Blog: Sky Sports

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Can the smart TV become a canvas for content creation?

Cover image for Can the smart TV become a canvas for content creation?

Ben Woods

21 Feb 2025

Audience Insight

YouTube’s growing strength on smart TVs is a head scratching moment for the video industry. The social video platform recently revealed that US consumers watched 1 billion hours of YouTube content daily on their smart TVs in December 2024.

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English Premiership Rugby gets set for a digital shake-up

Cover image for English Premiership Rugby gets set for a digital shake-up

Alistair Taylor

17 Dec 2020

English Premiership Rugby

Tech major Amazon is reportedly looking to add to its burgeoning sports right portfolio, targeting the domestic broadcast rights for English Premiership Rugby. London Irish owner, Mick Crossan, confirmed the giant’s entry into the tender process to the Mail on Sunday , following Amazon’s experiment with live streaming rugby after its acquisition and £20 million lifeline for the exclusive UK broadcast rights to last months’ inaugural Autumn Nations Cup .

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DAZN launches globally with advent calendar offering of boxing contests

Cover image for DAZN launches globally with advent calendar offering of boxing contests

Alistair Taylor

3 Dec 2020

subscription video on demand

DAZN’s global roll out is finally here , following an announcement to launch worldwide (including the UK) back in March. The pandemic-enforced postponement and cancellation of live sports scuppered its original plans to coincide its launch with Canelo Alvarez’s world title fight in May.

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The Premier League going pay-per-view means a sucker-punch for sports fans

Cover image for The Premier League going pay-per-view means a sucker-punch for sports fans

Alistair Taylor

15 Oct 2020

English Premier League

English Premier League (EPL) clubs have agreed an ‘interim solution’ to allow fans to continue watching their teams live. EPL fixtures not selected for broadcast in October will be available to fans on a pay-per-view (PPV) basis.

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DAZN’s belated UK launch: Can it avoid Eleven Sports’ 'mistake’?

Cover image for DAZN’s belated UK launch: Can it avoid Eleven Sports’ 'mistake’?

Alistair Taylor

24 Jul 2020

Media & Marketing

DAZN, the anointed ‘Netflix of Sport’, has announced plans to resume launching its services globally via a beta service covering boxing bouts In July and August, for users who have registered their interest, free of charge, ahead of DAZN’s revamped imminent global rollout.

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Innovation via Free-to-air Highlights Missed Opportunity to date for the EPL

Cover image for Innovation via Free-to-air Highlights Missed Opportunity to date for the EPL

Alistair Taylor

24 Jun 2020

Sporting rights

Following live sports’ hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, the English Premier League (EPL) saw two of the top three most-watched matches in league history occur last weekend. The previous record of 4.

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Premier League Acknowledges Priorities Have Changed During Lockdown

Cover image for Premier League Acknowledges Priorities Have Changed During Lockdown

Alistair Taylor

11 Jun 2020

artificial crowd noise

The English Premier League (EPL) is set to return to screens next Wednesday, over three months since the last fixture graced our screens. Considering the pandemic enforced-postponement has deprived sports fans of any live content since early March, the return of the EPL is big news for sports – even if the viewing spectacle is going to be inherently different.

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Six Nations Behind a Paywall: Can Rugby Afford to Bench Free-To-Air?

Cover image for Six Nations Behind a Paywall: Can Rugby Afford to Bench Free-To-Air?

Alistair Taylor

6 Mar 2020

consumption habits

Six Nations organisers are reportedly considering awarding the exclusive distribution rights for its annual competition to pay-TV operator Sky, in an unprecedented £300 ($384) million deal. Organisers have said they ‘would not rule anything out’ as the Rugby Paper reported the championship would go behind a paywall on Sky .

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Peacock Goes for Gold

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Alistair Taylor

23 Jan 2020

On the 16 th of January , Comcast (owner of NBCUniversal) unveiled further details of its direct to consumer (D2C) proposition, Peacock. Peacock is set to debut on the 15 th of April exclusively for Comcast’s Xfinity X1 and Flex customers, before being rolled out nationally across the US on July 15 th .

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‘If You Ain’t First, You’re Last’: Revenue-Over-Reach Argument Not Refuted for F1

Cover image for ‘If You Ain’t First, You’re Last’: Revenue-Over-Reach Argument Not Refuted for F1

Alistair Taylor

9 Jan 2020

audience viewership

2019 audience figures for Formula One (F1) provide the latest example of a rights holder opting for short-term revenue optimisation over long-term strategic growth, to the detriment of its viewing audience.

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Can BT Lay the Smackdown on Its Rivals?

Cover image for Can BT Lay the Smackdown on Its Rivals?

Alistair Taylor

3 Jan 2020

addressable audience

This Saturday at 1am GMT BT will debut its live broadcast for WWE Smackdown, having acquired the exclusive rights from long-term UK broadcaster Sky in June 2019 . This signalled the end of Sky’s tenure as the home of WWE content, which first began broadcasting wrestling coverage to fans back in the 1980s with WWF.

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BT Sport’s Key Ingredient for Competing in an Increasingly Saturated Landscape

Cover image for BT Sport’s Key Ingredient for Competing in an Increasingly Saturated Landscape

Alistair Taylor

22 Nov 2019

American football

broadcast audience

The strategic dilemma as to whether rights holders should seek revenue over reach when allocating domestic rights is inevitably impacted by how dependent services are on premium rights for securing subscriber revenue.

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Demographic cliff: Is gaming sports’ biggest problem?

Cover image for Demographic cliff: Is gaming sports’ biggest problem?

Alistair Taylor

14 Aug 2019

daily active usage

Is the peaking attention economy the underlying cause for the decline in sports consumption from the younger demographic, or is it the mediums through which rights holders are distributing sports content ? MIDiA argues… both.

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Is Pay-TV killing off Niche Sports?

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Alistair Taylor

4 Jul 2019

With both the ICC Cricket World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup approaching their climaxes, the stark difference in audience engagement raises the question, is pay-TV killing off niche sports? Deciding the medium through which to distribute live sports has never been more crucial.

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Mediapro Offers Eleven Sports a UK Lifeline!

Alistair Taylor

21 Mar 2019

ad-supported model

carriage partnerships

Streaming service Eleven Sports will now have to table a new offer to maintain its UK La Liga rights, as Mediapro (the agency selling La Liga’s international rights) decides to return La Liga to the UK media rights tender market ahead of the 2019/2022 season.

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Sky Shows Hand With Bid For Scottish Football TV Rights

Alistair Taylor

12 Nov 2018

broadcast rights

Sky sports has doubled down on UK football and is the firm favourite to acquire the exclusive rights to broadcast Scottish football (SPFL), having bid £100 million for the next block of rights, starting in 2021 .

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Sky and BT announce long term partnership for cross-supply of content

Cover image for Sky and BT announce long term partnership for cross-supply of content

Alistair Taylor

2 Nov 2018

addressable audience

Attention economy

British broadcasters Sky and BT confirmed this week a long-term extension and expansion to an overall content cross-supply deal. Following the initial agreement signed in the UK last December , the partnership now includes Ireland, allowing Sky Ireland customers access to Sky Sports and BT Sport through a single Sky TV subscription.

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Eleven’s Challenge With Commercialising Newly Acquired Sports Rights

Tim Mulligan

7 Aug 2018

English Premier League

Sports entertainment disruptor Eleven Sports has been making headway over the previous 12 months with a series of notable acquisitions of premium sports rights in non-premium markets. Eleven’s business model involves building a next-generation direct-to-consumer proposition through a contract-free on-demand sports streaming service.

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