"Sky have the most powerful brand and hold the strongest market position in pay TV, withSky Sports holding the majority of key content, Sky are recognised for their long history ofdelivering very high quality content and innovation (Appendix I, II, Ill), The advantage ismeaningful to customers through content, Sky hold the majority share of the content that isimportant to consumers (Ofcom, 2015), the innovation consistently provided by Sky providescustomers with the very best viewing experience wherever and whenever they want it,through exploiting new technologies (Sky, 2015), the consumer value is shown through highlevels of customer loyalty (Marketing Week, 2012)Given what is said above the problem faced by Sky Sports then is not so much how todevelop a competitive advantage over BT Sport, but how to sustain it. (Wilson & Gilligan,2005)Where Do We Want to be?Sky need to define a vision of how the organisation should look in three years time, this willdrive the objectives and the marketing planning process (Wilson and Gilligan, 2005). Thissection of the report will consider the objectives that are to be met, and the formulation of astrategy to meet the objectives.The report has found that Sky are the pay TV market segment leader in sports broadcasting,and has explored sources the author believes represent competitive advantage for Sky Sports(Rogers, 2015). the main overarching objective therefore is for Sky Sports to retain thisleadership position. The strategy for doing this is: to be the IJK's first choice provider of highquality sports content that is important to consumers, by exploiting innovation in contentdelivery' or put simpler: through sustaining existing competitive advantage (Wilson &Gilligan, 2005) In developing and sustaining competitive advantage there needs to be recognition that anyadvantage an organisation or brand possesses that is at all meaningful will be copied orimproved upon by competitors. This can be seen through BT Sport's entry into Premierleague rights, taking 25% of the share, further demonstrated through their winning ofChampions League and FA Cup rights previously held by Sky Sports (Appendix II), this isBT replicating an offering of Key content and copying a winning strategy. Sky's innovationhas been widely copied by BT in providing a digital recording box to enable time-shiftedviewing: on demand services, access to BT Sport content on a range of screens both primaryand secondary and access to content on the go via Apps on Smartphones and tablets (BT,2015), at present this report considers that BT Sports strategy has no real advantage over SkySports, as they are positioning themselves as a 'me-tool player (Wilson & Gilligan, 2005)Sky needs to sustain the advantage through innovation, staying ahead of BT, and thinking ofnew ways in which the customer can be enthused, excited and delighted by the services andthe content being delivered by Sky Sports (Wilson & Gilligan, 2015). A further reason forinnovation to maintain advantage is that customers expectations tend to rise over time, so anoffering that is different and an order winner today is simply seen by the customer as anorder qualifier tomorrow (Wilson & Gilligan, 2005), this can be directly applied to theanalysis being provided for BT Sports, they have had to copy Sky's content strategy andinnovation in order to qualify for consumers subscriptions. Objectives and strategy should becompatible with the environmental conditions, therefore Sky Sports in addressing the secondquestion of where we want to be, need to focus on the key, fundamental issues ofenvironmental threats and opportunities as well as the strengths and weaknesses of theorganisation itself (Wlson & Gilligan, 2005).A current trend that affects Sky Sports is changing viewing habits, with time spent byconsumers watching traditional broadcast TV falling (Appendix I). These accords with thecollective industry strategy of TV Everywhere (Appendix I). TVE is an enhancement to the traditional form of TV by allowing viewing off the primary TV screen and onto secondaryscreens such as PC's, Laptops, Smailphone and tablets etc through Internet and mobileenabled services (Appendix If). A tandem trend is time-shifted viewing, that is on recordingdevices such as a Sky+ box, or accessing content via 'Catch-up' or "On-Demand' services(Appendix III), This is a strength that can be exploited through Sky's strength in innovation(Appendix Ill).To exploit the trend, there is a need for Sky Sports to engage in product-differentiatedmarketing, this is as much about offering existing customers greater variety, resulting incustomer retention, rather than simply appealing to new customers (Wilson & Gilligan,2005). The move towards product-differentiated marketing can be seen as an interim steptowards target marketing, this leads to a concentration of effort on a target market (Wilson &Gilligan, 2005), the Chartered Institute of Marketing cited in Gavris and McLeod (2014)defines target markets as the choice of which market segment or segments to serve with atailored marketing mix (Gavris & McLeod, 2014)Sky have segmented the pay TV market, one of the market segments is Sports Broadcastingand is served by Sky Sports, by doing this Sky are attempting to break the market into morestrategically manageable parts that can be targeted and satisfied more precisely (Wilson &Gilligan, 2005). Environmental scanning (Appendix I) has identified a current trend of TVE,this is evidence of another segment with potential growth that aligns with Sky's strength ininnovation, aligns with Sky's objective and strategy and can be exploited through a tailoredmarketing mix (Wilson & Gilligan, 2005), A target audience is that of young adults aged 16 -34, this consumer group has been identified as the most likely to be without a working TV setin the home, interestingly, by age. Time-shifted viewing is the most prevalent among asimilar age group of 25 - 34 year olds (Ofcom, 2015)A third strand of marketing strategy following on from segmentation and positioning is thatof positioning, simply this involves deciding upon the position within the market that the product is to occupy, in positioning Sky Sports and its TVE offerings Sky is stating tocustomers what the products) means and how it differs from the competition, for exampleSky position themselves as the high quality content choice in the sports broadcasting segmentof pay TV, with their 'Believe in Better' campaign (\\Nilson & Gilligan, 2004. Sky, 2015)How will we get there?The final section of the report will explore the plans that can be implemented to execute thestrategy and achieve the objectives, the basis of these plans lies in the marketing mix (Wlson& Gilligan, 2005) The management of the marketing mix has as its principle purpose thecreation of demand for the product or service (Wilson & Gilligan, 2005)The single most important element of the marketing mix is the product; Sky whenconsidering its specific TVE products need to take account of three distinct elements: 1)Product attributes - including such elements as features, quality, brand name and design, 2)Product benefits - these are the elements that customers recognise as meetings their needs,and 3) Product Marketing Support Services - these are the elements that sky provide inaddition to the core TVE Products, delivery, installation: after sales services and reputation(Wilson & Gilligan. 2005)An important point for Sky's marketing strategy and implementation is encapsulated in theidea of the product as a 'bundle of potential satisfactions': where the product being marketedby Sky consists of a far broader concept than simply a physical entity: there are intangiblesassociated with the physical product that are perceived by the consumer in terms of satisfyingexperiences and benefits they provide Olson & Gilligan, 2005)The report identified earlier that BT Sport are engaging in a "me-tool product strategy tocompete with Sky Sports, whereas on the other hand Sky Sports need to follow a 'marketleader' product strategy, the majority of leaders retain their 'leadership position through "