For other uses, see Sky TelevisionThe name Sky Television may refer to:*British Sky Broadcasting in the United Kingdom as Sky Digital. Formed in 1990 by the 50:50 financial merger of Sky Television plc and British Satellite Broadcasting....
.
Sky Television plc (1989-1990) was a
public limited companyA public limited company is a type of limited liability company in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland which is permitted to offer its shares to the public.A public limited company must include the words "public limited company" or its...
which operated its four-channel satellite television service, launched by
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC , usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-born American global media mogul. He owns media outlets and is a major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation ....
's
News InternationalNews International Ltd is a British newspaper publisher owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
on 5 February 1989. Sky Television and rival
British Satellite BroadcastingBritish Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...
were suffering massive losses and entered into a 50:50 financial merger in November 1990 to form
British Sky BroadcastingBritish Sky Broadcasting is a company that operates Sky Digital, a subscription television service in the UK and Ireland. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. It is the UK's largest pay TV provider...
(BSkyB).
In 1983 Rupert Murdoch's News International acquired 80% of Satellite Television UK (SATV), one of the earliest satellite television channels which broadcast from the OTS-2 Orbital Test Satellite to a pan-European audience.
For other uses, see Sky TelevisionThe name Sky Television may refer to:*British Sky Broadcasting in the United Kingdom as Sky Digital. Formed in 1990 by the 50:50 financial merger of Sky Television plc and British Satellite Broadcasting....
.
Sky Television plc (1989-1990) was a
public limited companyA public limited company is a type of limited liability company in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland which is permitted to offer its shares to the public.A public limited company must include the words "public limited company" or its...
which operated its four-channel satellite television service, launched by
Rupert MurdochKeith Rupert Murdoch, AC , usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-born American global media mogul. He owns media outlets and is a major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation ....
's
News InternationalNews International Ltd is a British newspaper publisher owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
on 5 February 1989. Sky Television and rival
British Satellite BroadcastingBritish Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...
were suffering massive losses and entered into a 50:50 financial merger in November 1990 to form
British Sky BroadcastingBritish Sky Broadcasting is a company that operates Sky Digital, a subscription television service in the UK and Ireland. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. It is the UK's largest pay TV provider...
(BSkyB).
History
In 1983 Rupert Murdoch's News International acquired 80% of Satellite Television UK (SATV), one of the earliest satellite television channels which broadcast from the OTS-2 Orbital Test Satellite to a pan-European audience. 'Satellite Television' was launched on 26 April 1982. The company was a lossmaking enterprise and Murdoch purchased the operation for the sum of £1 plus outstanding debts. The service was renamed Sky Channel in January 1984. The channel became widely available in the
Republic of IrelandIreland is a country in north-western Europe. The modern sovereign state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned on 3 May 1921. It is a parliamentary democracy and a republic...
in 1987. It was relaunched as the multi-channel Sky Television on 5 February 1989 and was one of the first Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) services in the world to become operational. The service had four channels on the
Astra 1AAstra 1A was the first satellite launched and operated by Société Européenne des Satellites , now SES Astra. During its early days, it was often referred to as the Astra Satellite, as SES only operated one satellite originally....
satellite, which orbited at
19.2° eastAstra 19.2°E is the name for the group of communications satellites co-located at the 19.2°East orbital position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg....
: Sky Channel,
EurosportEurosport is a European sports satellite and cable network, available in 59 countries and broadcasting in 20 different languages. It is owned and operated by the TF1 Group....
,
Sky MoviesSky Movies is the collective name for the premium subscription television movie channels operated by Sky Television, and later British Sky Broadcasting. It has around 5 million subscribers, via both satellite, cable and IPTV in the UK and Ireland...
and
Sky NewsSky News is a 24 hour international news service with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New Zealand. Sky News previously operated...
. On launch, two further channels were promised - The Disney Channel and Sky Arts. However Disney withdrew with serious concerns about the poorly managed Sky launch and its impact on the forthcoming launch of
EuroDisneyDisneyland Paris is a holiday and recreation resort in Marne-la-Vallée, a new town in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. The complex is located from the centre of Paris and lies for the most part on the territory of the commune of Chessy....
. The Disney Channel did not launch until 1995 and the original Sky Arts launched in 1990 as a short lived opt-out on the Marcopolo satellite version of
Sky NewsSky News is a 24 hour international news service with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New Zealand. Sky News previously operated...
for former
BSBBritish Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...
subscribers to show programmes the former Now channel was contracted to air (it was not broadcast on Astra). The current Sky Arts launched independently of Sky in 2000 as Artsworld, with BSkyB buying out the channel in 2005 and renaming it in 2007. However, a short lived channel under the name of
The Arts ChannelThe Arts Channel is a New Zealand television station dedicated to arts and cultural television from New Zealand and around the world.Its content is high quality arts entertainment and information...
was broadcast for a brief time on the Astra 1A satellite in 1989.
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/artschannel.html
The Astra satellite was owned by a Luxembourg based consortium,
Société Européenne des SatellitesSES Astra SA, is a corporate subsidiary of SES, based in Betzdorf, in eastern Luxembourg, that owns and operates the Astra series of geostationary communication satellites, which transmit approximately 2490 analogue and digital television and radio channels via 317 transponders to 122.2 million...
and controlled from there, but Sky's broadcasts originated in the UK and were subject to British regulation but not by the tougher regulator, the
IBAThe Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...
. Sky was regulated by the
Cable AuthorityThe Cable Authority was the United Kingdom statutory body established by the Cable and Broadcasting Act 1984 to regulate the newly liberalised cable television industry. It came into existence on 1 December 1984 and took on its functions with effect from 1 January 1985...
.
BSB competition and merger
The impetus for the relaunch as Sky Television was the refusal of the IBA to allow Murdoch to bid for the UK Satellite TV licence won by the
British Satellite BroadcastingBritish Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...
alliance. This created a battle to win customers in this new multichannel environment. In the end Sky's earlier launch and leasing of transponders on the Astra satellite network allowed it to merge with its rival. In contrast to Sky; BSB suffered from the regulatory burdens of only 5 TV channels, building and launching its own satellites and more ambitious and expensive technology. Also it had higher capital expenditure overall, such as the construction of its
Marco Polo HouseMarco Polo House is a large marble- and glass-clad office building at 346 Queenstown Road facing Battersea Park in the London Borough of Wandsworth...
HQ in London compared to Sky's industrial estate in
IsleworthIsleworth is a small, affluent town of Saxon origin sited within the Borough of Hounslow in west London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane....
although this was not a decisive factor.
In 1990 both companies were beginning to struggle with the burden of massive losses and in November 1990 there was a 50:50 financial merger, with a management takeover by Sky. The new company was called
British Sky BroadcastingBritish Sky Broadcasting is a company that operates Sky Digital, a subscription television service in the UK and Ireland. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels. It is the UK's largest pay TV provider...
(BSkyB) but marketed as Sky,
Marco Polo HouseMarco Polo House is a large marble- and glass-clad office building at 346 Queenstown Road facing Battersea Park in the London Borough of Wandsworth...
was sold, BSB's channels were largely scrapped in favour of Sky's and the Marcopolo satellites were run down and eventually sold in favour of the Astra system (Marcopolo I in December 1993 to NSAB of Sweden and Marcopolo II in July 1992 to
TelenorTelenor is the incumbent telecommunications company in Norway, with headquarters located at Fornebu, close to Oslo. Today, Telenor is mostly an international wireless carrier with operations in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia. It is ranked as the seventh largest carrier in the world, with...
of Norway, leaving the
SquarialThe Squarial was a satellite antenna used for reception of the now defunct British Satellite Broadcasting television service. The Squarial was a flat plate satellite antenna, built to be unobtrusive and unique. BSB were counting on the form factor of the antenna to clearly differentiate themselves...
obsolete. Both companies had already one HS376 in orbit at the time). The merger may have saved Sky financially; Sky had very few major advertisers to begin with. Acquiring BSB's healthier advertising contracts and equipment apparently solved the company's problems.
Financial turnaround
The early years of the merged BSkyB saw a haemorrhage of cash from News Corporation funds. At this stage of the company's life it was losing millions of pounds a week. To help turn around the financial fortunes of the company, New Zealand television executive
Sam ChisholmSam Chisholm was a significant figure in Australian media. He ran Kerry Packer's Nine Network for a significant period during the 1980s before moving to the UK to work for Packer's rival Rupert Murdoch in rescuing the newly established BSkyB from financial problems after the merger of Sky and...
was brought on board to manage the day-to-day operations and build the subscriber base, and the company moved into profit.
Timeline
- 1982 - Satellite Television
Satellite television is television delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by a satellite dish and set-top box. In many areas of the world it provides a wide range of channels and services, often to areas that are not serviced by terrestrial or cable providers.-History:The...
UK (SATV) launched.
- 1983 - Murdoch's
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC , usually known as Rupert Murdoch, is an Australian-born American global media mogul. He owns media outlets and is a major shareholder, chairman and managing director of News Corporation ....
News InternationalNews International Ltd is a British newspaper publisher owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Until June 2002, it was called News International plc....
takes control of Satellite TelevisionSatellite television is television delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by a satellite dish and set-top box. In many areas of the world it provides a wide range of channels and services, often to areas that are not serviced by terrestrial or cable providers.-History:The...
UK (SATV).
- 1984 - renamed Sky Channel.
- 1986 - Granada
Granada Limited is a former British media and previously catering conglomerate, best known as the former parent of Granada Television Limited. It is now known as ITV plc following its merger with Carlton Communications plc...
, PearsonPearson may refer to:In places:*Pearson, California** Pearson, San Joaquin County, California** Pearson, Yuba County, California*Pearson, Georgia, a US city*Pearson, Texas, an unincorporated community in the US...
, VirginVirgin Group Ltd is a branded venture capital organisation founded by British business tycoon Richard Branson. The core business areas are travel, entertainment and lifestyle, among others. Virgin Group's date of incorporation is listed as 1989 by Companies House, who class it as a holding company;...
and AmstradAmstrad is a British electronics company, founded in 1968 by Baron Sugar of Clapton. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1980. During the late 1980s, Amstrad had a substantial share of the PC market in the UK. As of 2006,...
form British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) and win Independent Broadcasting AuthorityThe Independent Broadcasting Authority was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television - and commercial/independent radio broadcasts...
UK satellite franchise.
- 1987 - BSB awarded licence from the IBA and complete over £200m funding with additional shareholders Reed
Reed Elsevier is a global publisher and information provider. It is listed on several of the world's major stock exchanges. The Reed Elsevier group is a dual-listed company consisting of Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV.-History:...
, ChargeursChargeurs Réunis was a major French company formed in 1872.-History:Chargeurs was a shareholder in British Satellite Broadcasting, the official UK satellite broadcaster. BSB was set up in 1986 in competition with Rupert Murdoch's Sky Television...
, London Merchant Securities and others
- 1988 - July - Murdoch announces his intention to relaunch Sky Channel as Sky Television on the Astra satellite system
- 1989 - 5 February - Four channel Sky Television package launched
- 1990 - March - BSB begins broadcasts
- 1990 - November - Both companies had suffered heavy losses and a 50:50 financial merger was agreed to form British Sky Broadcasting.
- 1990 - BSkyB announces former BSB customers will receive Sky equipment (for Astra system) free of charge, Marcopolo satellite transmissions to cease.
- 1992 - July - BSB satellite Marcopolo II sold to Telenor
Telenor is the incumbent telecommunications company in Norway, with headquarters located at Fornebu, close to Oslo. Today, Telenor is mostly an international wireless carrier with operations in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Asia. It is ranked as the seventh largest carrier in the world, with...
- 1993 - December - BSB satellite Marcopolo I sold to NSAB.