ABSTRACT
The launch of Sky TV’s interactive service on its Sports Extra channel in August 1999 was described variously in the press as a ‘new broadcasting dawn’, ‘the brave new world of interactive’ (Battersby 1999), and ‘television history being made’ (ClevelandPeck and Hammersley 19991). The occasion for the launch of this new interactive service was the Premiership football match between Arsenal and the European and FA cup holders Manchester United. Facilitated by the additional channels available on the new digital system, viewers were able to select an alternative camera angle of the game, view action replays and highlights, and call up match statistics, all while watching the live coverage of the match. This event and the hyperbole surrounding it are not unusual in the sense of euphoria they convey about technological change in the media sector. They also illustrate in a number of ways the wider issues of choice, control, access and exclusion, which are central to debates about the implications of the current
market-driven broadcasting environment. The selection of Premiership football as the launch pad for the development of interactive services is not surprising in view of the importance of exclusive sports coverage to the sustained development of satellite television. The interactive service complements both existing subscription and pay-TV strategies and provides effective promotion for Sky’s new digital service. Additionally, claims that for the first time in Britain viewers were able to choose what they watched of the match and to control how they watched it are indicative of the promises made in respect of the benefits of new communication technologies and the competitive broadcasting environment in which they are developing. These claims are questionable on a number of grounds, not least because the service is available only to Sky digital subscribers who in addition pay a £25 minimum monthly payment to receive the three-channel Sky sports package.
