Talking business with Sky Sports MD Jonathan Licht

For this week’s StreamTime Podcast, SportsPro chief executive Nick Meacham dials in with Jonathan Licht, the managing director of UK pay-TV broadcaster Sky Sports.

Up front, senior content manager Chris Stone returns to review other developments in the streaming space, including Viaplay’s UK entry, Ampere Analysis’ latest research on European sports rights spending, and record viewing figures in the Uefa Women’s Champions League.

Then Licht, who joined Sky in 1998 before moving to Sky Sports in 2005, lifts the lid on the broadcaster’s multi-billion dollar partnership with the Premier League and how the company was able to build its business around English soccer’s top flight.

The pair also talk about the impact of Sky’s decision in 2017 to shift from numbered to sports-specific channels, the challenge of new competition entering the UK market, and sports going direct-to-consumer.