Dave Craven: Happy 20th birthday to a sports channel in league of their own

So, if you are as dedicated as the rest of us at finding that routine fix of sporting action, you will all no doubt have been unable to avoid a certain event which has been incessantly promoted over recent weeks and months.

No, not that wedding which is due to take place down in the Big Smoke some time soon. Something far more grandiose – yes, the 20th anniversary of Sky Sports.

The satellite broadcasters celebrate two decades of their ground-breaking service on Wednesday, and the list of sport’s greatest occasions they have covered with venerable quality during that period seems bottomless.

From epic heavyweight title fights, emotional Ryder Cup rollercoaster rides to the sheer majesty of victorious British Lions tours and England’s long-awaited recapturing of the Ashes, pictured Andrew Flintoff, they have done it all.

And that is before the compelling drama that the ubiquitous Premier League football has provided is even considered. They have blazed a trail.

Sky Sports headed into their landmark year following a record 12 months that included more hours of sport than ever before; in 2010 viewers could choose from 44,000 hours across five core Sky Sports channels – a five per cent increase on the previous year.

Sky Sports 1 alone has a monthly reach of 8.5m and, since its launch on April 20 1991, the channel has transformed both the amount of sport the British public can watch and also the manner in which it is viewed with its constant improving technology.

In recent times, they have introduced both higher definition pictures and 3D footage – Arsenal v Manchester United on January 31 last year was the world’s first live sports 3D broadcast – but long before these exciting additions they revitalised sports broadcasting with their bold innovation.

The investment made by Sky into football – its golden egg – has reached billions with opinion largely polarised whether it has been for the better.

It helped attract more high-quality foreign players to strengthen the competition which is now rated the best in Europe and stadiums have certainly improved in the intervening years but absurdly spiralling wages have also seen numerous clubs hit financial strife.

And it has also spawned the monotonously depressing 24-hour rolling Sky Sports News channel.

There is less divide when it comes to the affect the broadcasters have had on rugby league although the RFL chief executive Maurice Lindsay became the most hated and reviled person in the game when he first announced plans to accept Rupert Murdoch’s millions and form a Super League in 1996.

He was derided for “selling the soul” of the game to the increasingly power-hungry satellite monster – people forgot the Stones Bitter Championship had been televised by Sky for the previous four years – and found himself accosted in the street by irate supporters incandescent that he dare mess with their sport.

That was largely due to the initial ill-conceived idea of merging clubs to do so – Wakefield, Castleford and Featherstone would combine to make Calder, Sheffield and Doncaster join as South Yorkshire, Cumbria would be represented while the two Hull clubs were to be named Humberside.

It was fanciful to say the least that bizarre plan would ever materialise.

The other radical aspect of the blueprint was that, after 100 years, the game would switch from winter to summer.

Thankfully, the clubs did accept that move was necessary. Fifteen years on, after much initial disquiet, you would be hard pressed to find a player, coach or administrator who does not believe it was the right decision.

Even the most ardent traditional fan who revelled in watching their team slug it out on a muddy, wet field in freezing December, where it was impossible to distinguish who was playing for who, would have to concede the advent of Super League brought plenty of positives.

The principal one was a desperately required injection of money. Lindsay secured a gargantuan leap, moving from a £300,000 per year deal with the BBC to one amounting to £87m over five years with the satellite broadcasters.

“Super League will represent a dramatic sea change in approach, a quantum leap in thinking,” he said.

“Life is changing. We have to change with it. You can’t stop history developing.”

Despite his demonic status, Lindsay stood firm amid all the protest marches and demonstrations, realising the clubs would vote having seen the sums of money available and knowing the fans – although certainly not those from Keighley who were mercilessly denied a spot they earned – would largely learn to appreciate his vision.

“Like it or not, rugby league was going,” said Lindsay. “A lot of people didn’t want to admit it, but it was. Something had to happen. There were many people who thought the News Corporation deal was the death knell for rugby league, when all I had done was bring back all these good tidings.”

The results are plain to see. The Sky investment has helped fuel a massive transformation and re-branding of the sport.

Playing standards are up, the spectacle is more family-friendly in modern stadiums, pre-match entertainment proving a major development, crowds have subsequently increased and there has been numerous advancements – the introduction of video referees and the Grand Final concept being two obvious bi-products of Sky Sports’ involvement.

Undoubtedly, of all the sports it covers, Sky Sports has played a crucial and lasting role in the history and development of the 13-man code.

Now they need to decide how much they want to keep the baby they have nurtured, with ESPN looming and potentially ready to show it even more love.

Have Sky reached their limit now?

WHETHER we will be eulogising about Sky Sports on their 40th anniversary is highly unlikely.

While Rupert Murdoch’s empire is impressively far-reaching it is far from untouchable.

Broadcast rivals ESPN are growing their presence and it is widely believed they will secure the Holy Grail of Premier League football rights the next time they are up for grabs in two years’ time in 2013.

It seems unthinkable Murdoch’s vast riches will be challenged but given ESPN are backed by the gargantuan global giant Disney he suddenly does not look quite as domineering.

He may finally experience what a hefty defeat tastes like.

The question for other sports, especially rugby league whose television deal expires this year, is do they switch now, thus losing a share of the bigger TV audience which Sky currently offers?

Or do they take a short-term hit on figures and establish themselves now with ESPN, who are already investing heavily in rugby union, in readiness for the potential long-term gains once the new kid on the block is up and running with that crucial football contract?