Digital TV News

Sky Sports News removed from Freeview

Friday 18 June, 2010

By Becca Talbot - becca@consumerchoices.co.uk

Football fans will soon need a subscription TV package to watch all the latest from the Sky Sports News channel, as Sky is removing it from Freeview.

Satellite TV giant Sky (www.sky.co.uk) has confirmed its plans to make its Sky Sports News channel a subscription TV channel, removing it from the Freeview channel list.

The channel, which launched on Freeview in 2002 and is home to the popular Gillette Soccer Saturday programme, will be replaced with Sky3+1 - a one-hour repeat of the content on the Sky3 channel - later in the year.

Sky said its decision to make Sky Sports News a pay-TV channel will help it develop the channel “editorially”, and said that it aims to make it

Barney Francis, Sky Sports managing director, said: “Sky Sports News has been a great success over the last 12 years and we have big ambitions to make it even better.”

“As part of a subscription service, customers can look forward to expanded coverage and the launch of Europe’s first HD sports news service,” he added.

Once the channel is removed from its current place on Freeview, Sky Sports News will only be available to Sky, Virgin Media (www.virginmedia.com) and TalkTalk TV customers.