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.
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.



