Sky Sports subscribers are just weeks away from a blockbuster free upgrade that'll unlock over 1,000 new football matches and improved coverage of tennis tournaments.
Launching in mid-August, Sky Sports+ will offer 1,000 matches broadcast from the English Football League (EFL), every fixture from the Men’s Super League, coverage of ATP and WTA Tours, and more, at no extra cost.
It'll be available on the Sky Glass all-in-one TV, Sky Stream and Sky Q boxes, and via its contract-free NOW (formerly NOW TV) sister service. Those watching via Virgin Media set-top boxes will also benefit from the upgraded package.
The reveal of Sky Sports+ came a few weeks after Sky confirmed that it had dramatically cut the delay when watching live sports coverage over an internet connection — something that still affects streaming via BBC iPlayer, ITVX, and others.
Sky Sports+ will be available to watch in a number of ways — as a linear channel from the TV Guide on your set-top box, bolstered by additional matches that are only accessible via the Red Button or via the Sky Sports homepage on your telly.
These extra fixtures will be streamed via a broadband connection with all of the trimmings you'd expect from Sky TV, including the ability to pause and rewind live coverage. That wasn't possible with the additional coverage broadcast via the Red Button on earlier iterations of the Sky Sports channels.
The Recap functionality currently available for Premier League and Championship games will also be made available for EFL games shown on the Sky Sports+ linear channel.
For those who don't know, Recap is only available for the duration of the match and lets you scroll through a timeline of highlights that you might've missed if you're joining late. The timeline also has key information, like match time, type of event, player information, and team logo.
The team at Sky Sports+ is in the process of scaling up its commentary teams to be able to report from the hundreds of new fixtures that will be taking place on the supercharged service.
With the growing fascination around teams in the EFL, Sky TV's Jonathan Licht has pledged "to tell the stories of the EFL", whether that means we'll see new documentaries about the plight of individual teams like Ryan Reynolds-fronted hit Welcome To Wrexham series on Disney+, remains to be seen.
Sky tells GB News that it has been working on the underlying technology — which can now juggle 100 streamed matches concurrently — for the past year ahead of the announcement of its rebooted Sky Sports. Sky Sports+ sets the foundation ahead of an additional 100 Premier League matches coming to Sky TV next season, bringing its total to a record minimum of 215 exclusive Premier League games.
The refreshed sports package isn't just about live fixtures either. Sky Sports+ viewers will unlock access to the latest feature-length documentaries and docu-series from the Sky Documentaries team, such as the much-anticipated Darts documentary, two weeks before anyone else.
The catalogue of documentaries already includes Young Guns: The New Tennis Titans, Hatton, Secrets of Success, Bruno V Tyson, Kenny, Micah Richards: Tackling Racism, and Pushing Boundaries, to name a few.
Due to the sheer volume of new sports content coming to Sky Sports+, one of the biggest challenges for the teams inside Sky TV was ensuring that it was possible to navigate the menu on your telly and find the fixture you're actually looking for. Fresh from a seismic EntertainmentOS update for all Sky Glass and Sky Stream viewers, the Sky Sports homepage on your Sky device will include live matches, sports podcasts, and documentaries all available in carousels. Content from the existing 11 Sky Sports channels and Sky Sports+ fixtures will appear side-by-side on-screen.
Sky has also rebuilt its Sky Sports app, available on iPhone and iPad, to offer live sports coverage and interactive features, like live polls so you can vote and compare your thoughts with other fans. Detailed charts and in-depth data about everything available via Sky Sports+ will be included in the app too.
New personalisation features will let you follow your favourite teams and competitions more easily. Not only that, but there's also a revamped multi-sports scores section will offer fixtures, live scores, and an extended view beyond the usual seven-day football calendar.
Sky has also used the opportunity to add Dark Mode, which it tells GB News was one of the most-requested features from its subscribers.
According to data from the UK broadcaster, 83% of younger audiences rely on a second screen while watching a live event. Sky hopes its overhauled Sky Sports app will be the ticket.
All of the new features and fixtures coming to Sky Sports+ will be included with NOW, formerly NOW TV, too. From August, every single live Sky Sports+ stream and on-demand catch-up content will be available in the 24-hour Day Pass and Month Passes. NOW remains the only way to access Sky Sports for a single day.
As part of the Sky Sports+ launch, NOW members will also be able to pause and rewind live sports content for the first time. The slew of new functionality for NOW viewers might explain the recent price increase for the contract-less service.
Speaking about the launch, Managing Director at Sky Sports, Jonathan Licht said: "Exceptional sport, covered in an innovative and compelling way, has been a big part of our history.
"With the introduction of Sky Sports+, we are now able to offer sport fans more choice and an even better experience when watching the live action, at no extra cost.
"For the first time, we will broadcast every game live from across the EFL on the opening weekend. It’s going to be a huge moment for football fans up and down the country and is a fitting way to kick off our ground-breaking new partnership with the EFL. And this is just the beginning; Sky Sports+ unlocks the potential for us to keep evolving and finding new ways to deliver brilliant sport to our customers."
Sky Sports+ comes at the start of a new long-term and landmark partnership with the EFL, with over 1,000 EFL games a season featuring every team more than 20 times, and every Championship club on at least 24 occasions. The sheer scale of Sky Sports+ will be evident from the opening weekend of the 2024/25 season, with every game from across all three divisions - the Championship, League One and League Two - streamed live, a first in broadcasting history.
