Broadcasting of sports events events from the 1980s, mainly horse races and so-called minority sports. In the early 1990s this arrangement was shaken up by the arrival of pay-TV in the form of BSkyB. Their dedicated sports channels have since become the only place for some major sports to be seen. Starting in 2006 the Irish company Setanta Sports emerged as a challenger to Sky Sports' dominance of the British pay-TV sports market; however, Setanta's UK channel went into bankruptcy administration and off the air in 2009. Between 2009 and 2013 ESPN made an attempt to challenge Sky Sports before its British operations were
Sports broadcasting contracts in the United Kingdom Sports broadcasting contracts in the United Kingdom This article refers to sports broadcasting rights in the United Kingdom. For a list of sports broadcasting rights in other countries, see List of sports television broadcast contracts. Certain sporting events are protected by the Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events and must be broadcast live and free-to-air on terrestrial television in the UK. Presently, free-to-air means a TV channel which is free and covers 95% of the population. Qualifying free-to-air channels are BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5. With Ofcom permission, certain events are