Sky Are on The Ball With Its New Premier League Signing
Sky has announced it has secured the broadcast rights to show a record number of Premier League fixtures in a new four-year deal. With up to 100 more matches each season, its exclusively live coverage will increase by 70 percent from 2025/26.
With four packages awarded by the Premier League, the maximum for any one broadcaster, over 80 percent of future live broadcast Premier League matches will be on Sky Sports until the end of the decade. The broadcaster says its customers can expect at least four live games every week.
Sky Sports has been on the ball with its Premier League coverage – and more is to come in the years ahead. ©GettyImages
A Fantastic Result for Sky
Announcing the news, Dana Strong, Group CEO of Sky, said: “This is a fantastic result for Sky customers, who will see a significant increase in the number of matches from the most iconic league in the world. We are proud of our long history with the Premier League and look forward to delivering more engagement, entertainment, and innovation to the end of the decade.”
The key points to what Sky is describing as “an unrivaled line-up of Premier League football” are:
- At least 215 live games each season.
- All first-pick matches – giving fans the best matches week-in-week-out until May 2029.
- Super Sunday remains the flagship kick-off slot at 4.30 pm.
- First and last word on a Premier League weekend with more live games on Fridays and Mondays.
- For the first time, all the final games on the last day of the season will be live in one place.
- Sky Sports will now be able to offer multiple live matches on several weekends.
- Most of the festive season fixtures – with Boxing Day Premier League football back on Sky.
TNT and BBC Are Also Premier Partners
Sky’s announcement came when the Premier League confirmed it had also concluded deals with TNT Sports and BBC Sport. All three agreements will cover four years starting Season 2025/26 and are the most significant sports media rights deals ever concluded in the UK.
TNT Sports has been awarded a live rights package covering 52 live matches per season. It includes exclusive coverage of games played on Saturdays at 12.30 pm and full coverage of two midweek-match rounds.
BBC Sport has been awarded highlights rights for all 380 Premier League matches each season, with additional digital rights for the BBC’s online platforms. The agreement will see BBC Match of the Day continue to bring Premier League action to millions of viewers each week alongside a full range of additional programming.
The new agreements will deliver a total of £6.7 billion in revenue across the four years, inclusive of a four percent increase in the value of live rights compared to the previous process. More live televised football should also be good news for football betting sites, who can expect increased turnover.
Sky Is the Big Sports Winner
Sky says more people than ever are watching its sports channels, with 2023 on track to be the strongest-ever year of viewing across all platforms. The Premier League, men’s and women’s Ashes, Ryder Cup, Solheim Cup, English Football League, and Women’s Super League have all broken viewing records driven primarily by the growth of younger audiences and more female viewers.
Last month, the British media and telecommunications conglomerate announced a new five-year partnership with both the ATP and WTA. It means over 80 tennis tournaments and approximately 4,000 matches will be available to Sky Sports customers every year.
A Hole-In-One With the PGA
The PGA of America and Sky Sports have also confirmed a three-year extension of their broadcast partnership, solidifying continued live coverage of the PGA Championship and KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The 2024 PGA Championship, which annually showcases the strongest field in golf, will take place between May 13 and 19 at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky. The 2024 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship returns for a historic sixth time to Harbor Shores in Benton Harbor, Michigan, between May 23 and 26.
Sky Sports Golf is the home of golf in the UK and, in 2024, it will show all four men’s Majors, all five women’s Majors, and both men’s and women’s tours – well over 100 tournaments in total.
Suffice it to say that Sky plays a significant role in the UK’s cultural economy. In 2022 alone, the company contributed £20 billion to the UK’s GDP . It also broadcast 70,000 hours of elite sports coverage and invested over £130 million to provide news to consumers free of charge.
