Timeline of Sky Limited

This is a timeline of the history of Sky TV.

1980s
  • 1980
    • Plans for a pan-European satellite television station are put together by Brian Haynes, back by backed by Guinness Mahon and Barclays Merchant Bank and in November Mr Haynes sets up Satellite Television Ltd. (SATV)[1][2]
  • 1981
    • October – SATV begins test transmissions on the Orbital Test Satellite 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 each night. The low-powered satellite forces it to broadcast to cable systems rather than directly to individual satellite dishes.
  • 1982
    • 26 April – Satellite Television launches as a pan-European service. The channel was often referred to on-screen as Super Station Europe. However the channel is initially only available in some European countries, the first being Norway and Finland were the first two countries to permit the new service's transmission via cable, followed by Malta, Switzerland and West Germany.
  • 1983
    • 27 June – News International becomes the majority shareholder of Satellite Television.[3]
    • 16 October – Satellite Television begins broadcasting in the UK.[4]
  • 1984
    • 16 January – Satellite Television is renamed Sky Channel.
  • 1985
    • No events.
  • 1986
    • 2 April – The IBA invites bids from the private sector to operate a commercial service on three of the five DBS channels allocated to the UK in 1977 for satellite broadcasting.
    • 11 December – The IBA announces that BSB has been awarded a fifteen-year franchise to operate the satellite television service.[5]
  • 1987
    • No events.
  • 1988
    • 8 June – Having failed to become part of the BSB consortium, Rupert Murdoch announces plans to launch a four-channel service on the soon to be launched Astra satellite.[6]
    • 11 December – The satellite on which Sky Television will broadcast, Astra 1A, is successfully launched by communications satellite company SES.
  • 1989
    • 5 February – Sky Television launches at 6 pm. The channel line-up consists of Sky Channel, Sky News, Sky Movies and Eurosport.
    • June – BSB is awarded the other two DBS channel slots, meaning that the service will launch with five channels. These two channels had originally been allocated to the BBC but were handed over for commercial use when the BBC dropped its plans to use the two channels on cost grounds.[7]
    • 31 July – Sky Channel becomes a UK and Ireland-only service and is renamed Sky One although for a short time after the relaunch, some of Sky Channel's former pan-European programming is broadcast in the hours before Eurosport's startup, and the programme block is branded as Sky Europe.

1990s

2000s
  • 2000
  • 2001
    • The first Sky+ boxes go on sale.
    • 1 July – The Sky Sports.com TV brand is scrapped and the channel reverts to its original name of Sky Sports News.
    • 18 August – PremPlus launches.
    • 2 September – .tv stops broadcasting.
    • 27 September – Sky stops broadcasting on analogue.
  • 2002
    • 7 January – Sky News content becomes available on terrestrial television for the first time in a decade when Channel 5 begins simulcasting part of its breakfast news programme Sunrise.[15]
    • 1 March – F1 Digital+ launches. It offers enhanced multi-screen coverage of Formula One on a pay-per-view basis.
    • 1 May – ITV Digital stops broadcasting.
    • 1 July – In another major rebranding of Sky Movies, the Sky Premier channels are renamed Sky Movies Premier, the Sky MovieMax channels become Sky Movies Max and the Sky Cinema channels become Sky Movies Cinema.[16]
    • 30 October – Freeview launches and Sky contributes three channels – Sky News, Sky Sports News and Sky Travel – to the platform.
    • 2 December – Sky 1 Mix launches.
    • 12 December – After just one season, F1 Digital+ closes.[17]
  • 2003
    • 17 April – Sky launches three music channels – The Amp, Scuzz and Flaunt. The channels are operated on Sky's behalf by CSC Media Group channels.
    • June – The Sky Movies Premier Widescreen channel is closed and the majority of films on the remaining channels are now shown in widescreen.[18]
    • 1 November – The Sky Movies Premier and Sky Movies Max channels are brought under one banner as Sky Movies 1 through 9 and Sky Movies Cinema 1 and 2 become Sky Cinema 1 and 2.[19]
  • 2004
    • 24 May – Sky News launches Sky News Ireland – a 30-minute news bulletin for viewers in the Republic of Ireland.
    • 11 June – At the Races relaunches as a stand-alone venture. Between 2000 and 2003 the channel had been on air in conjunction with Channel 4.
    • August – Football First launches. The programme allows viewers to choose the game they want to watch.
    • 1 November – ITV buys out BSkyB's stake in Granada Sky Broadcasting.
  • 2005
    • 1 January – Sky News takes over the contract to provide Channel 5's news service from ITN. The first scheduled Sky produced news programme had been due to air on 3 January, but two shorter bulletins for 1 and 2 January were hastily added to provide updates following the Indian Ocean tsunami on Boxing Day 2004.[20]
    • June – Sky takes full control of Artsworld, two years after it bought a 50% stake in the channel.[21]
    • 31 October – Sky One Mix is rebranded as Sky Two and Sky Three replaces Sky Travel on Freeview.
    • 1 November – Sky Three launches.
  • 2006
    • January – Sky launches its online television service Sky By Broadband, which is rebranded later in 2006 to Sky Anytime on PC.
    • 30 January – A tenth Sky Movies channel is launched and Sky Movies starts broadcasting two HD channels. Sky Movies 9 and the new Sky Movies 10 are PIN-protected, meaning that for the first time 15 rated films were able to be shown as early as 5 pm.[22]
    • Sky Sports becomes the exclusive broadcaster of all live cricket matches in the UK following the ECB awarding Sky exclusive coverage of all of England's home tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.
    • 22 May – Sky launches its high definition service when Sky One HD and Sky Sports 1 HD being broadcasting.
    • July – Sky Sports 2HD launches.
    • 3 November – The final edition of Sky News Ireland is broadcast.[23][24]
    • December – Chart Show Channels takes full ownership of the three music channels that it had run on Sky's behalf.
  • 2007
    • 1 March –
      • The Sky basics channels stop broadcasting on Virgin Media when the two companies cannot agree a new carriage deal.[25]
      • Sky Arts launches, replacing Artsworld.
    • 27 March – Sky launches its on-demand service Sky Anytime.
    • 4 April – Sky Movies is revamped with each channel now covering a specific genre and are renamed. The new line-up is Sky Movies Premiere, Sky Movies Premiere +1, Sky Movies Comedy, Sky Movies Action & Thriller, Sky Movies Family, Sky Movies Drama, Sky Movies Classics, Sky Movies Sci-Fi & Horror, Sky Movies Modern Greats, Sky Movies Indie, Sky Movies HD1 and Sky Movies HD2.[26]
    • 6 May – PremPlus closes.
    • 7 November – Sky Travel is renamed as Sky Real Lives, Sky Travel +1 is renamed Sky Real Lives +1, Sky Travel Extra becomes Sky Real Lives 2, and Sky Travel Shop is renamed as Sky Travel.
  • 2008
    • 17 March – Sky Sports 3HD launches.
    • 20 March – A HD simulcast of Sky Movies Premiere is launched.
    • 16 May – Sky Anytime on PC is rebranded as Sky Player, along with updated software to include live simulcasts of Sky News and Sky Sports.
    • 18 August – Sky Arts +1 starts broadcasting.
    • 31 August – Sky One, Sky Two and Sky Three are renamed Sky 1, Sky 2 and Sky 3 respectively.
    • October – High-definition simulcast channels of Sky Movies Action/Thriller, Sky Movies Sci-Fi/Horror, Sky Movies Drama, Sky Movies Modern Greats, Sky Movies Family and Sky Movies Comedy launch.[27]
    • 13 November – The Sky Basics channels return to Virgin Media.[28][29]
  • 2009
    • 26 October – Sky Movies Indie HD launches.[30]

2010s
  • 2010
  • 2011
    • 1 February –
    • 28 February – Sky 3 is rebranded as Pick TV.
    • 6 July – Sky Anytime is merged with Sky Mobile and is rebranded as Sky Go.[44] Key changes include the ability to watch live channels in line with your Sky TV subscription at no additional cost, limited to two simultaneous devices.
    • 5 September – Sky Living Loves begins broadcasting 24 hours a day.
    • October – The final edition of Sky Magazine is published.[45]
    • 8 November – ITN confirms it has secured a five-year contract to resume production of 5 News from early 2012, meaning Sky News will cease to broadcast on the channel from the end of 2011.[46]
  • 2012
  • 2013
  • 2014
    • 12 August –
    • September – Sky Sports News Radio closes.
    • 13 October – Following BSkyB's 2014 acquisition of Sky Italia and a majority 90.04% interest in Sky Deutschland in November 2014, its holding company British Sky Broadcasting Group plc changes its name to Sky plc.[50] The United Kingdom operations also changes the company name from British Sky Broadcasting Limited to Sky UK Limited, and still trades as Sky.
  • 2015
  • 2016
    • 9 February – Sky Q prepares to launch as from this date customers can order Sky Q boxes.
    • 15 June – Sky Movies is rebranded as Sky Cinema.[53][54]
    • 13 August – Sky Sports broadcasts its first event in UHD.
    • 24 August – Sky Sports Mix launches. It is available to all Sky customers, and is designed to offer a sampling of content from the full range of Sky Sports networks to non-Sky Sports customers.[55][56]
  • 2017
    • 4 January – Sky Cinema Box Office closes.
    • 18 July – Sky Sports is revamped with the numbered channels being replaced by sports-specific channels. These include two channels dedicated to football, a cricket channel and a golf channel. Other sports are moved to two new channels – Action and Arena – and a showcase channel called Sky Sports Main Event is launched which features simulcasts of the top events being show on Sky Sports that day.[57] Also, Sky Sports News drops the HQ label.
  • 2018
    • 23 January – Fox's £11.7bn bid to take full control of Sky is provisionally blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) amid concerns of plurality.[58]
    • 14 February – BT and Sky have agreed a £4.4bn three-year deal to show live Premiership football matches from 2019 to 2022, but the amount falls short of the £5.1bn deal struck in 2015.[59]
    • 27 February – US cable TV giant Comcast makes a £22.1bn bid for Sky, challenging the existing offer from 21st Century Fox.[60]
    • 6 August – Sky Living is rebranded as 'Sky Witness', bringing an end to the Living brand after 25 years.[61]
    • 26 September – 21st Century Fox announces it will sell its 39% stake in Sky UK to Comcast, ending Rupert Murdoch's three decade association with the broadcaster.[62]
  • 2019

2020s

References
  1. Book: "High Above: The untold story of Astra, Europe's leading satellite company " By Chris Forrester ISBN 978-3642120084
  2. "New Scientist" Green light for Satellite television Bp 267 By Peter Marsh 21 October 1981
  3. News International buys 65% of satellite group. By Bill Johnstone, Electronics Correspondent. The Times, Wednesday, 29 June 1983; pg. 13
  4. TV satellite set for weekend debut. By Bill Johnstone, Electronics Correspondent. The Times, Wednesday, 12 October 1983
  5. Transdiffusion Broadcasting System (2 June 2012). "BSB contract award – December 1986" – via YouTube.
  6. The £199 dish that will launch a television revolution. by Richard Evans Media Editor. The Times, Thursday, 9 June 1988
  7. The Times, Saturday, 15 June 1985; pg. 3; British satellite TV project collapses By Bill Johnstone Technology Correspondent.
  8. "Maggie Brown on the early years of Sky Television". The Guardian. London.
  9. "Commission Decision of 19 February 1991 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article 85 of the EEC Treaty (IV/32.524 – Screensport/EBU members)". Eur-lex.europa.eu. Retrieved 2010-01-15.
  10. "Sky Television – Promos". TV Ark. Retrieved 2008-10-09.
  11. "Sky Channels To Be Rebranded". Mediatel. 10 October 1997.
  12. "Second Sky Rebranding in Nine Months". Mediatel. 22 July 1998.
  13. Chaudhary, Vivek (12 August 1999). "Now armchair fans get to control what they watch". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  14. https://web.archive.org/web/19991103190355/http://wotsat.com:80/
  15. "Sky News debuts on Channel 5". BBC News. BBC. 7 January 2002. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  16. "1st for digital satellite TV news – What Satellite TV Online". 2003-12-06. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  17. Digital F1 service scrapped
  18. "1st for Sky Digital and satellite TV news – What Satellite & Digital TV Online – Freeview and Sky Digital". 2003-12-06. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  19. "1st for Sky Digital and satellite TV news – What Satellite & Digital TV Online – Freeview and Sky Digital". 2003-12-06. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
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  21. Gibson, Owen (20 June 2005). "Sky buys out arts channel". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  22. "1st for Sky Digital and satellite TV news – What Satellite & Digital TV Online – Freeview and Sky Digital news". 2006-01-14. Retrieved 2018-08-20.
  23. "Sky News Ireland operation cut back". RTÉ News. 31 October 2006.
  24. "Ray Kennedy presents the final Sky News Ireland programme". October 3, 2009.
  25. "BSkyB channels taken off Virgin". BBC News. 1 March 2007.
  26. "skymovies.com". Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  27. "Sky launches seven new HD channels". Broadband TV News. 20 August 2008.
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  30. "Sky Movies Indie goes HD". Broadcast. 30 September 2009.
  31. "Sky to expand 3D channel on October 1". Digital Spy. 28 July 2010.
  32. "Sky unveils Sky 3D launch lineup". Digital Spy. 29 September 2010.
  33. "Sky Extends High Definition Leadership with HD Channel Milestone". British Sky Broadcasting. 12 March 2010.
  34. "BSkyB and Virgin Media reach agreements on sale of VMtv and channel distribution". Virgin Media. 4 June 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  35. "BSkyB and Virgin Media Reach Agreements on Sale of VMtv and Channel Distribution". BSkyB. 4 June 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2013.
  36. BSkyB completes Virgin Media Television take-over
  37. "Sky Travel channel to close in June". Travel Trade Gazette. 2010-05-24. Archived from the original on 2010-06-25.
  38. "VMtv to launch Living Loves channel". Digital Spy. 24 June 2010.
  39. "SKY MOVIES CLASSICS GOES HD". Sky Programme Information. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  40. "Sky Sports News to get bigger and better as a pay TV channel". British Sky Broadcasting. 17 June 2010.
  41. "Programme Information Highlights" (PDF). Sky Programme Information. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  42. "Sky Atlantic HD is new home of HBO & Mad Men". British Sky Broadcasting. 1 October 2010.
  43. "Sky Atlantic to launch today". RTÉ News. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2011.
  44. "Sky TV Goes Online and Mobile for all 10 million customers". British Sky Broadcasting. 10 June 2011.
  45. Gideon Spanier (12 October 2011). "Sky axes Britain's biggest magazine". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 12 November 2012.
  46. "Channel 5 axes 'OK! TV' after ITN news deal – Media News". Digital Spy. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  47. Andy Gallagher; Josh Strauss & Emily Brinnand (25 August 2012). "Sky's Stuart Murphy announces the launch of two new channels – video". guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  48. "Sky Movies Disney: new channel to show UK TV film premieres". The Guardian. 21 February 2013.
  49. Rumsby, Ben (10 June 2014). "Sky Sports to launch new European football channel". The Telegraph. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  50. "Sky creates Europe's leading entertainment company". Sky. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  51. Finbow, Katy (29 April 2015). "Sky is closing one of its Arts channels to make a single "super channel"". Digital Spy. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  52. Bradley-Jones, Luke (24 April 2015). "An update on Sky 3D". Sky plc. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  53. "Sky Movies rebrand to feature one premiere a day". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
  54. "Sky Movies is changing to Sky Cinema, but what has really changed?". Recombu.com. 15 June 2016.
  55. "Sky Sports to launch new channel which will offer free Premier League matches". The Independent. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  56. "New channel Sky Sports Mix launches today". Sky Sports. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  57. Sweney, Mark (27 June 2017). "Sky Sports to replace numbered channels and slash prices in revamp". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  58. "Rupert Murdoch's Sky bid provisionally blocked by regulator". The Guardian. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
  59. "Premier League raises less from TV rights auction". BBC News. BBC. 14 February 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  60. "Rupert Murdoch's Sky bid challenged by Comcast". BBC News. BBC. 27 February 2018. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
  61. Sky Living to become Sky Witness a516digital, 8 June 2018
  62. "Rupert Murdoch ends Sky association with Comcast stake sale". BBC News. BBC. 26 September 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  63. Sky Sports Racing to replace At the Races
  64. Sky prepares for new racing channel launch
  65. "Sky to launch Sky Crime and Sky Comedy". Sky. Retrieved 25 August 2019.
  66. Sky to launch Sky Documentaries and Sky Nature
  67. Sky introduces factual channel line-up as late May launch confirmed
  68. Sky and A+E Networks launch Sky History and Sky History 2
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