Sky Sports News 'taken off the air' due to technical issues

Sky Sports News were affected by a global technical issue on Friday, the broadcaster confirmed.

The official account for the channel took to X to issue a statement on difficulties they were experiencing, hindering them from live coverage.

They encouraged viewers to head to their website for all the latest updates in the sporting world.

The broadcaster wrote: "Due to a global technical issue, Sky Sports News is currently unable to broadcast live.

"For all the latest sports news, scores and action, go to the Sky Sports app or website."

As a solution, Sky Sports News aired a previous segment, showing footage of presenter David Garrido in the studio, discussing the newspaper backpages with journalists.

They confirmed that the golf and cricket coverage on other channels were not affected.

Employee Matt Kabir Floyd commented on the matter, explaining the problems Sky were hit with due to technical problems linked to Microsoft.

The Daily Mail say the issues are a result of a faulty anti-viral update which US cyber security company CrowdStrike have admitted responsibility for.

He said: "Sky Sports News also affected by this global Microsoft situation…nothing really working..not sure when or if we’ll come on air…thank god I woke up at 3.30."

Image: Getty

Sky News had to air old documentary footage at 6am, with a message on screen accompanied by their logo then reading: "We apologise for the interruption to this broadcast. We hope to restore the transmission of Sky News shortly."

Presenter Jacquie Beltrao reacted on X, writing: 'We're obviously not on air - we're trying @SkyNews Breakfast."

Trains, flights and banks have also been hampered by the chaos in the UK, the US and other parts of the world.

On social media, Microsoft said they were "investigating an issue impacting users ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services".