As the competition intensifies from new platforms and new service providers, Sky has one aim: to maintain its leading position in home entertainment.
The number of channels available to our customers now stands at more than 500. That's not to say every viewer is going to watch every channel. But we know that our subscribers appreciate the breadth and depth of viewing choice across every genre, be it news, documentaries, entertainment, movies or sport. By offering the broadest collection of TV services and radio stations, subscription, pay-per-view and free-to-air channels, the digital satellite platform is without parallel and is watched by one in every three homes in UK and Ireland.
At a time when viewing of terrestrial general entertainment channels continues to decline, Sky One remains one of the UK's most-watched digital channels by investing in the best US first-run content, such as 24 and The Simpsons and in innovative domestic commissions including The Match, Brainiac and the forthcoming lavish reimaging of the classic sci-fi fantasy series, The Prisoner. At the other end of the scale, Artsworld sets the pace in comprehensive cultural coverage of opera, dance, classical music, jazz, design, the visual arts, architecture, cinema, literature and the theatre.
Sky now has five sports channels, two dedicated HD services, pay-per-view offerings and streamed programming for broadband internet and mobile devices. Everybody knows Sky Sports for its comprehensive football coverage, ranging from the Barclays Premiership to the UEFA Champions League, but there's a lot more to Sky Sports than football. It's now the home of English npower Test cricket, Guinness Premiership and Heineken Cup rugby and an array of equestrian events, golf, darts, tennis and the most prestigious date in the yachting calendar, the America's Cup. In all, Sky Sports carries some 40,000 hours of coverage a year backed up by the best analysts and commentators in the business.
The Sky Movies subscription channels and the pay-per-view service Sky Box Office screen more than 2,000 films every year including the UK television premieres of movies such as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and Pride and Prejudice. But that's just for starters. We also offer exclusive studio content, interviews, classic films from Hollywood's golden age and the best in arthouse cinema from around the world. Clips, updates and background information are accessible via mobile phones and premium customers can download their choice of around 400 full-length movies via Sky by broadband.
As viewing habits change so to do the way customers consume news. Sky News remains the pioneering 24-hour news channel it has always been, with its award-winning team of correspondents and expert commentators covering breaking news whenever and wherever it happens. Broadcasting from our new purpose-built news studios, Sky News is also now live 24 hours a day online and on video-compatible mobile phones.