Today we’re gearing up for our biggest ever season of Premier League football. We’ll have more live matches on Sky Sports than ever before – 116 in total – and we’ve just announced the first set of live fixtures, taking us from the opening day on 17 August right up to the start of December.

This is always a big moment in our pre-season preparations. But this year it has taken on an extra edge with the arrival of BT as a Premier League broadcaster.  There’s been a lot of noise ever since the rights were awarded just over a year ago, along with plenty of fighting talk from BT themselves. So it’s great that the fixtures are finally out and people can see for themselves that there is no comparison with what we offer.

So what can Sky Sports viewers look forward to in the early past of the season?

First, we’ll have more live matches. By the start of December, we’ll have broadcast 43 matches, more than BT will offer in the entire season.

We’ll also show the biggest matches. Only Sky Sports will show a match involving one of last season’s top four every weekend.  And every single clash between the top four will be exclusively live on Sky Sports, including the Manchester derby on 22 September.

But it’s not just about the biggest clubs. We’ll show every club by October and at least twice by December.  So fans of every Premier League team will be able to follow their side on Sky Sports, unlike BT who won’t show 6 out of 20 clubs in the first set of fixtures.

At Sky Sports, we like to focus on what really matters, which is the choice and quality of coverage that we bring to millions of customers. So we’ve kept quiet while BT has been talking for months about taking matches away from Sky. As it turns out, every match BT is showing has been broadcast previously by ESPN or Setanta.

We think we’ve got the best matches for our viewers and we’re massively excited about the season ahead.  With new managers at Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea, it’s going to be fascinating and there are sure to be surprises. Sky Sports will be there every step of the way.