[Rdd]

I think worth noting on that article is this bit.

I wonder if long term the plan is to replace some of the Sky Sport linear channels with the new Sky Sports+ app. Older Sky box users are already being encouraged to upgrade to Sky Q/Stream, as many SD channel are switched off and others are migrated to DVB-S2.

I imagine linear channels such as Sky Sports Premiership and F1 probably still have their justification, be that for sponsorship/contractual reasons or if often shown in pubs. However, when there isn't a live event on I can't imagine repeats of sporting events and relating programming is particularly revenue generating. Thereby if they can move some of the channels into the streaming app they can be only 'on air' during live events, with some content being available to watch on catchup instead.

That would be (and maybe this is) another step down the road of limiting Sky Sports to Sky direct customers.

It’s not too long ago that Ofcom had a “Wholesale Must Offer” remedy in place (although IIRC limited to Sky Sports 1&2) to ensure third party providers could offer Sky Sports on fair terms. Now already, in the ROI market, we’ve seen two providers (eir and Vodafone) replace their Sky Sports wholesale offering with referrals to Now, which is a Sky first party service. Not sure if anything similar has happened in the UK yet.

If a large range of Sky Sports content is suddenly only available to first party Sky customers that would be another nail in the coffin of wholesale access to Sky Sports.

OK, that’s not yet what’s being talked about yet. Clearly the initial offering here is additional content that doesn’t fit on what Sky used to call the “front channels”, and it’s tempting to view this as simply the move online of what used to be the red button offering. But they haven’t gone down the road of a whole new brand and platform just for it to be what was offered on the red button for the past 20 years.

Also I’m not sure if the issues with streaming in pubs have yet been satisfactorily resolved to a point where, for example Premier League matches could be offered through this service?

[Transmission]

Also I’m not sure if the issues with streaming in pubs have yet been satisfactorily resolved to a point where, for example Premier League matches could be offered through this service?

Not yet, it seems. Amazon's Premier League games are still distributed to pubs over satellite via TNT Sports.

I'm sure it won't be too long, but it feels like there's a little way to go before that happens.

[Jsnbts]

‘Sky’ now in white instead of the usual blue.. Is that a new Sky Sports logo or is it just the ‘negative’ version for use on dark backgrounds?

[Jonny]

‘Sky’ now in white instead of the usual blue.. Is that a new Sky Sports logo or is it just the ‘negative’ version for use on dark backgrounds?

They usually go to great pains to have "Sky" in blue on screen, despite the obvious contrast issue on dark backgrounds. The white version is mainly used online, social avatars, app icons, etc.

Perhaps an indication the white version will become the primary logo, or perhaps nothing!

[Brekkie]

So this article states "distinct commentary for each match" - will Sky be hiring up to 36 commentators or will clubs provide their own commentary, possibly with home and away feeds. What is the arrangement on iFollow?

www.theguardian.com 

Sky to screen 3pm Saturday kick-offs among 1,000 EFL live games in 2024-25 | Foo…
Sky Sports has announced plans to broadcast football during the 3pm Saturday slo…
  Source: www.theguardian.com