Sky Sports have been forced to issue an apology after suffering technical problems that disrupted their Championship coverage on Saturday afternoon. Taking to social media, the broadcaster announced: “We are experiencing technical issues across our football output today, which is affecting our advertised coverage.”
The fixtures hit by the disruption are Portsmouth vs Leicester City, Derby County vs Oxford United and Millwall vs QPR. League One and League Two matches remain accessible via Sky Sports and through the Sky Sports app. The broadcaster had been scheduled to air key second-division and lower-league clashes, but technical issues have led to channel changes. A number of disgruntled fans have voiced their frustration on social media and called for refunds.
On X, @DingDong_doodle fumed: “But you won’t refund paying customers will you!”
While @CraigSumner9 was similarly upset and wrote: “Bloody useless- pay a fortune and you can’t even stream basic football matches.”
@ACosmicGrief was one of many to ask for a refund, writing: “Useless again…should automatically refund.” Their comments were echoed by @OwenJBlanch, who added: “Give our money back then.”
@MichaelS94 said: “Assume I’ll be entitled for a partial refund this week as a result?”
There were more issues with the coverage as @Jackjharcourt fumed: “33 minutes gone and not seen a minute of the game I want to watch expect a months refund cheers.”
It is a crucial encounter for Leicester away at Portsmouth as they battle to preserve their top-flight status. The Foxes, however, are without a win in their last five league outings and currently find themselves four points adrift of safety,
Meanwhile, a victory for Paul Warne’s Derby would propel them to seventh in the table, putting them within touching distance of the play-offs.
They would still require Wrexham to slip up against Stoke City, however, as a win for Wrexham would see them leapfrog Derby into that coveted position.
Second-placed Millwall are keen to consolidate their position in the top three ahead of Ipswich Town’s fixture against Middlesbrough on Sunday.
At the summit of the table, Coventry City clinched promotion to the Premier League for the first time in 25 years following their 1-1 draw at Blackburn Rovers.
A visibly emotional Lampard told Sky Sports after the final whistle: “Incredible moment. Because of how the game had gone, you were worried.
“We knew we were very nearly there, but to get it over the line like this for this club after 25 years, wow. To get automatic promotion as a non-parachute team with three games to go, it makes me feel emotional.”
