Sky Sports coverage of Rugby Union will be sponsored by Vitality, the healthy living rewards programme from PruHealth and PruProtect for the 2014-15 season.
Vitality will be part of Sky Sports’ biggest ever Rugby Union season, with sponsorship branding around Sky Sports coverage of European Rugby, Guinness PRO12, Top 14, Ireland, France and Italy Autumn Internationals and the IRB World Sevens Series. The sponsorship will also cover repeats, highlights and magazine programming such as The Rugby Club and School of Hard Knocks. In addition, Vitality will receive branding across the Rugby Union section of skysports.com, the Sky Sports Mobile App and on Sky Go.
The health and life insurance brand has strong links with the Rugby Union with former England and British & Irish Lions player, Jonny Wilkinson as one of their Vitality Ambassadors, supporting the healthy living programme that rewards healthy and active lifestyles.
David Shore, Sky Media’s Head of New Business, said of the deal: “we’re delighted to have Vitality on board as a sponsor of Sky’s Rugby Union coverage, they are a perfect fit. They recognise the importance of sport and having Jonny Wilkinson as their ambassador shows how key Rugby Union is for them. The broadcast sponsorship will enable Vitality to reinforce its partnership with viewers at home and on the move”.
Neville Koopowitz, CEO, Vitality for PruHealth and PruProtect said: “This partnership with Sky Sports, as the home of televised rugby union, is an extremely important sponsorship for us and our Vitality programme. We believe in the power of sport to help inspire people to live healthy, active lives and we’re delighted to be working with a brand like Sky to help achieve our goal of changing the game when it comes to people’s health”.
The deal will begin on the week of Sky Sports’ European rugby coverage with the winners of last season’s Heineken Cup, Amlin Challenge Cup, Top 14, PRO12 and Aviva Premiership all featuring live during the first two Rounds.
–ENDS–
For further information, please contact:
Sky | Sky Sports PR | 0207 032 1445
Follow us on twitter @skysports @skysportsrugby
About Sky
Sky is the UK and Ireland’s leading home entertainment and communications company. Around 40% of all homes have a direct relationship with Sky through its range of TV, broadband and home telephony services.
Sky is the UK’s biggest investor in television content, investing more than £2.6 billion a year in channels such as Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky Arts, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky News. Around two-thirds of Sky’s content spend is invested in the UK and Sky is the fastest-growing source of investment in original British programmes. More than 30 million people watch Sky content each week.
Alongside its commitment to offering customers a greater choice of high-quality content, Sky is a leading innovator. Customers enjoy total control and flexibility over their favourite TV through Sky+, watch TV on the move through Sky Go, and enjoy the best quality TV experience at home through High Definition and 3D.
Sky distributes its content broadly over several platforms, including satellite, cable, IPTV, mobile and WiFi. NOW TV, Sky’s second consumer brand, builds on the company’s leadership in internet TV. Sky is also the UK’s fastest-growing home communications company and favourite ‘triple-play’ provider of TV, broadband and home phone.
Sky believes in making a wider contribution to the communities in which it operates by taking positive action on the environment, supporting grassroots sports and increasing access to, and participation in, the arts. Sky employs 25,000 people, has annual revenues of £7.6 billion and is estimated to support a £6.0 billion contribution to UK GDP. Sky is listed on the London Stock Exchange (BSY).
About Vitality
Vitality is the healthy living rewards programme run by PruHealth and PruProtect, that helps people understand how they can improve their own personal health, makes it cheaper and easier for them to get healthy and gives rewards to keep them motivated, through a range of tools and discounts.
PruProtect and PruHealth have partnered with a number of Vitality Ambassadors, Jonny Wilkinson, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Sebastian Coe, who are role models who embody the values of Vitality. They are all using their passion for living a healthy lifestyle to motivate others to make positive changes. Taking small steps today can dramatically improve wellbeing over the long-term, regardless of your current state of health.
Through Vitality, PruHealth’s and PruProtect’s goal is to empower people to live healthy, active lives by making it easy for them through activities such as half price gym memberships or bicycles. Its sponsorship of the Vitality Run Series complements these activities and helps people set and achieve new fitness goals. vitality.co.uk
PruHealth and PruProtect
PruHealth with Vitality is one of the UK’s leading private medical insurers which has pioneered a new style of cover – Behaviour-based Health Insurance. As well as providing first class cover and clinical care for when people are ill, it focuses equally on prevention and keeping people fit and healthy. It launched in the UK in 2004 as a joint venture between two large international financial services companies – Prudential plc and Discovery, a South African listed company operating in the USA, China and Singapore as well as the UK and South Africa. pruhealth.co.uk
PruProtect was launched in September 2007 as an extension of the joint venture between Prudential and Discovery. One of the fastest growing life insurers in the UK, it is unique to the current UK protection market and its suite of products includes Life Cover, Income Protection Cover and severity based Serious Illness Cover, additional benefits and Business Protection. By recognising people’s efforts to look after themselves, PruProtect is able to offer a more comprehensive set of benefits than traditional providers at a very competitive price. pruprotect.co.uk