BSkyB - History

History

Further information: Sky Television plc and British Satellite Broadcasting

• 1989

Sky Television was set up by Rupert Murdoch in 1989. The SES Astra satellite network began with the launch of Astra 1A in 1989. Sky Television plc was the first customer of Astra and leased four transponders on Astra 1A ahead of its launch. Alan Sugar's Amstrad began manufacturing the original satellite dishes and set-top boxes, something which it still does today. With the launch of more Astra satellites from 1991 onward, Sky was able to begin expanding its services, (the Astra satellites were all orbiting co-located at 19.2° east so they could be received using the same satellite dish).

• 1990

British Sky Broadcasting was formed by the equal merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting in 1990. Both companies had begun to struggle financially and were both suffering terrible financial losses. Marco Polo House was sold and British Satellite Broadcasting's channels were largely scrapped in favour of Sky Television's channels. (Marcopolo I in December 1993 to NSAB of Sweden; and Marcopolo II in July 1992 to Telenor of Norway. Both Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting had one HS376 in orbit at the time.) The merger of both companies saved Sky financially; in the beginning, Sky Television had very few major advertisers, acquiring British Satellite Broadcasting's healthier advertising contracts and equipment solved the companies' problems.

• 1998

The launch of the Astra 2A satellite at a new orbital position, 28.2° east, in 1998 (subsequently followed by more Astra satellites as well as Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 (now Eutelsat 28A) at 28.5°E), enabled the company to launch a new all-digital service, Sky, with the potential to carry hundreds of television and radio channels. Sky does not own any of the satellites it has used since withdrawing services from the Marcopolo craft; the Astra satellites are owned and operated by Astra and Eutelsat 28A by Eutelsat.

• 2010

Sky’s direct-to-home satellite service became available in ten million homes in 2010, the first pay-TV platform in Europe to achieve the milestone. Confirming the target had been reached; the satcaster said the 36% of households in the UK and Ireland represented over 25 million people. The target was first announced in August 2004, since then an additional 2.4 million customers have subscribed to Sky's direct-to-home service. It had become the subject of much debate in media circles as to whether the level could actually be reached amid a background of plateauing subscriber numbers elsewhere in Europe.

• 2011

BSkyB announced that they were moving some channels further up the listings of their electronic programming guide. According to Broadband TV News, this is the biggest reshuffle in EPG places for over a decade, with MTV, Comedy Central, Universal, Syfy, FX, and 40 HD channels moving to more prominent places. On 13 July, News Corporation dropped their bid for 100% of BSkyB in the light of the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

• 2012

James Murdoch resigns as co-chairman of BSkyB.