Sky Sports to show Premiership matches in HD

All 138 games available in high definition

3 July 2006 21:45 GMT / By Stuart Miles

So we're out of the World Cup, still, at least it means we can start looking forward to the start of the Premiership.

Sky Sports has announced that it will be showing all 138 live games on Sky Sports and PremPlus in HD and Dolby Digital, giving footie fans a brilliant excuse to sign up to the new service.

To get access to the games in HD, Sky Sports subscribers will have to sign up to Sky HD which currently costs £299 for the box and a further £10 a month in addition to the monthly subscription fees.

Of the 138, 88 of these games will be available by subscribing to Sky Sports HD, while the other 50 games will then be available on PremPlus, which costs £50 for a season ticket on top of your HD and regular subscription rates.

Sky Sports will start the new season of live Barclays Premiership matches with Sheffield United vs Liverpool live on Saturday 19 August.

Announcing the first live fixtures, Vic Wakeling, Managing Director of Sky Sports, commented: "It's something we've been working on for a year, and the results have been superb - the most exciting development in sports broadcasting since the introduction of colour".

Sky Sports will also offer; up to 14 live matches a week from the UEFA Champions League; 70 live matches from the Coca-Cola Football League, the end-of-season Play-Offs, live ties from the FA Cup, Carling Cup and Scottish Tennents Cup and live internationals including European Championship Qualifiers featuring England, Republic of Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.

Not sure what HD is? Read our Need to Know guide here

Not sure whether or not to get Sky HD? Read our review here