Sky sports+ tennis

[Stenic69]

Well thats the US Open up and running and the coverage is exactly the same as last years, still lacking everything we have been crying out for.

Based on Skys track record we shouldnt be surprised - quantity over quality everytime. 

Very frustrating.

[Daniel-F]

Hi all,

Thank you for your continued comments & feedback regarding recent changes to the Sky Sports & it's impact on tennis.

We have taken these comments and fed this back into the relevant teams for consideration in future 🙂

Moving forward, can I ask users to please keep discussion on topic which on this instance was regarding Sky Sports+ & Tennis. You are however welcome to find threads dedicated to other sports or if there is nothing that you can see, starting a new discussion thread.

Thanks again,

[Stenic69]

Daniel, I and I assume others on here are happy that our comments are being fed back.

Can you give us some feedback the other way please? 

The general underlying frustration being fed back now is the same as was being fedback 12 months ago when the tennis coverage began. Are there any improvements that we can realistically expect and if so when will they be delivered? If we can get evidence that Sky are listening and actioning the feedback I'm sure that will give us confidence its worth our while bothering giving feedback. 👍

Thanks

[carolineb68]

@Daniel-F Thank you for passing on our complaints. But we need some concrete news about whether anything is going to improve.

I emailed your complaints team 12 months ago and the response they gave me was actually a lie! They said Sky was limited by how the host broadcaster packaged the output. This is not true because Amazon Prime, ESPN+, Tennis Channel, Discovery and many many other rights holders around the world are able to provide their subscribers with on demand replays, watch from start options etc. Sky have actively chosen not to do this.

My theory is that Sky do not want to pay for the server space required. You have the tech because you make highlights available on the app. 

I am certain that if English football matches were regularly played at 3am GMT, you would have had full match replays available for years!

[Tennis2000]

Another day of the US open qualifying and only 4 courts being available via sky sports + with the streams temporarily freezing occasionally which is very annoying.. not sure why they can't provide streams for every court like Amazon prime did but it seems that's all we're getting. 
skys's slogan is believe in better but in reality it's far worse than every other  competitor.

[carolineb68]

@Daniel-F whilst we appreciate you responding, we've heard the same "I'll pass it on" responses for 12 months and nothing has improved. 

When I complained last year, Sky laid the blame at the door of the host broadcaster by saying you can only pass on the package you receive. This is rubbish. Other rights holders such as Amazon Prime, Tennis Channel, Discovery, ESPN+ and many many others are able to provide on demand full match replays and watch from start options. 

The host broadcaster of the US Open is ESPN, so Sky can 100% provide the replays and watch from start options. Same for the ATP tour because their TennisTV service has these too. I assume WTA is the same.

My theory is that Sky choose not to give us the functionality we all crave because of the server space it would take and the additional cost that would entail. 

If all English football matches for 75% of the season were played at times when football fans were either asleep or at work, you can bet your bottom dollar that on demand full replays and watch from start would be available!

[Stenic69]

Disappointing that we havent had the courtesy of a reply yet.

[Tennis2000]

All we want is an explanation to why they sky dont  provide what the previous rights holder did but I doubt very much that we'll get one.

[Ali810]

Sky sports has absolutely ruined tennis coverage for the UK. Now TV & sky is an archaic system befitting of 1999, clunky, exorbitantly expensive. No replays immediately, no on demand, if you miss the night matches good luck finding full replays! Absolutely diabolical service and sky should be ashamed of itself. Luckily there is an alternative for the atp tour which I use, but for the US open they have got a monopoly in the UK.  Absolutely disgraceful!

[Stenic69]

I think we just have to accept that Sky dont really care.

Tennis fans who are on here complaining are likely to be in the minority. The majority of people who watch their US Open coverage are probably watching the odd match here or there or are just happy to watch whatever match is on live on the main channel.

Niche voices like ours are not going to cause much of a ripple in Sky HQ. Sky is driven by profits and subscriber numbers and they concentrate  most of their efforts on making sure their Football is the best around.

The fact that their viewer relations team never come back with anything construtive or positive for us and their reps on here just ignore our pleas sums it up sadly.

I'd love to be proven wrong about this but not holding my breath.

[TempletonPeck]

Am I right in thinking Sky don't show replays of the qualifying matches?  I think they're the only broadcaster that don't do this for Grand Slams if so.  Eurosport, Discovery, BBC, Amazon, etc all do/did

[carolineb68]

@TempletonPeck they don't show any replays! And they didn't even stream all of the courts used for qualies, as far as I'm aware. 

[Tennis2000]

Sky sports + only streamed 4 courts of the qualies which was annoying. At least the brits that entered were shown but sky should've provided all courts 

[RichAA1]

With regard to the changes to tennis coverage as a result of Sky Sports +, can someone enlighten me exactly what those changes are. I watch Sky Sports on NOW because I don't want to be tied into a contract. I read that the changes from Sky Sports+ would also be on NOW but it all looks exactly the same as before. Live streams only by Court and the ability to rewind, but only the last two hours, no watch from start or replays except selected matches, usually British players. It's all the same

[Tennis2000]

Sky sports + has brought nothing new to the table that we didn't already have. It's a huge disappointment with all the sky marketing about sky sports + which had us to believe it was next level streaming but for us tennis fans it's nothing different that before sky sports+ was launched.