Development Sky Television plc was originally
Satellite Television Limited, a consortium set up by Brian Haynes in November 1980, backed by
Guinness Mahon and
Barclays Merchant Bank. Haynes was a former
Thames Television journalist; he had produced a documentary titled "What's on the Satellite Tonight?" for
TV Eye on 15 March 1979, which looked at
Ted Turner and his satellite broadcasting operations in the United States from 1970 through the
Turner Broadcasting System, an American
media conglomerate (now
Warner Bros. Discovery), and also at with how many European countries were developing the technology. Haynes soon realised that satellites could be the basis of a new kind of television broadcasting. He initially sought cooperation from Thames Television, the
Independent Broadcasting Authority and an industry group, but their refusal resulted in him setting up SATV alone. On 21 October 1981, SATV began test transmissions on the
Orbital Test Satellite (OTS) after the
European Space Agency allowed the company to test the satellite for the use of commercial television, with an hour of
light entertainment in English every night. At first
Malta was its official target, but it had a wide
pan-European footprint. Broadcasts from the low-powered satellite were mostly only available to cable systems, for individual satellite dishes were too large and too costly for most consumers. In the late 1960s, planning began for an experimental satellite which to
broadcast TV in
Europe. OTS was launched via
Delta rocket (manufactured by
McDonnell Douglas and
Boeing, and launched by the
United Launch Alliance) on 12 May 1978 for requisite testing of Europe's first commercial venture in telecommunications and television. Between 1978 and 1981, OTS used
Ku-Band technology, evidencing its utility in the European market. Following the completion of its test programme, excess transponder capacity was leased to SATV. While governments in Britain and other European countries wrestled with the allocation of their channels, Satellite Television played a pioneering role, providing Europe's first satellite-delivered cable television service.
Satellite Television (Super Station Europe) Satellite Television (also known as
Super Station Europe on screen) began regular transmissions on 26 April 1982, becoming Europe's first-ever cable and satellite channel, originally broadcasting from OTS and aimed at cable operators all over Europe. Norway and Finland were the first two countries to permit the new service's transmission via cable, followed by Malta and Switzerland, and then West Germany. Originally it did not have a UK broadcasting licence, and consequently was in a similar legal situation to the
pirate radio stations of the 1960s and 1970s; however, reception of the channel required a satellite dish approximately 10 feet (3 metres) wide, and it was believed that there were fewer than 50 privately owned installations. The new channel broadcast many programmes from the archives of
ITV companies such as
LWT and
Yorkshire Television; these included
Please Sir!,
Dickens of London,
The Rag Trade,
Within These Walls,
Bouquet of Barbed Wire and
Hadleigh. The channel gradually added some programmes it produced itself, such as the music show
Cable Countdown hosted by
BBC Radio 1 DJ
Mike Read. Initially, the channel's own programming and continuity was played out from the Molinare studios at
Fouberts Place in the
West End of London. Starting on 10 March 1983, the channel hoped to start broadcasting to the United Kingdom, aiming to prove the service could reach sufficient viewers to be profitable. However, the station struggled financially because of a limited audience, mainly due to the weak signal from OTS that made direct-to-home reception of the service extremely difficult. The channel had to rely on cable audiences, and was restricted to countries where receiving the channel via cable was legal. Transmission costs were also high. That same year, on 25 March,
Rupert Murdoch had shown interest in the project and held talks with SATV's owners about buying a substantial stake in the company. On 27 June 1983, the shareholders of Satellite Television agreed a £5 million offer to give
News International 65% of the company. Murdoch described cable and satellite television as being "the most important single advance since
Caxton invented the
printing press" and saw it as a way to fulfil his long-held ambition of breaking into the British television industry. Eventually, Murdoch bought the remaining shares of the company, taking full control. On 5 August 1983, Murdoch outlined plans which saw broadcasting hours extended to 5.50 pm to 10.30 pm daily with a mix of music, sport, news, comedy and films. Plans were also made to start broadcasting from the new European communications satellite
ECS-1 and additional cable operators, allowing it to increase its audience across Europe and gain access to British viewers. By 16 October of that year, the station unofficially started broadcasting to the United Kingdom, to anyone that had Satellite dish.
Sky Channel On 16 January 1984, Satellite Television Limited was renamed
Sky Channel, as Rupert Murdoch and Jardin Owens put in new management. Swindon was the first area in the UK to start receiving the channel via its Cable operations before expended to many others Broadcast hours were extended by April and various English-language sports and entertainment shows were added to the schedule. and that he planned to distribute the service throughout the United Kingdom by early 1989. Sky Channel and the other three channels would move to the pan-European
Astra satellite system (leasing four transponders on
Société Européenne des Satellites'
RCA Astro-built satellite,
Astra 1A, intended for direct-to-home reception), and the new network would concentrate on the United Kingdom. By renting space on the Luxembourg-based Astra satellites, Murdoch circumvented British ownership laws. Using existing
PAL broadcast technology, Sky Television began broadcasting four channels on 5 February 1989: • An upgraded version of the original Sky Channel, renamed
Sky One later on 31 July 1989 •
Eurosport, a joint-venture between the
European Broadcasting Union and News International •
Sky Movies, a film channel which became a subscription service on 5 February 1990 •
Sky News, a 24-hour news and current affairs channel Start-up costs reached £122 million; losses for its first year of operations were £95 million. Initially, Sky Channel's programming remained much the same (children's programmes, soaps and American action series), except for a number of new game shows and a few travel documentaries. One new programme was
Sky by Day, a variation on ITV's more popular
This Morning, hosted by ex-
BBC Radio 1 DJ
Tony Blackburn (who had moved to commercial radio by then) and ex-
Magpie presenter
Jenny Hanley. The show's mix of entertainment, gossip and fashion was noticeably low-budget and had low viewership. Prime-time broadcasts to European cable operators of Sky Channel were replaced by Eurosport, which was the only one of Sky's new channels officially aimed at a pan-European audience. On 16 May 1989, Sky began giving away set-top boxes and dishes in a bid to increase customer numbers. Its joint venture with
Disney collapsed at around the same time. Discussions about the venture had been taking place since November 1988, but Disney felt the 50:50 was no longer equal. Disney was supposed to start two channels, but when talks broke down, Sky initiated a lawsuit against Disney, claiming £1.5 billion in damages. The suit was later settled with Disney selling its stake to Sky, and agreeing to license its movie library for a five-year period on 3 June of that year.
Competition and merger Murdoch's failure to win an IBA UK satellite television license was the impetus for Sky's relaunch. The new multichannel environment led to a ruinous battle for customers. Sky had the advantage of launching first, and leasing transponder space meant it was in the stronger position when Sky and BSB merged. By contrast, BSB was only licensed to broadcast five channels, had to pay for the construction and launch of its own satellites, and used more ambitious and expensive technology. Also it had higher capital expenditure overall, such as the construction of its
Marco Polo House headquarters in London compared to Sky's industrial estate accommodation in
Isleworth. By 2 November 1990, Sky and BSB were struggling under the weight of massive losses and the companies merged, with Sky taking management control. The new company was called
British Sky Broadcasting (marketed as "Sky"), its name composed from the three letters of BSB and the remainder from Sky. Marco Polo House was sold, BSB's channels largely scrapped in favour of Sky's, and the
Marcopolo satellites were eventually sold, leaving the
squarial obsolete. (Marcopolo 1 on 21 December 1993 to
NSAB of Sweden and Marcopolo 2 on 1 July 1992 to
Telenor of Norway).
Financial turnaround BSkyB made heavy losses in its early years. To turn around the company's finances, New Zealand television executive
Sam Chisholm was brought on board to manage the day-to-day operations and build the subscriber base, and the company moved into profit. ==Timeline==