Sky Sports News

• 1. Channel Genesis And Evolution

  ›

  Sky Sports News began broadcasting internal test runs on the 10th of August 1998 with Mike Wedderburn and Kelly Cates launching the channel. The service became officially available to the public on the 1st of October, marking the launch date of BSkyB's Digital Satellite service. This was BSkyB's first digital only channel. Sky Sports first started broadcasting sports news bulletins when it began broadcasting the Premier League in the autumn of 1992. Initially, they took the form of a brief Football Update before being expanded into a 30-minute programme called Sky Sports Centre. These programmes were generally broadcast on weekdays at 6pm and 10pm. On the 10th of April 2000, Sky Sports News relaunched as Sky Sports.com TV to tie with the launch of the SkySports.com website. The channel scrapped its .com TV look on the 1st of July 2001 and launched another graphics change. A major part of this was the standardisation across the Sky channels.

• 2. Distribution Disputes And Access

  ›

  On the 1st of March 2007, Virgin Media removed Sky's basic channels including Sky One, Sky Two, Sky News, and Sky Sports News from their Television Services. A dispute between Virgin Media and BSkyB caused by the expiry of their carriage agreement led to this removal. At Midnight, Sky Sports News was removed, with its EPG slot being renamed derisively as OLD SKY SPORTS SNOOZE. Richard Branson issued a public apology hours later. A deal was eventually reached between Virgin and Sky resulting in Sky Sports News returning to the Cable platform on the 13th of November 2008 on channel number 517. From the 1st of September 2009, the channel was made available to subscribers of the Sports Pack. Sky Sports News was removed from Freeview on the 23rd of August 2010 and replaced with Sky3+1. Approval for the DTT change was needed from the regulator Ofcom which told Sky that the move would not unacceptably diminish the capacity of services broadcast to appeal to a variety of tastes and interests.

• 3. Visual Identity And Programming Changes

  ›

  From April 2002, Sky Sports News had another face-lift where the channel stayed in the same studio but with a silver look replacing the old wooden bench. In 2004, Sky Sports News changed its image with a more open blue look to the channel. The titles featured players such as Frank Lampard, Tim Cahill, Thierry Henry and Ryan Giggs passing the football to each other and unveiling the Sky Sports News logo. Programmes such as Sky Sports Centre were dropped and replaced with shows such as Sky Sports Now, Sky Sports Today, Sports Saturday, and Sports Sunday. The channel also previously used a different piece of music for each news programme. Republica's Ready to Go and The Time Is Now by Moloko were among the most well-known tracks used. Sky Sports News was rebranded as Sky Sports News HQ on the 12th of August 2014 when the channel moved to Sky channel 401. Following the rebrand of the Sky Sports channels in July 2017, the channel returned to its original name: Sky Sports News.

• 4. International Simulcast Arrangements

  ›

  Until the 1st of July 2013, two hours of live feed daily at 07:00 BST and one hour of delayed feed daily at 23:00 BST were picked up by Fox Soccer in the United States. Both Fox Soccer Channel and Sky Sports were News Corporation channels at the time. More hours of the channel were picked up during critical periods such as the end of transfer windows and coverage of qualifying draws for Euro tournaments. The American simulcasts were discontinued on that date as Fox Cable Networks wound down Fox Soccer's operations. Upon Comcast's acquisition of Sky, Sky Sports began to collaborate with NBC Sports which holds the U.S. media rights to the Premier League. In February 2019, it was announced that beginning the 4th of March 2019, an hour of programming from Sky Sports News would air daily on NBCSN at 11:00 a.m. ET. NBCSN began re-airing Sky Sports News from August 2020 until the network's demise on the 31st of December 2021.

• 5. Presenter Roster And Careers

  ›

  Mike Wedderburn and Kelly Cates launched the channel with the first edition of Good Morning Sports Fans during the test runs. Current presenters include Pete Graves, Bela Shah, Hayley McQueen, Vicky Gomersall, Mike Wedderburn, Jo Wilson, Tom White, Rob Jones, Hannah Wilkes, David Fulton, Chris Latchem, Rahul Pathak, Clare Tomlinson, and Simon Thomas. Former presenters who have defined the channel's journalistic voice include Kate Abdo, Ally Begg, Georgie Bingham, Paul Boardman, David Bobin, Ed Chamberlin, Dave Clark, Millie Clode, Ali Douglas, Jill Douglas, Ed Draper, Sean Fletcher, Kirsty Gallacher, Steve Gaisford, Alex Hyndman, Charlotte Jackson, David Jones, Adam Leventhal, Graham Little, Dan Lobb, Gabby Logan, Matthew Lorenzo, Sam Matterface, Kate Mason, Rob McCaffrey, Sarah-Jane Mee, Lee McKenzie, Alex Payne, Ian Payne, Natalie Sawyer, Isha Sesay, Andy Steggall, Di Stewart, Jasper Taylor, Georgie Thompson, Rachel Wyse, Charlie Webster, Jim White, Rhodri Williams, Rob Wotton, and Tony Wrighton.