 17 March 2008, to coincide with WWE's first UK HD broadcast. The channel broadcasts a large quantity of WWE and golf.

Sky Sports HD4 launched on 29 April 2010.[37]

Due to an Ofcom review of premium services, Sky Sports HD1 and HD2 launched on the Virgin Media platform on 2 August 2010. This marked the first time that Sky's HD programming was shown via a rival service. Smallworld Cable added Sky Sports HD1 and HD2 in the first quarter of 2012. UPC Ireland added Sky Sports 1 HD and 2 HD along with Sky Sports News HD on 16 August 2012.[38]

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.[39]

Sky Sports 2 HD was also rebranded to 'Sky Sports Ashes HD' in the same move used for the standard channel on 30 June until 31 August 2013.[26] Sky Sports 4 HD was also rebranded to 'Sky Sports Ryder Cup HD' in the same move used for the standard channel on 18 September 2014 until 2 October 2014.

Sky Sports 3 HD, Sky Sports 4 HD and Sky Sports F1 HD launched on Virgin Media on 15 July 2014. Sky Sports 5 HD launched on 12 August 2014 as well as being added on Virgin Media. Sky Sports 3, 4 and 5 HD launched on Virgin Media Ireland on 15 October 2014.

On 1 January 2015, Sky Sports News HQ HD, along with Sky News HD were added on Virgin.[40][41]

Sky 3D

Sky Sports has made a number of high-profile sports broadcasts available on its 3D television service. The first sports broadcast on Sky 3D was the Manchester United vs. Chelsea Premier League game on 3 April 2010. But as of 25 September 2014 future of Sky 3D looked in serious doubt as Sky announced they will not be airing a Premier League game for the 2014–15 season.[42] 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 UK. The special glasses were seen being tried by Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, and the commentators and the studio presenters mentioned of this being a world premiere live sports 3D presentation several times.[43]

4K UHD

On 13 August 2016. Selected Sky Sports events became available to watch in UHD for the first time. 124 Premier League matches were broadcast in the 2016–17 season along with every race, qualifying session and practice in the 2017 Formula One season and England cricket's Test 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.[44]

4K broadcasting tests

It was widely reported that Sky used the West Ham United v Stoke City Premier League game on 31 August 2013 as an internal production test for broadcasting 4K / Ultra HD picture.

In the "Sky Views Blog", Barney Francis, managing director Sky Sports stated that, although it was only viewed internally, the test has been key in helping Sky evaluate whether it will start broadcasting in 4K.

"We saw enough in this test event to know that live sport in UHD has real potential. The broadcast also demonstrated the capability of our satellite platform, which is ideally placed to continue supporting high-bandwidth video."

"That said, we've still much more to learn, particularly about how to make full use of UHD from a live production perspective."[45]

Sky later tested 4K by broadcasting a whole week of Ryder Cup in 4K format.[46][47]

It was later reported that Sky would launch their own 4K set top box to broadcast sporting events in mid-end of 2015.[48]

Programming

Sky owns exclusive UK and Ireland, or UK-only exclusivity rights to a number of sports, most notably the ones listed below. They also transmit a large range of other sports. Some of the BSB's Sport Channel programming were the FA Cup, US Open tennis, and American football from the NFL.

Many of the BSB Sport Channel's rights packages, such as those for the FA Cup, Wimbledon and Test cricket, were acquired in tandem with the BBC.

Football

Premier League

Sky Sports will show 128 live Premier League matches this season.[49] 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 (MNF). Games that Sky Sports broadcast outside these time slots have the programme title, Premier League Live. David Jones is the presenter of Super Sunday and Monday Night Football and Kelly Cates is the presenter of Friday Night Football and Saturday Night Football. Both presenters take it in turns to present Premier League Live.

The main studio pundits include Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Graeme Souness, Roy Keane and Jamie Redknapp. Sky Sports' lead commentators include Martin Tyler, Rob Hawthorne, Bill Leslie and occasionally, Ian Crocker, while co-commentary is regularly provided by Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Alan Smith and Andy Hinchcliffe. The primary commentary team on the biggest games is Martin Tyler, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher. On selected games, an "in-game analyst" is used as well as the co-commentator and this role is usually fulfilled by either Jamie Carragher or Jamie Redknapp most notably games involving Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Spurs and Arsenal. Geoff Shreeves, Patrick Davison, Greg Whelan and Laura Woods 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/Match Choice

Game of the Day: On-air at 8:30 p.m. every Saturday evening with the full 90 minutes of a match selected from the day's 3:00 pm kick-offs.
Match Choice: On-air at 10:30 p.m. every Saturday with a choice of extended highlights of every Premier League game played that day except matches shown live on BT Sport. Viewers on the Sky Digital and Virgin Media 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 Match Choice, include, Gary Taphouse, Tony Jones, David Stowell, Ian Crocker, Guy Havord, Rob Palmer, Jonathan Beck and Phil Blacker. On midweek matchdays, Martin Tyler, Rob Hawthorne, Bill Leslie and Daniel Mann feature on these games too. Whilst the co-commentators include, Tony Gale, Keith Andrews, Andy Walker, Garry Birtles, Davie Provan, Don Goodman, Danny Higginbotham, David Phillips, Danny Gabbidon, Terry Gibson, Iain Dowie, Efan Ekoku and Andy Hinchcliffe. These are the same feeds as IMG use for the Premier League Productions 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 from the likes of Peter Drury, Jim Proudfoot, Joe Speight and Ian Darke, alongside Jim Beglin, Andy Townsend, Matt Holland, Kevin Kilbane, David Prutton, Clive Allen, Danny Higginbotham, Matthew Upson, Steve Sidwell, Leon Osman.

English Football League

Sky Sports broadcasts exclusive live coverage of the English Football League and EFL Cup. Sky show a total of 148 matches[50] each season, up to 2023–24 from the Championship, League One, League Two, EFL Cup and EFL Trophy. Scott Minto, David Prutton and Caroline Barker are the presenters of the EFL coverage. Gary Weaver, Daniel Mann, Alan Parry, David Stowell, Ian Crocker and Rob Palmer are the main commentators. The main studio pundits and co-commentators include Andy Hinchcliffe, Keith Andrews, Danny Higginbotham, Don Goodman and Lee Hendrie. Freelance pundits, Clinton Morrison and Danny Gabbidon also occasionally appear in the studio and in co-commentary respectively. Caroline Barker, Jonathan Oakes, David Craig and Guy Havord are the reporters.

As of the 2018/2019 season, Sky gained rights to show all midweek Championship fixtures across interactive and digital platforms. This means that whilst one game is being shown on the main channel, Sky Sports Football, alternative channel, Sky Sports Action, the red button and the Sky Sports app shows coverage of numerous other games on at the same time, with commentary. Commentators of these games include, Guy Havord, Andy Bishop, Rob Palmer, Ian Crocker, Gary Taphouse, David Stowell and Phil Blacker with former La Liga commentators, Kevin Keatings, Jon Driscoll and Dominic Johnson also commentating. Tony Gale, Lee Hendrie and Danny Gabbidon 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. The contract also allows Sky Sports to broadcast the semi-finals and final of the EFL Trophy. Laura Woods hosts EFL Cup games in the earlier stages and Scott Minto, during the latter stages. Punditry is provided by select guests associated with the clubs involved, and in the latter stages of the competition, pundits from the Premier League output are used on coverage too. Martin Tyler, Rob Hawthorne, Bill Leslie, Daniel Mann and Gary Weaver are the lead commentators throughout the competition with the co-commentators including, Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher, Alan Smith, Andy Hinchcliffe, Danny Higginbotham, Don Goodman and Lee Hendrie. The main reporters on EFL Cup games are Guy Havord and Laura Woods, however David Craig is occasionally called upon to cover.

EFL Trophy

For coverage of the 2019-20 EFL Trophy, Caroline Barker hosted alongside select guests related to the clubs involved. Lead commentary came from Rob Palmer and co-commentary, in the semi-finals, from Lee Hendrie. Jonathan Oakes and David Craig were the reporters.

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, James McFadden, Ally McCoist, Darren Fletcher and John Hartson[51]. 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 reporter, Charles Paterson also reports.

NIFL Premiership

In February 2017, Sky Sports gained rights to show 5 NIFL Premiership games per season until the end of the 2021/2022 season, as well as live coverage of the Northern Ireland Football League Cup Final. Presentation comes from freelance presenter, Graham Little who hosts games, on-site, at the ground. Commentary comes from Northern Ireland national game reporter, Paul Gilmour alongside ex-Northern Irish footballer, Steve Lomas.

Major League Soccer

In 2015, Sky Sports secured rights to broadcast Major League Soccer for eight seasons through 2022. Coverage is shared with FreeSports, and commentary is taken from the World Feed.[52]

International football

Sky Sports holds the rights to every home and away match featuring Scotland, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Wales and cover every other match in the European Qualifiers except the England match which is on ITV, under this Sky Sports have highlights of England matches. However, in 2018, Sky won the rights to show the UEFA Nations League meaning all home nations games would be broadcast exclusively by Sky, including England games. England matches in the Nations League are presented by David Jones with pundits including Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Jamie Redknapp. The commentators include Martin Tyler and Alan Smith with Patrick Davison reporting. For highlights of England matches in the European Qualifiers, there is no studio presentation and Martin Tyler and Alan Smith provide commentary.

All other home nations games are fronted by David Prutton (Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Wales), Eilidh Barbour (Scotland only) and Scott Minto (Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales) with guest pundits coming from the country associated. Wales's games have commentary provided by Bill Leslie alongside either Danny Gabbidon or Dave Edwards with Geraint Hughes the reporter; Scotland's games have Ian Crocker and Davie Provan as the commentary duo with Luke Shanley reporting on coverage; The Republic of Ireland's commentary duo on Sky Sports consists of Rob Hawthorne and John O'Shea with Guy Havord the reporter, and Northern Ireland's games are commentated on by Daniel Mann and Steve Lomas with Paul Gilmour the reporter.

All home nations games are broadcast across the channels, Sky Sports Main Event, Sky Sports Premier League, Sky Sports Football and Sky Sports Mix. Other UEFA Nations League, European Qualifiers and international friendly matches broadcast on these channels involve countries such as France, Spain, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Portugal or games that kick off at an earlier time than the prime time 7:45 p.m. slot. These games are commentary only broadcasts with no studio presentation. Lead commentators on these games include, Rob Palmer, Ian Crocker, Daniel Mann, Gary Weaver, Bill Leslie, Alan Parry, Kevin Keatings, Jon Driscoll, Andy Bishop, Gary Taphouse, Tony Jones, David Stowell, Jonathan Beck and Phil Blacker, whilst co-commentary is provided by Tony Gale, Andy Walker, Don Goodman, Garry Birtles, Andy Hinchcliffe, Terry Gibson, David Phillips, Danny Gabbidon and Efan Ekoku. 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.

Supplementary programming

Soccer AM

Launched in 1995, Soccer AM, is a Saturday morning talk show presented by John "Fenners" Fendley and ex-footballer Jimmy Bullard, with a focus on humorous analysis of British football, largely but not exclusively based around the Premier League.

Soccer Saturday

Launched in 1992, Soccer Saturday is a live updates show, broadcast on Saturdays during the football season. The programme updates viewers on the progress of association football games in the United Kingdom on Saturday afternoons. The current host is Jeff Stelling, with studio pundits, Matt Le Tissier, Paul Merson, Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas, as well as the likes of Sue Smith, Clinton Morrison, Tony Cottee, Alan McInally and Matt Murray also appearing in the studio. Regular reporters include aforementioned McInally, Cottee and Murray as well as Chris Kamara, Iain Dowie, Neil Mellor, Bianca Westwood, Dickie Davies and Johnny Phillips along with many others. A midweek programme with the same format fronted by Julian Warren, is also broadcast when there are a number of major games taking place, such as on UEFA Champions League nights, and is called Soccer Special. Warren also hosts Soccer Saturday when Stelling is unavailable.

Sunday Supplement

Launched in 1999, Sunday Supplement is a Sunday morning magazine style pundit show, presented by Neil Ashton from 2012 until 2020, and currently hosted by Jacqui Oatley. Originally Jimmy Hill's Sunday Supplement, but after a revamp in 2007, Hill was dropped.

Goals on Sunday

Goals on Sunday is a Sunday morning highlights show, presented by Alex Scott & Chris Kamara.

Football presenters

Name	Nationality	Coverage
Eilidh Barbour		SPFL & Scotland National Games
Caroline Barker		EFL & EFL Trophy
Kelly Cates		Premier League Live, Friday Night Football & Saturday Night Football
David Jones		Premier League Live, Super Sunday, Monday Night Football & England National Games
Scott Minto		EFL, EFL Cup & Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Scotland and Wales National Games
David Prutton		EFL & Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland and Wales National Games
Laura Woods		EFL Cup

Lead commentators

Commentator	Coverage	Notes
Martin Tyler	Premier League EFL Cup England National Games	Sky Sports' Lead Premier League Commentator Most Major Matches Trophy Lift Commentator
Rob Hawthorne	Premier League EFL Cup Republic of Ireland National Games	Sky Sports' Number 2 Premier League Commentator Some Major Matches
Bill Leslie	Premier League EFL (occasional) EFL Cup Wales National Games International matches (non home nations games)	Sky Sports' Number 3 Premier League Commentator
Gary Weaver	EFL EFL Cup International matches (non home nations games)	Sky Sports' Lead EFL Commentator
Ian Crocker	Premier League (occasional) Game of the Day/Match Choice EFL EFL Championship (Digital & Interactive Platforms) SPFL Scotland National Games International matches (non home nations games)	Sky Sports' Lead SPFL Commentator
Daniel Mann	EFL EFL Cup Northern Ireland National Games International matches (non home nations games)
Alan Parry	EFL
David Stowell	Game of the Day/Match Choice EFL EFL Championship (Digital & Interactive Platforms) International matches (non home nations games)
Rob Palmer	Game of the Day/Match Choice EFL EFL Trophy EFL Championship (Digital & Interactive Platforms) International matches (non home nations games)
Guy Havord	Game of the Day/Match Choice EFL Championship (Digital & Interactive Platforms)
Gary Taphouse	Game of the Day/Match Choice EFL Championship (Digital & Interactive Platforms) International matches (non home nations games)
Tony Jones	Game of the Day/Match Choice International matches (non home nations games)
Paul Gilmour	NIFL Premiership

Studio Pundits/Co-commentators

Name	Role(s)	Coverage
Keith Andrews	Studio Pundit & Co-commentator	Game of the Day/Match Choice & EFL
Garry Birtles	Co-commentator	Game of the Day/Match Choice & International matches (non home nations games)
Kris Boyd	Studio Pundit	SPFL
Jamie Carragher	Studio Pundit, Co-commentator & In-Game Analyst	Premier League, EFL Cup & England National Games
Darren Fletcher	Studio Pundit	SPFL
Tony Gale	Co-commentator	Game of the Day/Match Choice & International matches (non home nations games)
Don Goodman	Studio Pundit & Co-commentator	Game of the Day/Match Choice, EFL, EFL Cup & International matches (non home nations games)
Lee Hendrie	Studio Pundit & Co-commentator	EFL, EFL Cup & EFL Trophy
Danny Higginbotham	Studio Pundit & Co-commentator	Game of the Day/Match Choice, EFL & EFL Cup
Andy Hinchcliffe	Studio Pundit & Co-commentator	Premier League, EFL, EFL Cup & International matches (non home nations games)
Roy Keane	Studio Pundit	Premier League
James McFadden	Studio Pundit	SPFL
Gary Neville	Studio Pundit & Co-commentator	Premier League, EFL Cup & England National Games
David Phillips	Co-commentator	Game of the Day/Match Choice & International matches (non home nations games)
Davie Provan	Co-commentator	Game of the Day/Match Choice & Scotland National Games
Jamie Redknapp	Studio Pundit & In-Game Analyst	Premier League, EFL Cup & England National Games
Alan Smith	Co-commentator	Premier League, EFL Cup & England National Games
Graeme Souness	Studio Pundit	Premier League
Andy Walker	Co-commentator	Game of the Day/Match Choice, SPFL & International matches (non home nations games)

Reporters

Reporter	Nat.	Coverage
Geoff Shreeves		Premier League
Patrick Davison		Premier League & England National Games
Greg Whelan		Premier League
Laura Woods		Premier League & EFL Cup
Caroline Barker		EFL
Jonathan Oakes		EFL & EFL Trophy
David Craig		EFL & EFL Trophy
Guy Havord		EFL, EFL Cup & Republic of Ireland National Games
Luke Shanley		SPFL & Scotland National Games
Paul Gilmour		Northern Ireland National Games
Geraint Hughes		Wales National Games

Cricket

Sky was the first broadcaster to show live coverage of a complete overseas tour involving England when they toured the West Indies in 1990. This was originally shown on Sky One. Since then Sky has acquired the rights to show home international series involving England, South Africa, New Zealand and West Indies at various times as well as showing almost every England overseas tour and ICC tournaments such as the Cricket World Cup, Champions Trophy and T20 World Cup. Sky also shows extensive coverage of county cricket, with over 60 live games each season involving every county in all competitions. The Kia Super League was added to Sky's coverage of Women's cricket in 2018, earning rights to show 12 matches per season. In 2018 Sky Sports won the rights off BT Sport to broadcast all 34 games of the Caribbean Premier League from the 2018 season which continued into the 2019 season. In 2015 Sky Sports won exclusive UK rights to broadcast the Indian Premier League for 3 years taking the rights from then broadcaster, ITV4 and in 2018, these rights were renewed on a multi-year deal. Star Sports, the global distributor of IPL coverage then unexpectedly cut their contract for the 2019 season, however, these rights were reinstated from the 2020 season onwards.[53]

Sky Sports first started broadcasting Home England Tests in 1999. In a joint deal with terrestrial broadcaster Channel 4, it began showing 1 home Test each summer plus one-day internationals (Channel 4 were the senior broadcast partner). This arrangement continued until 2006, when Sky Sports' flagship live coverage of England's home test series began. The previous year, it was announced by the ECB that it had awarded Sky exclusive coverage of all of England's home tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 Internationals including the 2009 Ashes with highlights on Channel 5 produced by Sunset & Vine who produced Channel 4's coverage. The ECB have since renewed Sky Sports' deal until 2024 with BBC taking over the rights held by Channel 5 and picking up additional rights.[54] 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 an illustrious commentary team of Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Rob Key, Nick Knight, David "Bumble" Lloyd, Andrew Strauss, Michael Holding, Ebony Rainford-Brent and on selected tours, Shane Warne and Kumar Sangakkara. Ward himself also appears in the commentary box regularly. Michael Atherton 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 such as former internationals Ian Bishop (West Indies), Ricky Ponting (Australia), Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Shaun Pollock (South Africa) or Harbhajan Singh (India). Highlights are broadcast in a prime time slot each evening. Nick Knight fronts all of England's home ODI and T20 International games alongside commentators, Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Rob Key, David Lloyd, Mark Butcher, Ebony Rainford-Brent and occasionally, Kumar Sangakkara and Andrew Strauss along with other international guest analysts from the touring side.

Overseas series involving England are presented from the London studio by Nick Knight alongside the likes of Mark Butcher, Ebony Rainford-Brent, Dominic Cork, Marcus Trescothick and many other guests. With Ian Ward alongside the likes of Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Rob Key or David Lloyd reporting from where England would be touring, as they would join the host broadcaster's commentary team for the series.

Other international cricket is introduced out-of-vision by David Fulton, Mark Butcher or Dominic Cork. This coverage is taken from host broadcasters of that country such as Sky Sport in New Zealand, Supersport in South Africa and Whisper Productions in the West Indies. For Sky Sport in New Zealand the commentary team consists of Ian Smith, Mark Richardson, Simon Doull, Scott Styris, Craig McMillan and Craig Cumming, for SuperSport in South Africa the commentary team consists of Mark Nicholas, Mike Haysman, Pommie Mbangwa, Michael Holding, Shaun Pollock and Makhaya Ntini and for Whisper Productions in the West Indies the commentary team consists of Ian Bishop, Daren Ganga, Daren Sammy and Samuel Badree.

Coverage of county cricket is presented by Nick Knight. He is joined by an extensive commentary team of, Michael Atherton, Nasser Hussain, Rob Key, David Lloyd, Mark Butcher (who very occasionally presents coverage), Ebony Rainford-Brent, Dominic Cork, Marcus Trescothick, Charles Dagnall, Mel Jones and Charlotte Edwards and along with many other guests.

Coverage of all Women's cricket on Sky Sports is presented by Isa Guha or occasionally Nick Knight alongside the likes of Ebony Rainford-Brent, Charlotte Edwards, Lydia Greenway and Mel Jones. With Charles Dagnall, Rob Key and Mark Butcher also contributing in the commentary box.

For coverage of the 2019 Cricket World Cup, only matches involving England and the semi-finals and final had a presentation team from Sky Sports with all other games taking the world feed presentation. Ian Ward hosted these games for Sky Sports alongside Nasser Hussain, Michael Atherton, Shane Warne, Andrew Strauss and Rob Key. Games not involving England had out-of-vision continuity provided by Mark Butcher or Dominic Cork. Commentary on all games was provided by the world feed.

"The Cricket Debate" (formerly called "The Verdict") is shown every evening in a prime time slot after every England test match day. Up until the 2019 English cricket season the show was presented by the iconic cricket broadcasting duo of Charles Colvile alongside Bob Willis. From England’s tour of New Zealand in 2019 onwards, Colvile presented alongside a variety of other Sky Sports pundits and guests as a result of Willis falling ill, which resulted in his death.[55]

Sky Sports additional Cricket programming includes:

The Cricket Debate
Cricket Classics
Masterclasses
In The Zone

Rugby union

In 2014, Sky Sports extended their already long-term deal with the RFU to continue showing England Internationals (outside of the Six Nations) exclusively live up until the end of the 2019–20 season. This includes their autumn test matches at Twickenham and their annual Spring fixture. Furthermore, Sky broadcast live England Saxons, under 18, under 20 & England Women. As a part of the deal with the RFU, Sky also has the rights to broadcast at least 11 games per season from the RFU Championship.

Sky hold the rights to broadcast New Zealand, Australia, South Africa Tests and The Rugby Championship. This means that, aside from Italy, France, Wales and Scotland, Sky hold the right to show all Tier 1 nations home Tests (outside the Six Nations Championship). Highlights of England Internationals are shown on BBC Sport and Ireland Internationals are shared with RTÉ Sport.

Sky also hold the rights to tour matches by England, Ireland, Scotland and France, to South Africa, Australia and New Zealand (as a part of their contract with SANZAAR until 2018.

Sky Sports broadcast two live matches each weekend from the Top 14. Sky's contract with SANZAAR also allows them to show live matches from the Super Rugby competition, as well as the Currie Cup and Mitre 10 Cup.

Rugby union coverage on Sky Sports is fronted by Alex Payne, James Gemmell and Rupert Cox. With guests including Will Greenwood, Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Lynagh, Paul Wallace, Scott Quinnell, Pat Sanderson, Marcelo Bosch, Johan Ackermann, Maggie Alphonsi, Rory Lawson, Shane Horgan, Stuart Barnes, Ieuan Evans, Dewi Morris, Frankie Sheahan, Scott Hastings and Alan 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 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, Barrie McDermott 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 10 most watched programmes in a week on Sky Sports. Sky has sold rights to a highlights package of the Super League to BBC Sport, who air The Super League Show on Sunday nights/Afternoon in Northern regions, with a nationwide replay on Monday afternoon.

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 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 as well as the State of Origin series, Pacific Tests, Auckland Nines and the All Stars Match.

Motorsport

Sky Sports broadcasts major motorsport events. This includes:

Formula One – since 2012, all race weekends Exclusively Live except British GP from 2019 to 2024.[56]
[57]Race of Champions, Goodwood Festival of Speed, FIA Formula 2, FIA Formula 3 and IndyCar all shown on Sky Sports F1

Formula One

In July 2011, Sky Sports acquired joint rights to broadcast Formula One in the United Kingdom from 2012 until 2018.[58] The deal included the rights to show all practice and qualifying sessions, in addition to the races. The joint broadcast rights were held by BBC but transferred to Channel 4 from the 2016 season. The shared nature of the contract initially meant that Sky Sports F1 showed all races live, with 10 races being shown by both Sky and Channel 4 (who were also televising highlights of all races on a delayed basis).,[59][60] 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[61] doing little to quell the negative initial reaction from many fans and observers[62]), in its first two years of broadcasting, the coverage has twice won F1 International Broadcaster of the Year from the FIA (in 2012 & 2013).

Sky Sports F1 currently broadcast the entire 2019 season in 4K Ultra-HD, on the Sky Q Silver Ultra-HD package.

Presentation team at Grands Prix:

Simon Lazenby hosts coverage with Martin Brundle, Paul di Resta, Damon Hill, Johnny Herbert, Karun Chandhok, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button and Anthony Davidson as race weekend analysts across the season.
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 or Davidson stand in as replacements, with Ted Kravitz or Karun Chandhok contributing from the pit lane depending on the race.
Ted Kravitz, Natalie Pinkham and Rachel Brookes report/present across the pit-lane and paddock and cover for Lazenby as host of some practice sessions.
Craig Slater reports on races for Sky Sports News.

Sky Sports' additional F1 programming includes:

The F1 Show
Ted's Notebook
Welcome to the Weekend
The Inside Line (not a Sky production)

Golf

Golf is one of the most broadcast sports across the Sky Sports channels, with at least one tournament shown live in 50 weeks of the year. Sky Sports’ golf presenters include, Nick Dougherty, Sarah Stirk, Rob Lee and James Haddock. The expert analysts include Paul McGinley, Rich Beem, Mark Roe, David Howell and Tony Johnstone. The lead commentators include Ewen Murray, Richard Boxall and Richard Kaufman, as well as presenter, Rob Lee. The co-commentators include expert analysts, McGinley, Beem, Roe, Howell, Johnstone, and presenter, Nick Dougherty, as well as many other guests, with Wayne Riley and Andrew Coltart providing on-course commentary. Tim Barter and Sarah Stirk are the main interviewers on the golf coverage, with James Haddock reporting on majors for Sky Sports News. Sky Sports also use Golf Channel’s commentary for broadcasts of the PGA Tour.

Major championships

Sky Sports has exclusive UK rights for all 4 majors including the US Open, The Open Championship, the PGA Championship and the Masters Tournament.[63]

Sky also broadcast major championships from the women's tour and senior tour, including the Kraft Nabisco Championship, US Women's Open, Senior PGA Championship, Senior British Open Championship and US Senior Open.

Sky will use Golf Channel (another Comcast property) feeds for USGA championships.

World Golf Championships

Since its inception in 1999, Sky Sports has broadcast the World Golf Championships exclusively live, with the exception of the 2001 WGC-American Express Championship, which was broadcast on the BBC. They usually present the broadcast on site, as they do for major championships and the Ryder Cup, reflecting their importance in the game as the next most important series of events after the majors.

PGA Tour

Sky also have exclusive live UK rights to broadcast the PGA Tour including The Players Championship and PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup until 2022, as well as up to 7 events per year from the LPGA Tour.[64]

European Tour

Sky have rights to at least 32 events on the European Tour until 2022, including the Dubai World Championship and exclusive live coverage of 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.[65]

They also broadcast all of the other major professional team events in the sport such as the Presidents Cup, Seve Trophy,[66] Royal Trophy, Omega Mission Hills World Cup and Solheim Cup.[66]

In 2010, Sky Sports broadcast in excess of 150 tournaments from the men's and women's tours.[67]

Darts

Sky Sports covered some BDO tournaments during its inception, including the 1992 Winmau World Masters, which was previously broadcast on ITV. Since the creation of the World Darts Council in 1992, since renamed the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC), formed when many of the leading darts players, including Phil Taylor, Eric Bristow, John Lowe and Dennis Priestley, broke away from the British Darts Organisation (BDO), the game's then sole ruling body, Sky Sports has broadcast the new organisation's main darts tournaments live, which currently includes the following. Between 1993 and 2007 Sky were the only regular UK broadcaster of PDC Darts (apart from the 1999 BDO v PDC showdown between Phil Taylor and Raymond van Barneveld which was broadcast on ITV). However this changed in 2007 when ITV covered the PDC/BDO tournament the Grand Slam of Darts, this moved to Sky in 2011 however ITV continued to show the European Championship and Players Championship Finals, their coverage expanded in 2014 to cover the UK Open and the Masters.

Sky's coverage includes the PDC World Darts Championship which it shows on a temporary channel Sky Sports Darts. The tournament has been broadcast live and in its entirety by Sky Sports in the UK since its inception. Since 2009 the tournament has been shot in High Definition (HD). The tournament has become more and more popular in recent years with the 2007 World Final achieving a viewing figure in excess of 1 million for the first time. Sky also shows the PDC World Cup of Darts, Premier League Darts, the World Matchplay, the World Grand Prix, the Grand Slam of Darts and the PDC Under-21 World Championship (final only). Sky used to show the UK Open but since 2014 this has been shown on ITV.

Sky Sports has not covered any BDO darts since the split in darts.

Sky Sports darts coverage was initially presented by Jeff Stelling with Eric Bristow and commentary by John Gwynne and Dave Lanning while Sid Waddell joined Sky from the BBC in 1994. Dave Clark replaced Stelling in 2002 although covered some tournaments in 2001, Stuart Pyke joined the commentary team in 2003, Rod Harrington and Nigel Pearson joined in 2005, Rod Studd joined in 2008 and former BBC Darts commentators David Croft and John Part joined in 2013. David Croft only works for Sky Sports Darts on the PDC World Darts Championship and some weeks of the Premier League Darts and Stuart Pyke also works for ITV coverage of PDC Darts.

Sky Sports darts team: Dave Clark: (2002–present); Stuart Pyke: (2003–present, Also works for ITV Sport Darts Coverage 2007–present); Rod Harrington: (2005–present); Nigel Pearson: (2005–present); Rod Studd: (2008–present); Wayne Mardle: (2010–present); David Croft: (2013–present, previously worked for BBC Sport darts coverage 2003–2012); John Part: (2013–present, previously worked for BBC Sport darts coverage 1995–2007).

Former Sky Sports Darts Team: Eric Bristow (1993–2016, died in 2018); John Gwynne: (1993–2013, subsequently with Eurosport's BDO Darts coverage); Dave Lanning: (1993–2010 & 2013, died in 2016. Previously worked for ITV Sport 1972–1988); Jeff Stelling: (1993–2002); Sid Waddell: (1994–2012, died in 2012. Previously worked for BBC Sport 1978–1994).

Boxing

Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Sport enjoys an exclusive television deal with Sky Sports through 2021 and provides Sky Sports with upwards of 20 boxing events per year.[68] Some of the coverage is shown on a pay-per-view basis via Sky Sports Box Office. Anna Woolhouse is the lead presenter, alongside former boxers, Johnny Nelson, Spencer Oliver, Paulie Malignaggi, Carl Froch and Tony Bellew, with also the likes of Paul Smith and Matthew Macklin. Commentator Adam Smith is alongside Carl Froch or Matthew Macklin for the primary commentary pairing on main event cards. On larger pay-per view events, Tony Bellew, Paulie Malignaggi or David Haye join the commentary team. Andy Clarke and Matthew Macklin commentate on undercard action. The reporter and post-fight interviewer is Andy Scott.

In April 2019, Sky Sports aired nine fights of the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) in the 2018–19 season, starting with the semi-final world title bouts between bantamweights Nonito Donaire and Stephon Young followed by super-lightweights Regis Prograis and Kiryl Relikh,[69] and ending in November with the bantamweight final between Nonito Donaire and Naoya Inoue.[70]

Previously, the event had been aired on ITV Box Office in the 2017–18 season but ITV did not renew the contract for the following season.

Mixed Martial Arts

In February 2019, Sky Sports announced a deal with Bellator MMA to broadcast mixed martial arts events.[71]

NFL

Gaelic Games

On 2 April 2014, Sky Sports signed a deal with the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) to broadcast fixtures from both the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship.[72] The deal gave Sky Sports 20 championship matches across both sports, including both semi-finals and both All-Ireland Finals. Sky would have exclusive rights in both the Republic of Ireland and the UK to 14 of these matches, with the remaining six matches being simultaneously broadcast by RTÉ in the Republic of Ireland. The deal covered the years, 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 being unable to watch some key games during the All-Ireland season. The debate was reignited, with Michael Duignan stating publicly on RTÉ: "The biggest disgrace of the weekend was on Saturday evening, that Waterford and Kilkenny (Round 2 hurling match) wasn't shown free-to-air in this country", a statement which resounded with many GAA fans across Ireland and gained much public sympathy, bringing further into question the continuation of the Sky GAA deal in the long term.[73] On the other hand, the GAA was unlikely to receive the same amount of money from RTE as it got from Sky, especially given RTE's increasing emphasis on soccer.