This is absolutely piss poor from SKY but I guess you expect that from them. If Piney's confirmed surely it means they assume they will get the rights but thats terrible for hype and advertisements on their channels.
Yeah OK mate, it's all SKY nothing to do with the FFA..
SKY actually have a preferred window to close these deals so they can have adequate amount of time to run promos and as you say build hype, but occasionally things don't always go to plan. Bear in mind you only hear about the deals that are late and not the 100's that are signed with no fuss or delay.
Sky do have a long and storied history of playing chicken with rights-holders to get cut price deals. So while the FFA are hopeless at times it's generally safe to assume that if a rights deal is late in being signed it's because Sky are trying to get a bargain.
For example: the cricket in South Africa last year, the cricket in South Africa this year, the 20/20 a few years ago, the EPL rights, and on and on and on.
did you even read what I wrote? the deals you hear about are only a fraction of the deals that get signed - and yes some prove tricky but the overwhelming majority are signed nice and simple.
EDIT: Actually you are showing a bit of contempt here for SKY - I didn't say it was all the FFA's fault, I just said it wasn't all SKY's.
And yes SKY do like to get good value for rights and not overpay, and that means sometimes there is a difference of opinion in value - sounds similar to lots of different business negoiations to me.