This was another frustrating weekend for those sports fans that have chosen not to – or can’t afford to – supplement their Sky subscription with a Setanta package.
The big three sporting events of the weekend – the Joe Calzaghe versus Bernard Hopkins title fight, Manchester United versus Blackburn Rovers in the Premiership, and the launch of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament – were all on Setanta, leaving Sky’s second-rate fare looking distinctly end of season in comparison. And it’s not the only weekend when this has been the case recently.
Because Sky only has the rights to show very limited highlights of Setanta’s live weekly football game on its sports news bulletins and review shows such as Goals on Sunday, it tends to come over as if that game never happened - and it is definitely downgraded in Sky’s overall coverage.
That’s fine if it’s a meaningless fixture, such as the Manchester City versus Portsmouth match Sky featured on "Super" Sunday yesterday, but when it’s one of the top teams it gives Sky’s football coverage a lop-sided and slightly odd feel. And God only knows what would have happened if by some chance the Man U v Blackburn game had turned out to be the title decider. It could potentially have scuppered Sky’s whole coverage of the season.
Sky Sports subscribers have seen the value of their package gradually whittled down in the last 18 months (Setanta also poached Sky’s PGA Tour golf coverage), with the price gradually creeping up. They were used to the quality declining in the summer, when the big driver of Premiership football goes into hibernation. That is something they put up with. But it is a new experience to be missing out on significant sporting action during the football season.
How long will it be before punters vote with their feet and decide they’re not getting enough value for their monthly sub? Sky could do with placating its loyal sports punters - who let’s face it have driven the success of the business - by signing up a couple of exciting new rights deals.
