Timeline of other British sports channels facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

This timeline shows when different sports channels and streaming services started in the UK. It focuses on channels that are not Sky Sports, BT Sport, or Premier Sports/FreeSports. You'll also learn about sports events shown on regular TV channels (not just sports ones) and online streaming platforms.

1980s: Early Sports Channels
1990s: New Channels and Big Events
2000s: More Channels and Streaming Begins
2010s: Streaming Grows and Channels Change
2020s: The Rise of Streaming
See also

1980s: Early Sports Channels

1984
- March 29 – Screensport begins! It's the UK's very first TV channel just for sports. It showed programs across Europe. At first, everything was recorded, not live.
- August 31 – Screensport shows its first live event: greyhound racing.
1985
- September 17 – Screensport broadcasts the Football League Super Cup. This was a special football competition. The channel also starts showing the Freight Rover Trophy, another English football tournament.
1986
- September 30 – Screensport broadcasts the final of the only Football League Super Cup.
1987
- July – Screensport makes a deal with Thames Television. This means Screensport can show 34 recorded football matches. It was the only place to see longer highlights of the league that season.
1988
- September 5 – S4C launches a sports show called Sgorio. It shows highlights of European football, like games from La Liga and Serie A.
- December 7 – ESPN buys more shares in Screensport. Screensport now broadcasts for 18.5 hours every day! It shows ice hockey, skiing, golf, tennis, and yachting.
1989
- February 5 – Sky Television launches. One of its new channels is Eurosport, which Sky helped create. Eurosport's first night was all about winter sports.
- February – Screensport starts broadcasting on the Astra 1A satellite. This helps many more people in the UK watch the channel.

1990s: New Channels and Big Events

1990
- March 25 – BSB launches a sports channel called The Sports Channel.
1991
- April 20 – Sky TV and BSB join together. BSB’s Sport Channel closes. The next day, Sky Sports takes its place.
- May 6–22 – Eurosport closes briefly. Another channel, Screensport, had complained about its setup. Later, TF1 Group takes over from BSkyB as Eurosport's co-owner.
1993
- March 1 – Screensport closes. It joins with Eurosport, hoping to become more successful.
1994
- Wire TV starts showing more sports. It launches an evening sports block called Sportswire. It shows football, darts, and Lennox Lewis's boxing fights.
- June 17–July 17 – Eurosport is the only channel to show all the group stage games of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The BBC and ITV only showed some games.
1995
- January – Eurosport takes over from Sky Sports as the channel for the Australian Open tennis. It has shown the event live ever since.
- June – A deal between TCI, NYNEX, and BSkyB stops cable companies from launching channels that compete with Sky. This causes Sportswire to close just before it was meant to become a full-time channel.
- October 7–28 – L!VE TV shows many matches from the 1995 Rugby League World Cup. It showed many games that no other main broadcaster did.
- L!VE TV also shows the World Masters darts tournament.
- The Racing Channel launches. It's the UK's first channel just for one sport: horse racing.
1996
- October 13 – Formula One coverage on Eurosport ends. It used to show all the practice and qualifying sessions.
1997
- A Welsh-language rugby union show called Clwb Rygbi starts on S4C.
1998
- September 10 – MUTV launches. It's the first TV channel for a football club in the UK.
1999
- May 1 – Extreme Sports Channel launches.
- September – "Champions on 28" and "Champions on 99" launch. They show live and recorded UEFA Champions League matches for ONdigital customers.
- British Eurosport launches. This means live studio shows for big events.

2000s: More Channels and Streaming Begins

2000
- September – ONsport launches. It replaces the Champions channels. ONsport 1 broadcasts 24 hours a day. ONsport 2 shares time with another channel.
2001
- March – The motorsports channel Motors TV launches in the UK.
- August 11 – ONsport closes after the ITV Sport Channel launches.
2002
- March 1 – F1 Digital+ launches. It offers special multi-screen coverage of Formula One for a fee.
- May 1 – At The Races launches.
- August 13 – Chelsea TV launches.
- December 5 – NASN launches to show live and recorded North American sports.
- December 12 – After just one season, F1 Digital+ closes.
2003
- January – Eurosport starts showing Serie A football.
- January – The Racing Channel closes after being on air since 1995.
- Eurosport broadcasts snooker for the first time. It later shows a lot of snooker in the UK and Europe.
2004
- March 15 – The Wrestling Channel launches.
- March 29 – At the Races closes because of money problems.
- May 29 – Racing UK launches.
- June 11 – At the Races relaunches on its own.
- July 26 – Celtic TV and Rangers TV launch.
- August – Irish sports broadcaster Setanta Sports takes over showing the Scottish Premier League from the BBC.
2005
- January 10 – Eurosport launches a second channel, Eurosport 2.
- September – Bravo and Setanta Sports start showing Serie A football together.
- October 7 – UKTV announces it will start showing sports. In 2006, UKTV G2 shows highlights of the RBS Six Nations rugby, 2006 FIFA World Cup coverage, and basketball.
2006
- March 8 – Racing TV launches an international racing channel called Racing World. Racing TV then focuses on UK horse racing.
- March 13 – NASN buys the rights to show ten live Major League Baseball games a week.
- March 13 – The UK’s first classic sports channel ESPN Classic launches.
- June 17–18 – Motors TV broadcasts the Le Mans 24 Hours race fully.
- August 25 – Setanta Sports starts showing regular non-league football.
- December 4 – The Wrestling Channel relaunches as TWC Fight!
- December 23 – Bravo stops showing Serie A because not enough people were watching. Setanta Sports continues to show it.
2007
- January 11 – Setanta Sports launches a golf channel called Setanta Golf.
- March – ESPN buys NASN. This means ESPN's popular shows like Baseball Tonight return.
- June 9 – S4C shows the first of four live Celtic Crusaders rugby league matches.
- August 11 – Setanta Sports shows the first of its 46 matches from the Premier League.
- September – Frank Warren's boxing promotions mostly move to Setanta Sports.
- September 20 – LFC TV, a channel for Liverpool F.C., launches.
- November 29 – Setanta Sports News launches. It's a new sports news channel.
- December 31 – The Golf Channel UK closes because it couldn't get enough viewers.
2008
- January 14 – Arsenal TV launches.
- January – TWC Fight! relaunches as The Fight Network (UK & Ireland).
- February – Setanta Sports starts showing one live game a week from the British Basketball League.
- May 18 – Setanta Sports shows full live coverage of the first cricket Indian Premier League.
- June 14–15 – Coverage of Le Mans moves to Eurosport.
- August – Setanta Sports starts showing the England football team and the FA Cup. The BBC no longer has rights to the FA Cup for the first time.
- December 1 – The Fight Network (UK & Ireland) closes.
2009
- February 1 – NASN is renamed ESPN America.
- June 22 – ESPN announces it will take over the 46 Premier League games that Setanta Sports used to show.
- June 23 – Setanta Sports stops broadcasting in the UK. Setanta Golf and Setanta Sports News also close. Football club channels Celtic TV and Rangers TV close, but later return online. Arsenal TV closes a month later.
- June 25 – Eurosport gets the TV rights for golf's PGA Tour for the rest of 2009.
- August 3 – ESPN launches in the UK. It takes over many sports rights that Setanta Sports had, including the Premier League. It also adds the Scottish Premier League, FA Cup, and Europa League.
- August 8 – ESPN becomes the only broadcaster for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
- August 24 – Racing World closes.
- September 25 – ESPN brings National Rugby League to the UK.
- October 17 – Pay-per-view channel Primetime launches.

2010s: Streaming Grows and Channels Change

2010
- March 1 – A European version of SportsCenter starts on ESPN America.
- March 10–12 – ESPN shows the first ever Winter X Games Europe.
- March 12–14 – ESPN broadcasts the 2010 World Indoor Athletic Championships.
- June 21 – ESPN America starts broadcasting in high definition (HD).
- July 22–31 – ESPN shows the first Caribbean Twenty20 cricket tournament.
- July 29–August 1 – Bravo shows darts for the first and only time.
- August – S4C starts showing a live match from the Welsh Premier League every Saturday.
- September – ESPN starts showing live coverage of 43 matches per season from the English Premiership.
2011
- January 12 – ESPN signs a deal to show exclusive coverage of the World Rally Championship.
- April 13 – ESPN shows the first of six matches from the new FA Women's Super League.
- July 6 – ESPN announces a deal with the British Darts Organisation. It becomes the exclusive broadcaster of the World Masters and other BDO tournaments.
- July 14 – Boxing channel BoxNation launches.
2012
- January 7 – ESPN starts sharing coverage of the BDO World Darts Championship with the BBC.
- April – ESPN America stops broadcasting a European version of SportsCentre.
- June 12 – BT wins the rights to 38 Premier League matches each season. These rights were held by ESPN UK.
- August 11–31 – ESPN shows the first cricket Sri Lanka Premier League.
- September – ESPN starts showing one game per round from the UEFA Europa League.
- September 20–23 – ESPN shows the 2012 Darts European Championship. It's the first time a British broadcaster shows both BDO and PDC tournaments.
2013
- February 25 – BT agrees to buy ESPN's UK and Ireland TV channels, including ESPN and ESPN America.
- March – British Eurosport starts showing FIM World Speedway.
- August 1 – At midnight, before BT Sport launches, ESPN UK, ESPN America, and ESPN Classic close.
- September 9 – Eurosport becomes the new broadcaster of the NFL's Monday Night Football.
- October 26 – The British Basketball League decides to create its own online channel for matches.
- December 21 – Pay-per-view channel Primetime closes.
2014
- February 4–9 – Eurosport shows the first BDO World Trophy.
- February 8 – BoxNation begins broadcasting in high definition.
- July 21 – QUEST shows sports coverage for the first time.
- October 9 – Motors TV launches on Freeview.
2015
- June 9 – ESPN is rebranded as BT Sport ESPN.
- September – S4C begins showing one live match from each round of rugby union's Pro 12 competition.
- November 13 – British Eurosport changes its name to Eurosport 1.
- December 10 – Bike launches in the UK.
2016
- January 6 – UKTV announces that Dave will show its first live sporting event: a boxing match. Later, Dave broadcasts the 2016 BDO World Trophy darts and cricket's Caribbean Premier League.
- March 14 – Racing UK begins broadcasting in high-definition.
- May 28–30 – UKTV channel Dave shows the 2016 BDO World Trophy darts again.
- June 27 – Eurosport shows live coverage of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships for the first time. This is the first time since 1968 that the BBC is not the only broadcaster of Wimbledon in the UK.
- Eurosport starts showing some of its snooker coverage on free-to-air channel Quest.
- October – A free-to-air sports channel Front Runner launches.
- December 31 – Extreme Sports Channel stops broadcasting in the UK.
2017
- March 1 – Motors TV relaunches as Motorsport.tv. It also starts broadcasting in high definition.
- Front Runner shows the 2017 British GT Championship.
- May 26–29 – The 2017 BDO World Trophy is broadcast by Front Runner.
- May – Dave replaces Sky Sports as broadcaster of tennis' Tie Break Tens tournament.
- August 28–September 10 – Eurosport shows the US Open for the final time.
- September – After less than two years, Bike closes.
2018
- June 7 – It's announced that Amazon Prime will livestream 20 Premier League matches a season for the next three seasons.
- June 18 – Amazon Prime shows its first live sport in the UK: the Queen's Club tennis tournament.
- August – Eleven Sports UK and Ireland launches. It's an online streaming service, not a TV channel. It shows European football leagues.
- August 8 – EFL on Quest is broadcast for the first time.
- August 9–12 – Eleven Sports broadcasts the 2018 PGA Championship. This is the first time a major golf event in the UK is only available on a streaming platform.
- August 27 – Amazon Prime broadcasts the US Open for the first time. This is the first time a major sporting event is only available via streaming.
- September 30 – After more than 17 years, Motorsport.tv closes its TV channel and switches to online streaming only.
- December 17 – Racing UK rebrands itself as Racing TV.
2019
- January – Eleven Sports gives up most of its football rights, passing them to Premier Sports.
- February – Amazon Prime takes over as the UK broadcaster of the tennis ATP World Tour.
- June 30 – After 18 seasons, Chelsea TV closes as a TV channel. It continues as an online-only service.
- December 3 – Amazon Prime shows its first live Premier League football matches.

2020s: The Rise of Streaming

2020
- January 6 – Amazon Prime Video expands its tennis coverage. It takes over as the UK broadcaster of the WTA, showing 49 tournaments a year.
- March – Eurosport replaces BT Sport as the channel for British Speedway.
- June 16 – Eurosport starts showing Norway’s top football competition Eliteserien.
- September 8 – All September's Premier League games are shown on TV because fans can't be in stadiums due to COVID-19. This includes a weekly 3pm Saturday match, shown on TV in the UK for the first time, with one on Amazon Prime.
- November 14 – Amazon Prime Video broadcasts rugby union for the first time.
2021
- February 1 – UK greyhound racing moves to a new channel called Sporty Stuff HD.
- May 13 – The Premier League announces that Amazon Prime will pay the same amount for the same packages for the next three years.
- July – Fights promoted by Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Sport move from Sky Sports to streaming service DAZN.
- October 30 – Amazon Prime Video starts showing almost all autumn international rugby matches played by the Six Nations countries.
2022
- April 2–10 – Eurosport becomes the only broadcaster of the World Darts Federation's World Championships.
- May – EFL on Quest is broadcast for the final time. Highlights of the English Football League will move from Quest to ITV.
- June – For the first time, the French Open tennis tournament is shown only on pay television by Eurosport.
- September 11 – Amazon Prime ends its coverage of the US Open (tennis).
- September 24–26 – Eurosport becomes the only broadcaster of tennis' Laver Cup until 2030.
- October – The National Hockey League's UK TV rights move to Scandinavian streaming service Viaplay.
2023
- February 21 – Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA announces that the Eurosport brand will disappear. The UK channels will become part of TNT Sports.
- March 29–May 28 – DAZN broadcasts cricket for the first time, sharing coverage with Sky Sports for the 2023 Indian Premier League.