Sky’s plans are made possible by a subtle but important rule change from Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) this month (via AFP) which allows the makers of free apps to sell content and subscriptions (naturally, Apple gets a cut). Sky’s general manager for mobile David Gibbs says the plan is to build a free audience and sell clips to them (via NMA): “There’s an obvious fit between Football Score Centre and what we might do with our Premier League rights to build on that installed base of users.”

SEE ALSO: Earnings: BSkyB’s Multi-Platform Push To Counter Web TV Threat

News International already shows some Sky clips via its Football 24-7 mobile VOD service, which launched way back in 2007 and charges £5 a month for access or £0.50 per clip.

Good quality mobile sports VOD should be a popular product: while thousands upon thousands of UK footy fans log on to P2P streaming sites each weekend—often to watch Sky’s content illegally and for free—live P2P technology hasn’t stretched to mobile, yet.

More broadly, this is part of Sky’s promise to push content out to platforms beyond its satellite TV service: its Xbox carriage deal is now live, plus Sky channels will soon be available on Windows Media Player and IPTV set-top boxes made by IP Vision. According to CEO Jeremy Darroch, it’s a policy that’s set to continue for good while yet.