Sky Television plc
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- For other uses, see Sky Television (disambiguation).
Sky Television plc was a four-channel satellite television service launched by Rupert Murdoch's News International on February 5, 1989. Sky Television merged with collapsed rival British Satellite Broadcasting in 1990 to form British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). The merger was effectively a takeover of BSB by Sky, although the latter was also suffering massive losses.
History
In 1982 Rupert Murdoch's News International acquired 80% of Satellite Television UK (SATV), one of the earliest satellite television channels which brodcast from the OTS-2 Orbital Test Satellite to a pan-European audience. 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. The channel became widely available in Ireland in 1987. It was relaunched as Sky Television on February 5, 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 1A satellite, which orbited at 19.2°E: Sky Channel, Eurosport, Sky Movies and Sky News.The Astra satellite was owned by a Luxembourg based consortium, Société Européenne des Satellites and controlled from there, but Sky's broadcasts originated in the UK and were subject to British regulation. Sky was regulated by the Cable Authority.
BSB competition and merger
The impetus for the relaunch as Sky Television was the refusal of the Cable Authority to allow Murdoch to participate in the British Satellite Broadcasting 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 overtake its rival. In contrast to Sky; BSB suffered from the burden of building and launching its own satellites, more ambitious and expensive technology and higher capital expenditure overall, such as the construction of its Marco Polo House HQ in London compared to Sky's industrial estate in Isleworth.In 1990 both companies were beginning to struggle with the burden of massive losses. The failure of BSB in November 1990 led to a merger, which was in effect a takeover by Sky - quality programming and superior technical quality had been no match for shrewd, aggressive marketing and pragmatic capital expenditure. The new company was called British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) but marketed as Sky, Marco Polo House was sold, BSB's channels were largely scrapped in favour of Sky's and the Marco Polo 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 Telenor of Norway. Both companies had already one HS376 in orbit at the time). The merger may have saved Sky financially; despite its popularity, 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 Chisholm was brought on board to manage the day-to-day operations and build the subscriber base. By the time Chisholm left the company BSkyB was the most profitable company in the UK.Timeline
- 1982 - Murdoch's News International takes control of Satellite Television UK (SATV), renamed Sky Channel.
- 1986 - Granada, Pearson, Virgin and Amstrad form British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB).
- 1988 - BSB awarded UK satellite licence from the Independent Broadcasting Authority, Murdoch not permitted to particpate.
- 1988 - July - Murdoch announces his intention to relaunch Sky Channel as Sky Television on the Astra satellite system
- 1989 - February 5 - Four channel Sky Television package launched
- 1990 - March - BSB begins broadcasts
- 1990 - November - Both companies suffer heavy losses and BSB collapses. A merger on Murdoch's terms is 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
- 1993 - December - BSB satellite Marcopolo I sold to NSAB.
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