Sky holds a large amount of prominent sports rights in the UK, including English cricket. (Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

UK pay-TV giant Sky has revealed that it has more than doubled its annual losses year-on-year for the 2023 calendar year.

The company made an operating loss of £224 million ($290.3 million), more than double the £111 million it lost across the 2022 calendar.

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This doubling in loss came even though Sky grew total revenue marginally, to £10.45 billion up from £10.31 billion a year prior, and direct-to-consumer revenue up to £8.5 billion, an increase owed mainly to price increases.

Sky attributed the growing loss mostly to consumers ‘cutting the cord’, in short moving away from the traditional cable set-top-box subscription model and towards OTT streaming services for content consumption, as well as the rising cost of living seeing many cut back on premium TV packages.

TV production costs also increased due to the higher number of English Premier League soccer (one of Sky’s flagship sports rights) matches produced for television than in other years due to congestion caused by the timing of the 2022 FIFA World Cup (which was hosted mid-season in November-December 2022).

The growth and saturation of streaming services in the UK, including sports streaming services such as DAZN, has diluted Sky’s market share, and with further additions to the market set to come (Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max is set to launch in 2026), the Comcast-owned broadcaster may yet be set for tougher times soon.

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Alongside the Premier League, Sky holds many of the highest-profile sports rights in the UK, including motor racing’s Formula 1 series, American football’s National Football League, English domestic and international cricket, and PGA Tour golf, among others.

Over 2023, Sky was also affected by losses in its German and Italian businesses, both of which are also major pay-TV sports players in their respective territories.