The sports channels known as Sky Sports are part of the larger Sky Digital TV servicing United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland exclusively. Sky Sports was launched in the 90s and it brought a different level of popularity to sports, particularly since the nature of the broadcasts changed and a higher commitment in the direction of the Premier League and the Football Leagues was noticed. Sky Sports include four distinct channels: 1,2,3 and an Xtra option that is part of a premium television package, additional to the basic options. Moreover, Sky Sports is part of most of the packages offered by Irish and British cable and satellite companies.
Initially a channel of the British Satellite Broadcasting family, Sky Sports was included in the Sky Television network only afterwards. It’s counterpart in the Sky TV family was Eurosport that the company produced as part of the four first Sky channels. In 1990, British Satellite Broadcasting and Sky Television decided to merge and Sky Sports began a new phase of evolution, the program underwent re-branding and a logo addition, with the broadcaster choosing its encryption as a means to trigger subscription usage. Sky Sports got the right to broadcast the First League after making a more tempting bid than its adversaries, ITV and BBC.
Thus, in 1993, Sky Sports increased its popularity for broadcasting the FA Premier League Football exclusively. Another event that marked the development of Sky Sports was the introduction of Soccer AM, a morning chat show that had all the international football events under discussion. The show had such a success that Sky Sports still produces it today with Max Rushden as a presenter. Soccer AM is actually considered a media phenomenon bringing the reputation of the Sky Sports channel group to a fame level unprecedented before in the history of the company.
From 1998, Sky Sports switched to the digital broadcasting mode, and this change coincided with the launch of two other Sky Sports channels from the same family: Sky Sports News and Sky Sports Xtra. The interactive features were the most appealing and newest at the time when the digital system was introduced, meaning that the viewers had the opportunity to select the camera they viewed during matches. The concept became very popular afterwards for other sports too, being known as Sky Sports Active. Among the sports events added on the broadcasting list we can name horse racing and cricket. The monopole for the Premier Football League was broken in 2007 when Sentana Sports, an Irish network, also got the rights to broadcast it, together with Sky Sports.