History
Sky's digital service was officially launched on 1 October 1998 under the name Sky Digital, although small-scale tests were carried out before then. For the first time, BSkyB used the newly-launched Astra 2A satellite, which has since come to broadcast exclusively to the United Kingdom and Ireland. At this time the use of the Sky brand made an important distinction between the new service and Sky's analogue services. Key selling points were the improvement in picture and sound quality, increased number of channels and an interactive service branded Open.... now called Sky Active, Sky competed with the ONdigital (later ITV Digital) terrestrial offering.
New Astra satellites joined the position in 2000 and 2001, and the number of channels available to customers increased accordingly. This trend continued with the launch of Eurobird 1 (now Eutelsat 28A) in 2001.
Originally Sky launched with a set top box known as the Sky digibox, however, in more recent years the Sky+ and Sky+ HD boxes have launched alongside the original box. Sky+ is a digital video recorder with an internal hard drive which allows viewers to 'pause live television' (by switching from a live feed to a paused real-time recording that can be restarted at any point) and schedule programs to record in the future. Sky launched HDTV services in May 2006. The first photos of a prototype Sky HD receiver began appearing in magazines in August 2005. All Sky+ HD receivers incorporate a version of Sky+ using a 300GB hard drive (of which 160GB is available to the user) to accommodate the necessary extra data. The rest of the hard drive is now used by Sky set top boxes to store up to 30 hours of Anytime TV from the previous week.
Additionally, some channels occasionally receive new numbering — However, in early 2006, the majority of channels received new numbering, with some receiving single digit changes, whilst others received new numbers entirely.
Slogans Sky have used for marketing include "What do you want to watch?", "Entertainment your way" and the current slogan "Believe in Better".
In early 2012, Sky released an update to its Sky Anytime service. This update offers customers the chance to buy and rent films from the Sky Store. In June 2012, Sky launched a new EPG for Sky+ HD boxes. The update boasts a new modernised look and improved functionality. As of October 1st, 2012, Sky Anytime was rebranded as On Demand which would then include ITV player and 5 Demand. BBC iPlayer will follow in late Autumn with 4OD to be included in late 2012.
Read more about this topic: Sky (UK And Ireland)
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