11 September 2008
Tennis star Andy Murray helped Sky win a larger share of the viewing figures than commercial channels such as BBC1 and ITV1 on Monday. Almost 1.2 million digital TV customers tuned into Sky Sports 1 on the evening of September 8th to watch the athlete play Roger Federer at the US Open. This made it the most watched channel in multichannel homes after 22:45 BST, with the number of viewers peaking at 1.36 million, the Guardian reports. Murray lost to his rival in straight sets, but that didn't stop the majority of digital TV viewers from switching over. Indeed, Sky Sports 1 was not overtaken in the viewing figures stakes until 0:15 BST, when ITV1 took the top spot. BBC1 was the second-most watched channel of the evening as viewers tuned in to watch Piers Morgan's new series The Dark Side of Fame. According to Broadcastnow, 1.03 million people watched Sky Sports 1 on Sunday evening when Murray beat Rafael Nadal.