Celebrating the start of the new Premier League football season, Sky has confirmed that it will offer free Sky Sports access to all Sky, Virgin Media and TalkTalk viewers this weekend.

With all seven Sky Sports channels to be available to watch at no cost, the Sky Sports Open Day will be held this Saturday, August 16, as the broadcasting giant looks to stave off growing competition from BT Sport.

As well as celebrating the beginning of a new top flight football season, Sky’s free sports access will help ring in the arrival of the new Sky Sports 5 channel (dedicated to European football) which launched earlier today alongside the revamped Sky Sports News HQ.

Kicking off at 6am on Saturday August 16, the period of free sports content will run for 24 hours, ending promptly at 6am on the Sunday morning.

Although existing Sky, Virgin Media and TalkTalk TV users will be offered free access to the channels, viewing will not be extended to the Sky Go and Virgin TV Anywhere mobile platforms.

While some might scoff at this brief tantalising glimpse at the Sky Sports setup, those making use of the free access will be able to enjoy, amongst other things, the Arsenal vs. Crystal Palace Premier League derby (Sky Sports 1, 17:30), Day 2 of the fifth England vs India Test (Sky Sports 2, from 10:30) and Live PGA Golf (Sky Sports 4, 18:00).

In a further bid to get people to sign up to its premium monthly sports service, Sky has confirmed that it will offer a range of introductory offers, including bundling in two years free Sky Broadband Unlimited to new Sky Sports customers.



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