Sky Sports - 20 Years
Zac Quinn
Posts: 5,172 Forum Member
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I assume, given the repetitive adverts, that Sky are going to make 'a big thing' of their upcoming 20th Birthday... anybody have any ideas or, indeed, know what they might be planning?
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No idea but it'll cover kissing the arse of Man Utd, Phil Taylor, and Freddie Flintoff whilst ignoring all sports they dont have the rights to.
Sky Sports Years is on tomorrow at 6.30pm and 10.30pm on Sky Sports 1. Looking at 1991, should be good and nostalgic like the Premier League Years.
I would like to see some of the original presenters reunited for an evening of nostalgia on the actual launch date.
£2.99 a month introductory offer I think it was.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lHqQtoHFlU
Dont even mention Flintoff he completely ruined the darts commentry yet they made him sound wonderfull :mad:
That was cheap! In a way it's a shame it's not as cheap now.
Due to needing to be noticed all the idents seemed so big, bold and very memorable. The Football was awesome with GOAL being animated between each replay and the updated score being zoomed on the screen.
Then suddenly from 97onwards (when Newcastle played Man Utd in the Charity Shield and lost 4-0 and then won the next game against Man Utd with a stunning goal by Philipe Albert) they seemed to try and become more reserved. Their colour scheme of yellow/dark yellow was awesome but suddenly they tried to become 'Great Britain' with white, blue and red.
Perhaps a part of it is nostalgia but they seemed to declare themselves to the world with a bang and then have progressively tried to become less brash and have sorta met stations like ITV and BBC halfway.
These days you dont seem to notice they'r part of a BSKYB Satelite Network and just seems like they'r another channel on Cable.
Perhaps this is because they now have too many exclusives? Dunno. But back then it seemed like the beginnign of every program was like a film about to start.
Does look like they're on TVAM or similar
And Eddie Hemmings doing footy coverage.
Seems that most of their football was from the Zenith Data Systems and League cups?? Very cool nonetheless.
Also interesting they have a presenter like Sue Barker. These days you'd have a glossy woman with makeup and stylish clothes. This goes for society in general though where these days no one can seemingly exit the house without looking like they'r going to a party.
Loved how they seem to not try to appeal to everyone in those days, like when Richard Keys introduced the 'Footballers Football show' and said if anyone has a passing interest in it then its probably not the show for you. Loved the readers letters too - imagine a show like this nowadays?
Plus because Football had more native players in those days, it had more characters of the time as opposed to now where they have to wheel out old stars such as Paul Merson as you wouldnt see the likes of Grimandi, Bergkamp, Asprilla on a soccer chat show because they'r now back in their native country. A game like Darts seems to be more or less the same as it was years ago and thus its got far more character because they can have great chats with people like Phil Taylor. Foreign players have desensitized the game in England I have to say. Been too much of an influence on our game and programs like this prove it really.
Back then though you'd have Vinny Jones on and because he was still playing, the banter he had with people - bringing that Crazy Gang humour onto TV if you like - was superb. Anyways...
Interesting how they had that chat about the Premier League too with Gordon Taylor and a very young Alan Hansen! If the Premier League hadnt come to pass I think Sky Sports would still have succeeded but maybe Football would be more 'real' than it is now.
What Gordon Taylor said though has come true...it took a while but it eventually happened. However I doubt anyone saw the mass globalisation of the game and the severly limited chances for native British Players.
Loved watching this though - perhaps a large part of it is to do with nostalgia because back then, Sky was this really new thing but I just love the whole feel of it.
This tells you all you need to know. Over twenty years sports rights gobbled up by Sky with the cost passed directly onto the consumer. How Skyfans view this as fair is beyond me.
5.99 in 1991 prices is 10 pounds today. How much is the SS subscription? At least 20?
Anyone over 30 will remember watching sports coverage without having scores permanatly rammed down your throat. I don't recall any clamour for this at the time.
more examples...
Having team colours shown. Sorry, even if they covered 2 obscure teams in a football game, would it not take merely a couple of minutes to work out who was playing and which team was in what colour?
In snooker having the player highlighted when they take a shot on a permamantly displayed scoreboard. Again, a minute to work out for any viewer?
In darts, flexing your brain to work out what out-shot a player would need without this being shown. Even down to the last 2 darts!
Yes you do not have to use any part of your brain to watch Sky's coverage.
People may say this is a good thing, I don't. Producers must think they are broadcasing to 4 year-olds who have no short-term memory and no knowledge of what they are watching.
Please bring back the common-sense approach to coverage that was in evidence before Sky started, ie let the pictures do the talking.
Rugby League has been the longest running contract as well. It was broadcast by Sky from the off, continuing the deal that had been in place on the proceeding BSB Sport Channel.
We did a my house. Have had it since the BSB days so I remember the sports channel.
I believe it started at 2pm on Saturday 20th April.
That wasn't the only wrestling on any of the Sky channels - If I remember correctly, Sky Sports also showed the old WCW (NWA) Power Hour and WCW Worldwide Wrestling programmes in their early days...
But why spend a minute or two working it out when you can get the information in a second or two after switching over? At the expense of a little screen space that would otherwise be showing the side of a snooker table, the stomach of a darts player or a shot of the crowd?
£22.50 a month on virgin media without the red button function.:eek::eek:
I don't subscribe any more! (Although a good mate lets me access their Sky Player account via our Xbox