Editing Sky Group (section)

====Formation====
[[file:UK satellite TV evolution.JPG|thumb|]]
British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) was formed by the merger of [[Sky Television (1984–1990)|Sky Television]] and [[British Satellite Broadcasting]] on 2 November 1990.<ref>Sky and BSB in merger deal. ''The Times'', 3 November 1990</ref> Both companies had begun to struggle financially and were suffering financial losses as they competed against each other for viewers. ''The Guardian'' later characterised the merger as "effectively a takeover by News Corporation".<ref name="guardian.co.uk">[https://www.theguardian.com/media/organgrinder/2009/feb/04/sky-tv-early-years  ''Sky TV's launch: 'a wing and a prayer' '', media editor Maggie Brown, ''Guardian'' ''Organgrinder'' blog, 5 February 2009] Retrieved 24 December 2012.</ref>

The merger was investigated by the Office of Fair Trading<ref>Fair trading office to study merger of Sky and BSB. Melinda Wittstock, Media Correspondent. ''The Times'', 6 November 1990</ref> and was cleared a month later since many of the represented views were more concerned about contractual arrangements which had nothing to do with competition.<ref>Merger of BSB and Sky cleared. Melinda Wittstock, Media Correspondent. ''The Times'', 19 December 1990</ref> The [[Independent Broadcasting Authority]] was not consulted about the deal; after approval, the IBA demanded precise details of the merger, and stated they were considering the repercussions of the deal to ultimately determine whether BSB contracts were null and void.<ref>IBA to rule this week on satellite merger. Melinda Wittstock, Media Correspondent. ''The Times'', 5 November 1990</ref><ref>Bsb broke contract in merger with Sky, MPs told. Peter Mulligan Parliamentary Reporter. ''The Times'', 13 November 1990</ref> On 17 November, the [[Independent Broadcasting Authority|IBA]] decided to terminate BSB's contract, but not immediately, as it was deemed unfair to 120,000 viewers who had bought BSB devices.<ref>IBA to pull the plug on BSB contract. Georgina Henry Media Editor. ''The Guardian''; 17 November 1990</ref>

Sam Chisholm was appointed CEO<ref>Shops to withdraw squarials as three BSB 0ieciitiyes go. Melinda Wittstock, Media Correspondent. ''The Times'', 8 November 1990;</ref> in a bid to reorganise the new company, which continued to make losses of £10&nbsp;million per week. The defunct BSB's HQ, [[Marco Polo House]], was sold, 39% of the new company's employees were made redundant to leave just under 1000 employees,<ref name="guardian.co.uk"/> and many of the new senior BSkyB executive roles were given to Sky personnel. In April, the nine Sky/BSB channels were condensed into five, with EuroSport being dropped soon after the Sky Sports launch.<ref>Eurosport to close down over weekend. ''The Times'', 4 May 1991</ref> Chisholm also renegotiated the merged company's expensive deals with the Hollywood studios, slashing the minimum guaranteed payments. The defunct ''[[Marcopolo 1|Marcopolo I]]'' satellite was sold in December 1993 to Sweden's ''[[SES Sirius|NSAB]]'', and ''[[Thor (satellite)#Marcopolo 2 (Thor 1)|Marcopolo II]]'' went to Norway's ''[[Telenor]]'' in July 1992<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.canaldigital.com/about-us/the-canal-digital-story/|title=The Canal Digital Story|author=Canal Digital|work=canaldigital.com|access-date=21 March 2015|archive-date=21 May 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521114556/http://www.canaldigital.com/about-us/the-canal-digital-story/|url-status=dead}}</ref> after the [[Independent Television Commission]] was unable to find new companies to take over the BSB licences and compete with BSkyB. News International received 50%, [[Pearson PLC]] 17.5%, Chargeurs 17.5%, Granada 12%, and Reed International 2% of the new shares in the company.<ref>Fall for Granada. ''The Times'', 12 December 1990</ref>

By September 1991, after losses had been reduced to $30M a week, [[Rupert Murdoch]] said "there were strong financial marketing and political reason[s] for making the compromise merger instead of letting BSB die. Many of the lessons had been learnt with more than half the running cost of the combined company". Further cuts in losses were a direct result of 313,000 new customers joining during the first half of 1991.<ref>Sky TV 'in sight of breaking even'. Graham Searjeant, Financial Editor. ''The Times'', 19 September 1991</ref> By March 1992, BSkyB posted its first operating profits, of £100,000 per week, with £3.8&nbsp;million weekly from subscriptions and £1&nbsp;million from advertising, but continued to be burdened with £1.28&nbsp;billion of debt. Stockbroker firm James Capel forecast BSkyB would still be indebted in 2000.<ref>BSkyB achieves operating profit ahead of forecasts. Melinda Wittstock, Media Correspondent. ''The Times'', 10 March 1992</ref>

In the autumn of 1991, talks were held for the broadcast rights for [[Premier League]] for a five-year period, from the 1992 season.<ref>ITV's monopoly threatened by Premier League. Peter Ball. ''The Times'', 1 October 1991</ref> British television network [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] were the current rights holders for the [[English Football League|Football League]], and fought hard to gain the new rights. ITV had increased its offer from £18m to £34m per year to obtain the new rights.<ref>Premier League unity is tested by offer of £34m. Peter Ball. ''The Times'', 18 April 1992</ref> BSkyB joined forces with the [[BBC]]<ref>BSkyB and BBC bid offers huge rewards. Peter Ball. ''The Times'', 18 May 1992</ref> to make a counter bid. The [[BBC]] was given the highlights of most of the matches, while BSkyB paid £304m for the [[Premier League]] rights, giving them a monopoly of all live matches, up to 60 per year from the 1992–93 season.<ref>Premier League kicks off with £304m TV deal. Peter Ball. ''The Times'', 19 May 1992</ref> Murdoch has described sport as a "battering ram" for pay-television, providing a strong customer base.<ref>{{cite news
  | last =Douglas
  | first = Torin
  | title = Murdoch's rise to the top
  | work=BBC News
  | date = 12 March 1999
  | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/03/99/murdochs_big_match/167937.stm
  | access-date =5 March 2007}}</ref> A few weeks after the deal, ITV went to the High court to get an injunction as it believed their details were leaked before the decision was taken. ITV also asked the Office of Fair Trading to also investigate since it believed Rupert Murdoch's media empire via the newspapers had influenced the deal.<ref>ITV challenges football deal in High Court. Lin Jenkins.'' The Times'', 23 May 1992;</ref> A few days later neither action took effect, ITV believed BSkyB was telephoned and informed of its £262m bid, and the [[Premier League]] advised BSkyB to increase its counter bid.<ref>ITV fails to halt football deal. Lin Jenkins. ''The Times'', 27 May 1992</ref> BSkyB retained the rights paying £670m for the 1997–2001 deal, but was challenged by On Digital<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2000/may/08/bskyb.broadcasting 'Time to play hardball' by David Teather and Vivek Chaudhary investigate] 8 May 2000</ref> for the rights from 2001 to 2004, thus it was forced to pay £1.1&nbsp;billion which gave it 66 live games a year.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/4454538/BSkyB-leaps-on-soccer-result.html|title=BSkyB leaps on soccer result|last=Trefgarne|first=George|date=15 June 2000|work=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=21 March 2015}}</ref> Following a lengthy legal battle with the European Commission, which deemed the exclusivity of the rights to be against the interests of competition and the consumer, BSkyB's monopoly came to an end from the [[2007–08 in English football|2007–08 season]]. In May 2006, the Irish broadcaster [[Setanta Sports]] was awarded two of the six Premiership packages that the English FA offered to broadcasters. Sky picked up the remaining four for £1.3bn.<ref>{{cite news
  | title = Setanta joins Premiership action
  | work=BBC News
  | date = 5 May 2006
  | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4975632.stm
  | access-date =5 March 2007}}
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