Sky Sports Active is a term used by British TV channel,
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
, to describe its interactive sports service. It was launched in April 1999, on
Sky Sports 1. Presented by Richard Keys, the first
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
game that was interactive was
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
vs.
Manchester United
Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...
, and it was exclusive to
Sky Digital viewers. It is still available by the push of the red button on the viewer's remote control. Viewers can then choose how they watch selected sporting events. They can select alternative camera angles, access various statistics, catch up with match highlights, choose between live matches and place bets through their TV.
Sky Sports Active has proved to be successful. After the praise of the first interactive game, Sky Sports decided to continue the service week by week. Soon Sky offered other sports in the interactive format such as
cricket
Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
,
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
and
rugby. Other developments in their interactive football output have included UEFA Champions League Interactive and
Football First.
{{Sky Sports
Sky Sports
1999 in British television
Products introduced in 1999
1999 establishments in the United Kingdom