Jonathan Licht: How Sky Sports is increasing coverage of women’s sport

This week’s guest on The Game Changers podcast is Jonathan Licht, the managing director of Sky Sports.

After starting his career at Eurosport, Licht joined Sky in 1998. He was appointed Sky Sports managing director last year, and is leading the company into its fourth decade of operation.

Sky Sports has been committed to high-quality women’s sports coverage for decades, first broadcasting women’s cricket in June 1996. Eight years later, it became the first broadcaster to show netball. 

It is now the Women’s Super League’s primary broadcaster, and also shows women’s golf, basketball and boxing. 

During his time at Sky, Licht has overseen a number of initiatives that have made a significant impact on the profile of women’s sport, particularly in cricket, netball, golf and football. 

“I think to say we’ve come a long way, you need to be a little bit careful that you’re not dismissing a lot of very important and strong work,” he said. 

“But I do think there has been a significant change at Sky Sports. Again, I’d be a little bit careful, but in my mind, I can probably see that real sort of fundamental difference over the last five to seven years.

“I talked about the verticals and channels and when we made that change, I think it became a lot clearer what we were and weren’t doing with certain sports. 

“I think at that point, our desire and responsibility to better reflect our audiences, to better reflect the sporting landscape, was much more in demand.

“As I say, we do have very long-standing commitments for women’s sports. I think it would be difficult to argue that it was centre all through our 30 year history, but not to dismiss a lot of work that was done.”

Sky Sports also showcases the best female presenters in sports