New Sky TV packages combine Sky Sports and BT Sport in one single subscription

Today Sky launches two new sports packages that combine Sky Sports and BT Sport channels for the first time on Sky TV, bringing together major tournaments from across the sporting world, including the Premier League from Sky Sports and BT Sport, and the Emirates FA Cup and UEFA Champions League from BT Sport.

Sport fans can now easily find all the sport they love in one place, with all eight Sky Sports channels and BT Sport channels – BT Sport 1, 2, 3 and BT ESPN – together in one subscription.

The three new sports packages are available from today, exclusively on Sky TV:

• Sky Sports and BT Sport: at just £35 per month[i] alongside their Sky TV subscription, the new package combines all the sport from Sky Sports and BT Sport and saves sports fans an incredible 35% on standalone monthly subscriptions.

• Sky Sports and BT Sport, plus Sky Entertainment: all the great sport from both Sky Sports and BT Sport, plus award-winning entertainment and thousands of shows on over 300 Sky TV and 40 catch up channels with Sky Entertainment for just £47 a month[ii] - a saving of over 40% on standalone monthly subscriptions.

• BT Sport: for those that prefer greater flexibility, it’s £25 a month[iii]  to bolt on BT Sport to an existing Sky TV package.

Sports fans can enjoy a feast of football fixtures from the Premier League, UEFA Europa League, Scottish Premiership, Emirates FA Cup, and the UEFA Champions League; all the action from the pit lanes and tracks of F1 around the world; every tee off and putt from all four majors, and every wicket from every England home Test, ODI, T20 and the ICC Women’s and Men’s T20 World Cup. Fans will also be able to enjoy Gallagher Premiership Rugby, UFC and MotoGP™. Plus, customers can access all the best entertainment, TV and movies.

With Sky Q’s Voice Search it’s easy to find a specific sport, channel, match, or race from Sky Sports and BT Sport. The BT Sport channels will also be HD as standard and available on Sky Go across mobiles and tablets. There will be no additional fees for multiroom access on Q, or for the full BT Sport VOD catalogue.

The new packages launch just in time for Leicester City vs. Manchester City on Sky Sports on Saturday and the head-to-head between Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur on BT Sport.

Lyssa McGowan, Chief Consumer Officer, Sky said: “Our customers have always loved sport and we’re delighted to now be able to offer them even more. From the excitement of the UEFA Champions League, Tiger Woods defending The Masters and the rise of Fallon Sherrock, 2020 is a huge year of sport. Now, through our partnership with BT and the launch of our new sports packages, millions of fans can watch all the sports they love.”

Jim White, Sky Sports presenter, said: ‘It might not be January 31st but what a great signing for Sky Sports customers! More sport, whenever you want it, all in one place.’

The deal is the latest in a series of content partnerships for Sky, with the BBC, Channel 4, Channel 5, Netflix and Warner Media all entering into new agreements. In 2020, Sky will also start building Sky Studios Elstree, Europe’s leading production Studio resulting in 2000 new jobs and £3bn production investment in UK creative sector expected in first five years.

NOW TV customers will soon be able to enjoy BT Sport on their NOW TV Smart Stick or NOW TV Smart Box with Voice Search, when the BT Sport app launches in the app store later this spring.

To find out more about the new packages and upgrade, visit sky.com/sport for details. 

BT TV has also launched a new range of TV packages which integrate NOW TV and offer flexible access to Sky Entertainment featuring Sky Atlantic, Sky Cinema, as well as all the live sporting action on Sky Sports.

How Tech Changed Sport

Image Credit
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Sports_divers.jpg

Technology, as one might safely imagine, continually changes our cultures, societies and lives, thanks to the continual upgrading and innovating that go hand in hand with new ideas and ways of doing things. Everywhere we look we see the signs of new technologies' reach- smartphones, televisions, automobiles- although sports fans may often wonder where and in what ways technology impacts their favourite pastimes. Sports can be sometimes viewed as unchanging, rules having been passed down for centuries, often, although this opinion is far from true.

Live
Live sports are a relatively old phenomenon, although true live is a relatively recent advancement. 'Live' sports ten or twenty years ago could be received often a few minutes later compared to when the actual events took place, compared to nowadays when enormous increases in internet bandwidth and satellite coverage mean that images are broadcast to television sets seconds after they take place!

Betting
Millions of people worldwide enjoy placing a little wager on the results of their favourite sports, and the internet has massively improved both the ease and availability of bets for punters. A fan sat in the stands during a game can now turn on their smartphone, head to bookies.com, check out the odds and team news, then make their bet during the game. It's added a heck of a lot of fluidity to the betting world, and fans are ecstatic.

Equipment
Kits and pieces of equipment went largely unchanged within many sports throughout the twentieth century, however with the advent of materials technology many sports and their players have undergone an enormous change. Today, kits are thinner, lighter and stronger, acting as less of an impediment to the players wearing them and boosting the performance of people using them. Footballs are now equipped with sensors hidden inside that notify referees if they pass past the goal-posts, eliminating messy arguments and fan anguish, and in sports such as hockey, strong, lightweight plastics are now used for sticks instead of traditional woods.

Social Media
Once, having a discussion about the prowess of sportspeople and teams was done mainly in bars and pubs across the world, but with Facebook and Twitter now incredibly popular, sports discussions are on every news feed and profile. Teams can now create their own pages, posting interesting info, behind the scenes footage and other titbits that massively increase the feeling among fans that they too are part of the team.

Author - Catherine Bush.