The Sport Thread

[nwtv2003]

As somebody who grew up at a time when Sky and ITV were rivals when it came to football rights (remember ITV Digital/ITV Sport channel? Maybe not...) was very strange to see ITV carry full Sky Sports branding, presentation and promos on their main channel.
Emblematic of how sports rights are a moveable feast now compared to when it was very tribal between the broadcasters - summed up when ITV took Match of the Day and Des Lynam from the BBC. Nowadays here they are sharing major rights and talent.

I tweeted this earlier today that back in the 1990s and the 2000s this would have been a definite no no for Sky, but it’s strange how far we’ve come. In the last 12 months it’s not only just Sky, we’ve seen BT Sport rugby coverage on ITV, we saw the US Open from Prime Video on Channel 4 as well as Sky Sports F1 on Channel 4 from the final crucial race day last year. 

Clearly there must be some arrangement in place that suits both parties. The case today for Sky being that they promoted what else was on Sky Sports this summer as well as Sky Glass. ITV certainly would have got better ratings in comparison to any given Sunday for that time.