Sky – brief history

Sky TV is one of the most historical TV companies in the world. Pioneering both in making its own channels and in the creation of pay per view for the European and international market Sky is definitely a very remarkable brand and company. In this chapter we would like to represent you with the brief history of Sky UK. Sky UK currently deals with Pay TV, internet and it has recently added phone and landline phone services to its repertoire of services. Based in Isleworth UK, Sky has been the first company in Europe to make and produce its own pay per view channels. It’s also one of the largest pay TV networks in the world. The company currently serves 11 Million customers and it’s the second most popular TV service in the United Kingdom.

Brief History:

Sky was founded in 1990 and the company was officially made as a cooperation of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting, when BsB has become the largest subscription based Television Company in the country. Currently Bsb is managed by British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc. Which has only recently changed its name to Sky Plc. As such Sky UK currently functions as a subsidiary.

Sky has started its career as a television company and this is exactly what has been its main profile for multiple decades. However the competition imposed by the other telecommunication companies such as Virgin has forced Sky to update its services and become a full-fledged telecommunications company.

Sky Televisions started its career with two PPV channels: Sky Movies and the Movie Channel. Long time ago these pay per view channels were only available for those who also bought Sky’s encryption device so that they could view the programs while paying for it. These two channels were both satellite TV channels. After the sound success of Sky Movies and the Movie Channel Sky has decided to create its own sports channel naming it as Sky Sports. This was also a pay per view channel and worked with the encryption device only.

Sky Sports is perhaps the most famous and most popular channel the company has every made: the reason for this lies in the exclusive broadcasting rights from which Sky has managed to acquire many. This means viewers could and can watch numerous sport programs which are only broadcasted on this very channel. The Premier League was one among these exclusive programs up until 2008 when the attacks and lawsuits coming from other TV channels has finally forced Sky to lose its monopoly on this very important event.

For more information on subscriptions please visit the Sky official homepage.