Sky Ups Women’s Sport Coverage with New Netball Deal

LONDON: As part of an effort to increase its commitment to women’s sport, Sky Sports has inked a new four-year broadcast deal for international and domestic netball games.

The live matches will be available to all Sky TV households on the new channel Sky Sports Mix, starting with the England Roses’ series against Jamaica later this month. The broadcast agreement with England Netball covers all home England international Test matches. In addition to international and Superleague netball, Sky Sports Mix will air every game from the yearly Quad Series.

Sky Sports Mix broadcasts a range of sports and is available to all Sky TV customers at no extra cost. In addition to netball and other women’s sport, the new channel airs football, golf, darts and the NFL.

Barney Francis, Sky Sports’ managing director, commented, “Sky Sports is getting behind netball like never before. Over the past few years netball has been a huge hit with our viewers and it is fantastic that more people than ever before will be able to watch it on Mix. Sky is an unrivaled supporter of women in sport and we really recognize what an important time this is for women’s sport.”

Tracey Neville, coach of England Netball, said, “The four-year agreement builds on the previous success of Sky’s coverage of the Vitality Netball Superleague, in which fans watched Surrey Storm lift the trophy last season in dramatic fashion. Viewers can look forward to following their local team in the Superleague with matches being shown regularly throughout the season, alongside exclusive coverage of the semi-finals and Grand Final. Sky’s coverage begins on February 18.”

England Netball CEO Joanna Adams added, “The new agreement strengthens Sky Sports’ unrivaled commitment to women’s sport, which over the next 12 months will see Sky Sports show the Solheim Cup, all five golf majors, the cricket World Cup hosted in England, international rugby and equestrian. On top of live coverage of women’s sport, the weekly Sportswomen show on SSNHQ is dedicated to covering news stories and features about women in sport.”