Haven't seen this mentioned anywhere on DS, but I can reveal Sky are planning a new sports channel which will be available to customers who don't subscribe to Sky Sports.

To receive the channel all you need is a subscription to the Sky Family bundle or the Sky HD pack.

The name of this new channel will either be Sky Sports Discover or Sky Sports Select.

There is no launch date yet for this new channel but as we seen with the introduction of Sky Sports 5 last year, things move quickly so it may well be up and running before the end of the year.

Details with screenshots are as follows:


http://postimg.org/image/lb9xzn383/

http://postimg.org/image/p8x7p1q1f/

http://postimg.org/image/juyfhi0b7/

http://postimg.org/image/kbjn3xo2b/

http://postimg.org/image/eona6gljn/


The 10 Formula 1 races each season would be exactly the same ones you can watch for free on BBC so you are really not getting anything new, just a different perspective of the race with Sky's coverage.

The 10 Premier League matches would not be any of the "must see" top 6 clashes. More likely to be mid-table teams or if they do involve the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal etc. then they will be against less glamorous sides.

There will be 5 rugby matches from the European Cup.

There will be up to 5 England T20 international cricket matches.

There will be up to 5 UEFA 2016 football qualifiers although these would not involve any of the Home nations.

There will be up to 5 matches per season from the English Football League (Championship & League 1)

There will be up to 5 tennis matches from the US Open.


Also regular live coverage (5-10 matches per year) from:

NFL - American Football
International Cricket - Test and One Day Internationals although not involving England
Super League Rugby League
MLS - US Football
Boxing
Darts
Solheim Cup Golf
Netball
Super Rugby - Rugby Union featuring teams from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa
Eredivisie - Dutch Premier League football matches
Indian Premier League T20 cricket
French Rugby Union top division matches


All this information comes from an impeccable source within Sky.

So why are Sky doing this?

Well this is just conjecture but football fans will be aware that Sky Sports have lost the rights to the UEFA Champions League this season and are not renewing their Liga Liga contract to show top level Spanish football as from 12 months time.

BT have secured the rights to both and are hungry to increase their portfolio of content for their new sports channels.

This leaves Sky with 6 sports channels and a lot of content to fill. What channels could be axed? It would be foolish to speculate at this stage but with many customers cancelling their sports subscriptions due to the above and Sky executives privately admitting they massively overbid on the new Premier League deal (£13 million per match) the alarm bells are ringing.

Which is good news for the ordinary sports punter who has a Sky subscription but no sports package as Sky will be using this new channel as a carrot and stick to entice customers to upgrade to Sky Sports to see more of the content they will be getting for free.

The downfall of Sky Sports has been coming for a while with above inflation annual subscription costs for customers and losing some Premier League rights to BT and a complete wipe out of UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League football.

The loss of La Liga football next summer could be the straw to break the camel's back. Quite simply Sky can no longer run 6 full-time sports channels showing quality content and expect customers to pay the same subscription fees for less content.


So keep your eyes peeled and remember you heard it here first.

"you heard it here first" not the the loss of La Liga football I posted this on page 5 of IMPORTANT - You will be charged £5 for BT Sport automatically. but was accused of baiting by THOMO seems I was right

As an original Hd pack subscriber will it mean that to see non BBC F1 races I would have to subscribe to the Sports package?

Have Sky announced the closure of the F1 channel, with the races going to the standard Sky Sports channels, or that they are removing the access to the F1 channel away from original HD subscribers?

I have seen no announcement from Sky about that, so until they do, you will still receive the F1 channel as part of your HD subscription.

That is the rumour.

If a sports channel was to be dropped, Sky Formula 1 would be the obvious choice.

Even during the season they struggle to fill the channel with content and most of the "behind the scenes" stuff is just dross.

Why did they bother launching Sky Sports 5 last year when they knew they would loose the rights?, These 6 sports channels on Sky are on their own service so I'd say they would be cheap to run? even if they have little content..

Have to disagree, the behind the scene stuff as you put it, is rather good.
Ted Kravitz is superb.

I have to say I am surprised.

How in the OP have Sky lost Premiere League rights to BT. Are they not INCEREASING the number of games next season (2016-17) and BT have pretty much the same level as the last 3 years for the next 3 years deal.

Sky have not had all the rights since the PL disallowed that option but have got extra games from each rebidding auction.

Or am I getting this wrong?

Yes, Sky have lost other rights but not the level of PL rights.

Indeed. As well as the support series like GP2 & 3, and the classic F1 races from back in the day, supurb documentaries like "The Last Teammate", the Legends of F1 series etc. I'm not sure their contract with FOM would allow them to drop the channel anyway.

As for legacy HD subscribers like me who get SSF1 with the HD pack, if they remove that channel from me in favour of this new one I'll cancel - I'm in contract too, but if they make a detrimental change like that then I'm sure I'll have the right to end the contract. Not paying for the full sports subscription when I only watch the F1, not my problem if they've massively overpaid for the football.

These look like screenshots from an online survey and a poster in the Broadcasting forum has confirmed this.

I've done many of these surveys for Sky in the past and few have come to fruition.

Sorry but I don't get this , it seems this would just annoy those who pay the full Sky Sports subscription and possibly result in people cancelling Sky Sports subscriptions.

Oh dear, how bad is that going to look on the EPG? "SkySptDisc" Eww.Will there be a HD version I wonder?

Ever since Sky started doing regular simultaneous broadcasting of the F1 races on Sky Sports1, I've suspected that the F1 channel is on its way out. These latest rumours only increase my suspicion. I'm a legacy HD customer, but there is no way I'm going to take out a Sky Sports subscription just to watch a race every couple of weeks, particularly as about half of them will be available free to air anyway. With services such as Netflix and Amazon Instant continually expanding their content I think Sky are soon going to learn the hard way about what happens if they start taking channels away from previously loyal customers.

Actually, it's the opposite, it's well known that Sky subsidise the premium sports channels from the take from lower packages, so a Sky Sports Select Channel would make the situation more fair on what people paid for and what they get. I somehow doubt it will happen unless Sky really are feeling the pinch due to the new Premier League deal or are scared of BT Showcase being successful.

It maybe or it may not, the ones they are going to show for free though, are those live races that the BBC also broadcast.

It is odd that they didn't boost the character limit with the EPG update a couple of years ago. Sky Sports News HQ HD is presumably something like SptNwsHQHD?

Fortunately my EPG's character limit is around 22 and I can adjust it if I really need to.

Wasn't that the exact reason they launched the new channel? So they can it the home of European football for a year then tie people to broadband when "activating" channel?

Its 'Sky SpN HQ HD'

And, can we please clear this up.... These are screen grabs from a survey, not gonna happen, its a survey, nothing more

this would be a good thing as i currently subscribe to the full package excluding movies and sports. i would like to see some sky sports programs.

rather have this on the ORIGINAL bundle since there's bugger all sport on it as it is

I'm not convinced by those screenshots, sorry.

Doesn't at all look like the type of design Sky would usually do to promote a new service.

I'd be annoyed if I was a sports subscriber and found out they're offering sport on a basic channel that I'd paid through the nose for.

Read post #20 - last para