Sky Business is following three consecutive annual price freezes with a 5% increase for TV subscriptions, effective from 1 August.
Deputy MD Alison Dolan said: “It’s through this investment that we can keep delivering great content and our unrivalled range of products and support tools that drive value for licensees.”
She added that the business was building on the 55,000 hours of live sport it broadcast over the past year to deliver a “huge summer of sport” on Sky, including international rugby union, golf majors, F1 Grands Prix, England’s cricket Test series against Sri Lanka, the Tour de France and Darts World Cup.
And she said Sky has acquired 30 new sports rights agreements for the 2014/15 season including: the European Rugby Champions Cup; the European Rugby Challenge Cup; the PRO12 rugby; Top 14 rugby from France; Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket; and the All-Ireland Gaelic Football and Hurling Championships.
On 12 August, Sky is launching its seventh dedicated sports channel – Sky Sports 5 – to be its new home of European Football, featuring games from: the UEFA Champions League; La Liga and Copa del Rey (Spanish football); Coppa Italia (Italian football); Eredivisie (Dutch football); and the Euro 2016 qualifiers.
Dolan said: “Scheduling all Sky Sports European football content on one channel will make it easier than ever for pubs to show all this great content and appeal to fans of European football and football in general.”
