Sky Pulls Sports News Net from Freeview

LONDON: BSkyB is removing its Sky Sports News channel from the Freeview lineup, making it exclusively a pay-TV channel.

The move, a bid to boost subscription revenues, takes place later this year. From that point, Sky Sports News will be available to Sky, Virgin Media and Talk Talk TV customers, as well as online and on mobile. The channel will be replaced on Freeview by Sky3+1, a time-shifted version of the existing Sky3 Freeview channel.

The channel is also prepping an increased investment in its editorial content, with a view to delivering "richer and broader coverage of sports news," as well as faster breaking news items. An HD feed is also planned for later this year.

“Sky Sports News has been a great success over the last 12 years and we have big ambitions to make it even better," said Barney Francis, managing director of Sky Sports. "As part of a subscription service, customers can look forward to expanded coverage and the launch of Europe’s first HD sports news service.”