SKY LAUNCH PLAY-ALONG COMPETITION

SKY SPORTS LAUNCH FIRST PLAY-ALONG FOOTBALL COMPETITION
AS PART of Sky's expanding interactive service, Sky Sports will launch the world’s first play-along football prediction competition on October 21 with winners earning cash prizes of up to £3,000.
Sky Play will make its debut with the live FA Barclaycard Premiership match between Leeds United and Chelsea, broadcast on Sky Sports Extra from 3pm.
After pushing the red button on their digital remote handset to access the new Interactive Services Menu (ISM) – launched earlier this month – viewers then select ‘Sky Play’. The competition offers a range of pre-match predictions such as the time of the first goal, name of first scorer or who will be booked first. Further predictions can be made at half-time, and there are additional ‘pop-up’ predictions to be made during the live match including the result of a free-kick, penalty or the referee’s response to an incident. Viewers can also predict various attacking outcomes right through the match.
Each correct prediction scores points and at the end of the match the final score is submitted via the Sky digibox to check whether the viewer qualifies to win a cash prize.
Sky Sports Extra is available to all subscribers of both Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 on Sky digital.
Sky Play is entered through a premium-rate call via the digibox and domestic phone-line. It’s is a pay-per-play competition. After the viewer accepts to play the game the set-top box makes the call which will cost no more than £1.50. A second, free, call will be made by the digibox to submit top scores after the match.
The new Sky Play application has been developed by Two Way TV with Sky Sports under the partnership announced this summer. It will not only add entertainment and competition to live matches but encourage viewers to watch the match more closely and stay throughout the game.
Two Way TV’s Managing Director Matthew Tims said: “Sky Sports and Two Way TV are the ideal partners to bring together interactive television competitions and live football broadcasting. From the moment Sky Sports first came in to see us and used the TV remote to predict the action in a match, they knew their viewers would relish that same experience. The result is Sky Play, the world’s first live interactive football challenge.” (CD)