Sky Sports

The sports channels known as Sky Sports are part of the larger Sky Digital TV servicing United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland exclusively. British sports became a lot more popular since the launching of Sky Sports channels in 1990, particularly since the nature of the broadcasts changed and a higher commitment in the direction of the Premier League and the Football Leagues was noticed. Four channels make Sky sports: 1,2,3 and an Xtra option that is part of a premium television package, additional to the basic options. Moreover, Sky Sports is part of most of the packages offered by Irish and British cable and satellite companies.

Sky Sports

Initially a channel of the British Satellite Broadcasting family, Sky Sports was included in the Sky Television network only afterwards. It’s cousing in the Sky TV family was Eurosport that the company produced as part of the four first Sky channels. In 1990, British Satellite Broadcasting and Sky Television decided to merge and Sky Sports entered a new phase of development, encryption for subscribers, re-branding and logo addition are only a few of the changes performed on Sky Sports. Sky Sports got the right to broadcast the First League after making a more tempting bid than its adversaries, ITV and BBC.

Sky Sports

Thus, in 1993, Sky Sports increased its popularity for broadcasting the FA Premier League Football exclusively. Another event that marked the development of Sky Sports was the introduction of Soccer AM, a morning chat show that brought all the international football events under discussion. Thanks to the success of the show it is still aired today with Max Rushden as a presenter. Soccer AM is actually considered a media phenomenon increasing the reputation of the Sky Sports channel group to a level of fame unsurpassed before in the history of the company.

Sky Sports

From 1998, Sky Sports is broadcast in digital mode too, and this change coincided with the launch of two other sports channels in the group: Sky Sports News and Sky Sports Xtra. The novelty of the digital system back then was the choice of the interactive feature, meaning that the viewers had the opportunity to select the camera they viewed during matches. The concept became very popular afterwards for other sports too, being known as Sky Sports Active. New additions to the shows broadcast included horse racing and cricket. From 2007, the Irish network Setanta Sports also has the right to broadcast Premier League football, thus breaking the monopole held by Sky Sports.