Sky Sports is NOT considering pulling the plug on its new Halo initiative despite immediate backlash – with live netball set to be shown on the platform this weekend.
Sky Sports started a new initiative this week which intended to increase the female audience in sport. However, it immediately had the opposite effect with its target audience.
The Sky Sports Halo page on TikTok has received a lot of poor reviews after their first posts this week and many thought it would be axed almost as quickly as it was launched.
Social media users have dubbed the page as ‘tone deaf’ to women, but it seems that the show will still go on regardless of the outrage.
Why isn’t Sky Sports Halo getting cancelled?
Sky Sports F1 presenter Natalie Pinkham (pictured above) launched the Halo project earlier this week at the TikTok awards.
The aim of the idea is to ‘further expand women’s presence as sports fans’, but after an unsuccessful launch, the project is very much up in the air right now.
Following such a negative consensus in Halo’s first week, many fans thought the page would be shut down.
However this doesn’t seem to be the case as Sky Sports is still planning on broadcasting England’s netball match against New Zealand on the TikTok page this weekend.
Introducing Sky Sports Halo – the lil sis of Sky Sports 💫https://t.co/kxwGBk5WWb
A new TikTok channel created specifically for female sports fans.
We’re about ALL sports and championing female athletes.
We’re here for the culture, community and connection.
We don’t just watch… pic.twitter.com/wcm7wdli3B— Sky Sports (@SkySports) November 13, 2025
The Vitality Netball International Series is a three game tournament between England and New Zealand which will be hosted in London and Manchester over the next week.
While the mini series is still expected to be shown on Sky Sports Halo, all other production has come to a halt with an insider claiming the department is hoping the negativity will ‘blow over.’
Despite no official internal talks on its future on Friday, Sky Sports have refrained from posting any more TikTok’s on its Halo account since the initial bad reviews.
Who is Jo Osborne? Driving force behind Halo project
While one user on X (formerly Twitter) commented ‘there wasn’t a single woman in the room when this was discussed’, the project was in fact partly driven by a leading figure in women’s sport.
Jo Osborne is head of Women’s Sport for Sky Sports and she was the project leader behind Halo alongside Audience development and social media head Andy Gill.
When she was first appointed to her role, Osborne said: “I’m delighted to be taking on this role at such a pivotal time for women’s sport.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues across the business and our partners to grow and champion our women’s sport rights and bring this exciting content to an even wider audience.”
But many believe Osborne has directly contradicted her comments from when she was first appointed with a page that has been labelled misogynistic and patronising to women in sport.
It is still unclear what will happen to the Halo idea moving forward, but the broadcast this weekend of an important netball series will need to turn their fortunes around.
