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[JohnWilliamson]

Hii @Seajay58 here’s my post on the subject of Sky Sports Tennis from 23rd March 2024: 

I’m a UK WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) watcher, I watch almost exclusively on a desktop computer and a laptop using a browser which connects to the Sky Sports app. All the tennis I watch is live. 

The experience isn’t good, there is only one match at a time, and there is no choice as to which match or whether it’s a WTA or ATP match.

If I’ve been off the browser for a few hours, I have to log back into the website to view tennis on the app.

Previously I watched on Amazon Prime Video, which normally offered more than one WTA match, and very often offered more than one WTA tournament.

The EuroSport / Discover Plus coverage of the Australian Open was really good, offering lots of options of live games, I didn’t experience the US Open Sky coverage, so haven’t got any experience of it.

The Sky Sports set-up seems quite old-fashioned as it hasn’t been updated to account of the many desktop and laptop viewers, it appears that the focus is on traditional TVs, and also on smartphones and tablets – it doesn’t seem so good to view matches on smaller screens, most of the time it’s impossible to see the ball.

We are now almost 4 months into the Sky Sports Tennis coverage and the set-up still isn’t great – when will Sky address and update their systems to make tennis viewing on desktops and laptops a better experience?

[fortesque]

Whilst the coverage by  Sky Sports Tennis has improved a little, there is still much which can be done to enhance viewing for fee paying customers, ie all of us. The choice ofmatch is something which needs immediate attention. While there is coverage via a red button or the QR code, it is not possible for someone to watch a match on catch-up as it was with Prime, or indeed with Tennis TV. This has been particulary evident in tournaments where there are multiple courts and, for example, when British players are playing at the same time, or during the night for British viewers. Thus far we have been reliant on what Sky chooses to show us on the channel and there is little or no choice for the viewer. when there has been no 'live' tennis, we have been subjected to replays of finals, which is disappointing when we could be watching 'catch-up' of matches we could not watch due to a clash or timing of it.  One of the real benefits of Prime, and of the TV Channel is that you can choose to watch a replay of a match, not a mere 30 seconds or so on the Sky Sports app. This week there are multiple tournaments on, but Sky does not appear to have the capacity to allow for different customers to watch matches of their choice (which is a key advertising point).

Furthermore, today there has been a problem with the sound at Estoril. The commentators, one of which is Simon (who in my opinion is one of the best has been obliterated by the microphones on the court. That needs addressing.

Additionally, the choice of commentators is, in my opinion, questionable.  Overend,  Cavaday and Fleming talk too much, and offer what at times has to be described as 'blather'. The use of US commentators (while probably not avoidable for US tournaments) also means there is too much talk and reminiscing and not enough commentating. Commentators need to remember that they are there to do just that, not to have a conversation of their own while the tennis is on. Prime often had matches where there was no commentator: perhaps Sky should consider this for the future for some of their 'red button' matches rather than their 'compulsory' matches.

I realise that I am 'venting my spleen', but really do hope that someone from Sky Sports Tennis will read these posts, as it's clear I am not the only frustrated Tennis fan. I rather hope to get more than a 'thank you for reaching out' which was the response on Sky Sports Tennis messenger service.

[Ana17]

I cancelled my sky sport subscription last week,  tennis coverage is a disaster 

[tragopan]

Thank you @fortesque  - my thoughts entirely!  Much better put than I could have done!

[Oddie2004]

Sky should have just concentrated on the ATP/WTA 500 and 1000 tournaments instead of offering 250 tournaments in countries where the time difference makes it impossible to watch live anyway.It is a very poor showing so far and although it is included in my Sports Subscription for those who have to pay extra I feel sorry for them.I pointed all this out to ViewerR and Customer Priority Team who basically responded by saying we appreciate all the feedback we receive but really could not care less and are more interested in switching all customers over to to Q or Glass but from what I am seeing and hearing it is no better.I am in the process of renegotiating all my contracts so lets see what they have to offer.

[Angie19]

Why is the court selection not working on sky sport tennis 

Moderator note: Changed title to reflect topic more.

[RichAA1]

I've just started watching Monte Carlo via NOW, noticed that there is no commentary on the Draper match when watching the Bonus streams but the same match has commentary on the Sky Tennis channel? I prefer to watch without ads so how come no commentary???

[tonyp17]

@RichAA1 

I agree. I think Prime Video was like this for a while.

It is also extremely irritating that with more courts being used today because of the rain delay this morning the Red button option is almost useless as so many matches cannot be watched.

I am also finding the Red button is regularly losing contact and has to be restarted. Sky need to resolve this problem.

My internet is working fine.

[Oddie2004]

Tennis is a complete shambles and the most unprofessional of all Sky,s sport channels which I do find strange because surely it would just follow a similar format to cricket and football with options on Red Button not being an issue.It looks to me that having paid a lot of money for the broadcast rights for the next 5 years they are not looking to invest significantly in the product like before they lost it to Prime.

Also Monte Carlo Masters is a 1000 event so it appears that having advertised professional analysis by Tim Henman,Laura Robson etc at all tournaments this is not the case and we just have Gigi Salmon talking from where could be anywhere and various ex players or coaches giving their thoughts alongside the commentator.

Instead of deciding to do smaller 250/500 events and throwing their eggs all in to one basket they should have just done 1000 WTA/ATP and all the Grand Slams instead of what is now a lot of tournaments that due to time differences around the world and also the top players only competing in the bigger tournaments has just left them with a mish mash of mainly rubbish and now a few months down the line do not really seem to care what people think.Yes there are alternatives but why pay for something again because it is so badly broadcast.

[TimmyBGood]

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@Oddie2004 wrote:

surely it would just follow a similar format to cricket and football with options on Red Button not being an issue.

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I'd suggest that in particular the early stages of a tennis tournament are very different to either of those other sports, and more so when WTA and ATP are holding simultaneous events in very different locations.

A full afternoon of PL football might be the closest analogy, but realistically that has at least an order of magnitude more investment in facilities and staffing for an absolute maximum of ten matches, several of which won't be broadcast.

[Z0eR0berts]

@fortesque .  Also, a couple of the commentators, one man, one woman, whisper,  like they don't want anyone to overhear what they say!  Well, they get their wish with me.  

[Martin1009]

As it says - why are Sky showing the same match from Monte Carlo on two channels and not showing the other current match at all?  Ery frustrating for fans of Alex De Minaur!

[RichAA1]

Further to my previous post re lack of commentary on the live courts at Monte Carlo, I emailed ViewerR and was told to contact NOW as it's a different platform. So, can someone who watches directly on Sky please confirm if the content via the red button is the same, ie no commentary on the live courts feeds, only the match shown on the Sky Tennis channel (and ads!) has commentary- I thought the content would be the same on NOW but perhaps Not? Thanks 

[tonyp17]

@RichAA1 

I made the same point in post 1177 and I am a Sky Q viewer.

The response you received seems to show how little Sky are concerned.

To fob you off like that is disgraceful.

When Sky last covered tennis we could email direct to the commentators particularly Marcus Buckland.

I would like to think they are embarrassed by the poor service.

Perhaps Tim Henman and others are missing by choice.

The Red button is useless as it means match has to be watched live or is unavailable!

Come on Sky. Give subscribers more matches on demand like Discovery+.

[SKY1992bf]

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@Martin1009 wrote:

As it says - why are Sky showing the same match from Monte Carlo on two channels and not showing the other current match at all?  Ery frustrating for fans of Alex De Minaur!

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@Martin1009 if a current game is not on a main channel then it'll be available via the red button/sky sports app