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The '''British Sky Broadcasting Group''' (a.k.a. '''BSkyB'''; [[trading as]] '''Sky''') is a [[public company|public]] [[satellite television|satellite broadcasting]] company operating in the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]. It is the largest [[Pay television|pay-TV]] broadcaster in The United Kingdom<ref name="News Corp. slows BSkyB bid"/> with approximately 9,860,000 subscribers.<ref name="Key facts and figures"/>
The '''British Sky Broadcasting Group''' (a.k.a. '''BSkyB'''; [[trading as]] '''Sky''') is a [[public company|public]] [[satellite television|satellite broadcasting]] company operating in the [[United Kingdom]] and [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]. It is the largest [[Pay television|pay-TV]] broadcaster in The United Kingdom<ref name="News Corp. slows BSkyB bid"/> with approximately 10,000,000 subscribers.<ref name="Key facts and figures"/>


British Sky Broadcasting was formed in 1990 by the equal merger of [[Sky Television plc|Sky Television]] and [[British Satellite Broadcasting]].
British Sky Broadcasting was formed in 1990 by the equal merger of [[Sky Television plc|Sky Television]] and [[British Satellite Broadcasting]].

Revision as of 16:54, 9 December 2010

For other uses, see Sky (disambiguation).
British Sky Broadcasting
Company typePublic (LSE: BSY, Template:Pink sheets)
IndustrySatellite broadcasting
PredecessorSky Television
British Satellite Broadcasting
FoundedNovember 1990
Headquarters
Osterley, London
,
U.K.
Area served
British Isles (United Kingdom and Ireland)
Key people
James Murdoch (Chairman and NED)
Jeremy Darroch (CEO)
Andrew Griffith (CFO)
RevenueIncrease £5.9 billion (2010; 10% increase)
Increase £11.7 million (2010)
OwnerNews Corporation
Number of employees
16,500 (2010)[1]
WebsiteSky.com
Footnotes / references
News Corporation is in the process of buying Sky for £7.8 billion.[2]

The British Sky Broadcasting Group (a.k.a. BSkyB; trading as Sky) is a public satellite broadcasting company operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is the largest pay-TV broadcaster in The United Kingdom[2] with approximately 10,000,000 subscribers.[1]

British Sky Broadcasting was formed in 1990 by the equal merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting.

History

Further information: Sky Television plc and British Satellite Broadcasting
A formation timeline of Sky, from 1978 to 1998.

British Sky Broadcasting was formed by the equal merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting in 1990. Both companies had begun to struggle financially and were both suffering terrible financial losses. Marco Polo House was sold and British Satellite Broadcasting's channels were largely scrapped in favour of Sky Television's channels. (Marcopolo I in December 1993 to NSAB of Sweden; and Marcopolo II in July 1992 to Telenor of Norway. Both Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting had one HS376 in orbit at the time). The merge of both companies saved Sky financially; in the beginning, Sky Television had very few major advertisers, acquiring British Satellite Broadcasting's healthier advertising contracts and equipment solved the companies' problems.

The Astra satellite network began with the launch of Astra 1A in 1989. Sky Television plc was the first customer of Astra and leased four transponders on Astra 1A ahead of its launch. With the launch of more Astra satellites from 1991 onward, Sky was able to begin expanding its services, (the Astra satellites were all orbiting co-located at 19.2° east so they could be received using the same satellite dish).

The launch of the Astra 2A satellite at a new orbital position, 28.2° east, in 1998 (subsequently followed by more Astra satellites as well as Eutelsat's Eurobird 1 at 28.5°E), enabled the company to launch a new all-digital service, Sky, with the potential to carry hundreds of television and radio channels. Sky does not own any of the satellites it has used since withdrawing services from the Marcopolo craft; the Astra satellites are owned and operated by Astra (and Eurobird 1 by Eutelsat). British Sky Broadcasting is now owned by a collection of companies such as VirginMedia, GOD TV, Freeview Ltd. and The BBC. British Sky Broadcasting became a public trading company in 1998, selling over 14% within a few days, and 80% a few years later.

Corporate

Management

File:All Sky viewing figures 1995-2009.png
A graph displaying Sky's total viewing figures from 1995 to 2009.

News Corporation, currently has a 39.1% stake in Sky. News Corp also fully owns Sky Italia, about 78% of New Zealand's SKY Network Television Limited and b.net of Croatia and Montenegro.

The first CEO of BSkyB was Sam Chisholm, who was CEO of Sky TV before the merger. Chisholm served in this position until 1997. He was followed by Mark Booth who was credited with leading the company through the introduction of Sky. Tony Ball was appointed in 1999 and completed the company's analogue to digital conversion. He is also credited with returning the company to profit and bringing subscriber numbers to new heights. In 2003 Ball announced his resignation and James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch was announced as his successor. This appointment caused allegations of nepotism from shareholders.[3]

On 7 December 2007 it was announced that Rupert Murdoch would be stepping down as BSkyB's Non-Executive Chairman and would be replaced by his son, James. It was also announced that James would be stepping down as CEO of BSkyB and will be replaced by Jeremy Darroch.[4]

On 15 June 2010, News Corp made a takeover bid of BSkyB, wishing to gain the remaining 61% of the shares owned by other shareholders at 700p per share, however, this was rejected. BSkyB demanded that an offer of more than 800p per share would better value the company, meaning that News Corp would have to find an extra £1bn. If a deal is reached between the two companies, regulatory approval will be needed by either the European Commission, Business Secretary Vince Cable or from the Office of Fair Trading.[5]

Subsidiaries

British Sky Broadcasting Ltd
Operating company for the Sky pay-television service.
Sky Television Ltd
The original Sky Television plc, now a holding company
Sports Internet Group Ltd
Sports content and online betting services.
British Interactive Broadcasting Holdings Ltd
Interactive television services, formerly an alliance of BSkyB, BT Group, HSBC and Matsushita.
Mykindaplace.com
Being both an agency and a media owner, run many successful sites. - Now defunct
Aura Sports Ltd
Media Sales Agency, sells advertising on the majority of premiership football club websites, as well as other major sports.
Aura Play Ltd
Another Media Sales Agency, sells advertising across a number of websites in the music and entertainment sector.
Sky Ireland
Operating company for Sky pay-television service in the Republic of Ireland.
IRN
Provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the UK and beyond.
Living TV Group
A British television content arm, operating a number of channels.

Ventures

AETN UK (50%) - with A&E Television Networks. Operates History (UK), Bio. (UK) and Crime & Investigation Network (UK) channels.
Attheraces Holdings Limited (48.5%)[6] - with Arena Leisure. Operates At the Races.
Australian News Channel Pty Limited (33.3%)[6] - with Seven Network and PBL Media. Operates Sky News Australia.
Chelsea Digital Media (35%)[6] - with Chelsea FC. Operates Chelsea TV.
MUTV Limited (33.3%)[6] - with Manchester United F.C. Operates MUTV.
Nickelodeon UK Ltd (40%)[6] - with MTV Networks Europe, part of Viacom. Operates Nickelodeon UK and associated channels.

Partnerships

Comedy Central (UK) (25%)[6] - with Paramount British Pictures, part of Viacom
DTV Services Ltd (20%) - with Arqiva, BBC Channel 4 and ITV plc. Manages and markets the Freeview brand.[7]
NGC Network International LLC and NGC Network Latin America LLC (21%)[6] - with National Geographic.

Stake in ITV

ITV plc has been the subject of a flurry of rumoured take-over and merger bids since it was formed. For example, on 9 November 2006, NTL announced that it had approached ITV plc about a proposed merger.[8][9] The merger was effectively blocked by BSkyB on 17 November 2006 when it controversially bought a 17.9% stake in ITV plc for £940 million,[10] a move that attracted anger from NTL shareholder Richard Branson[11] and an investigation from media and telecoms regulator Ofcom.[12] On 6 December 2006, NTL announced that it had complained to the Office of Fair Trading about BSkyB's move. NTL stated that it had withdrawn its attempt to buy ITV plc, citing that it did not believe that there was any possibility to make a deal on favourable terms.[13] At the same time as the NTL bid, RTL Group, the owner of Five, was also rumoured to be preparing a bid for ITV plc,[14] with the possibility of a stock-swap with BSkyB. The plan would see RTL Group acquiring BSkyB's stake in ITV plc (with the aim of further acquisitions of shares in the future) in exchange for BSkyB taking full control of Five. However, no move materialised and RTL Group sold Channel 5 to Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell in July 2010.

Logos

Finance

Services

Digital Terrestrial Television

BSkyB initially faced competition from the ONdigital digital terrestrial television service (later renamed ITV Digital). ITV Digital failed for numerous reasons, including, but not limited to numerous administrative and technical failures, nervous investors after a large down-turn in the advertising market and the dot com crash, and BSkyB's aggressive marketing and domination of premium sporting rights.

Sky was more receptive to ITV Digital's free-to-air replacement, Freeview, in which it holds an equal stake with the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and National Grid Wireless. Prior to October 2005, three BSkyB channels were available on this platform: Sky News, Sky Three, and Sky Sports News. Initially BSkyB provided Sky Travel to the service. However, this was replaced by Sky Three on 31 October 2005, allowing BSkyB to air its exclusive licensed content with delays of between 12–18 months from their original air dates on Sky One.

Terrestrial television companies currently have limited bandwidth. This means that, at present, there is little or no option to offer HD services, until after the final analogue television services are switched off in 2012 freeing up substantial bandwidth.

In a response to the push towards Free to Air services such as Freesat and Freeview, BSkyB has marketed its own free to view offering (Freesat from Sky).

On 8 February 2007, Sky announced its intention to replace its three free-to-air digital terrestrial channels with four subscription channels. It was proposed that these channels would offer a range of content from the Sky portfolio including sport (including English Premiership Football), movies, entertainment and news.[15] The announcement came a day after Setanta Sports confirmed that it would launch in March as a subscription service on the digital terrestrial platform, and on the same day that NTL's services rebranded as Virgin Media. However, industry sources believe Sky will be forced to shelve plans to withdraw its channels from Freeview and replace them with subscription channels, due to possible lost advertising revenue.[16]

Video on demand

Sky is facing increased competition from telecommunications providers delivering pay television services over existing telephone lines using ADSL. Such providers are potentially able to offer "triple-play" or "quad-play" packages combining land-line telephone, broadband Internet, mobile telephone and pay television services.

In the final quarter of 2006, BT, the UK's biggest Telephone company, launched BT Vision. The BT Vision set-top box, provides true Video on Demand (VoD) over BT's telephone lines using ADSL. The set-top-box complements the VoD component by providing access to the Freeview digital terrestrial television service. TalkTalk TV also offers an IPTV service with many channels, including Sky's channels, delivered to a set top box over ADSL.

To compete with these providers, in October 2005, BSkyB bought the broadband Internet Service Provider Easynet for £211 million. This acquisition has allowed BSkyB to start offering its "Sky Anytime on PC" service as well as a "triple play" package combining satellite television, land-line telephone and Broadband service. Sky also offers some streaming live TV channels to a computer using Microsoft's Silverlight.

Xbox 360

On 29 May 2009 it was confirmed that Sky Player would be made available via Microsoft's Xbox 360 games console.[17] Included is live streaming of various television channels, on-demand movies and live sports programming. This was a worldwide first for Microsoft, and is only available in the UK and Ireland.

Content

Further information: [[:List of channels on Sky]]

Sports

Main article: Sky Sports

BSkyB's purchase of broadcast rights for major sporting events, most importantly Premiership football, has been the bedrock of its success. The company paid over £300 million for the Premier League rights, beating the BBC and ITV, and has had a monopoly of live matches since the inception of the Premier League in 1992. Murdoch has described sport as a "battering ram" for pay-television, providing a strong customer base.[18]

However, 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 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 £1.3 billion.[19]

BT offer a pay per view service of selected Premier League matches through their BT Vision service,[20] and Virgin Media offer free highlights on the Virgin Media website.

High Definition

Main article: Sky+ HD

Sky launched its HDTV service, Sky+ HD, on 22 May 2006. Prior to its launch, Sky claimed that 40,000 people had registered to receive the HD service. In the week before the launch, rumours started to surface that Sky was having supply issues with its Set Top Box (STB) from manufacturer Thomson. On Thursday 18 May 2006, and continuing through the weekend before launch, people were reporting that Sky had either cancelled or rescheduled its installation. Finally, the BBC reported that 17,000 customers had yet to receive the service due to failed deliveries.[21] The event was widely seen as an embarrassment for Sky, who until that point, had been extremely conservative in new service launch schedules. The supply issues were resolved shortly after the initial launch date.

According to figures published by Sky, there are 2,082,000 subscribers to the Sky+ HD service as of 30 December 2009.[1]

3D

Main article: Sky 3D

On 28 January 2010, Sky announced that it would begin to broadcast programmes in 3D by April 2010. This action will include new 3D channels, including a Sky Sports 3D and Sky Movies 3D. Sky previously experimented with 3D broadcasting by broadcasting an Arsenal vs Manchester United football game live in 3D in nine pubs situated throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland[22]

Restrictions

Sky subscribers in the Republic of Ireland have a more restricted choice of channels compared to Northern Ireland or subscribers in Great Britain. The standard Irish channels RTÉ One, RTÉ Two, TV3, TG4 and 3e are available to all Irish subscribers and unavailable by any other means on Satellite. However only BBC One Northern Ireland, BBC Two Northern Ireland and Channel 4 are available to Irish Sky subscribers. Free to air channels like the ITV family of channels, BBC Three, BBC Four, BBC News and Channel Five can only be tuned via the Other Channels[23] section. As these channels are only available via the Other Channels section it is not possible for Irish Sky+ or Sky+ HD subscribers to record programmes from these channels onto their boxes. Sky pays the BBC for the right to include BBC One and BBC Two NI on the Irish EPG.[citation needed] Northern Ireland subscribers in some packages get RTÉ One, RTÉ Two and TG4, since the signing of the Good Friday agreement to let RTÉ broadcast there.

Products

Sky utilizes the VideoGuard pay-TV scrambling system owned by NDS, a News Corporation subsidiary. There are tight controls over use of VideoGuard decoders; they are not available as stand-alone DVB CAMs (Conditional Access Modules). BSkyB has design authority over all digital satellite receivers capable of receiving their service. The receivers, though designed and built by different manufacturers, must conform to the same user interface look-and-feel as all the others. This extends to the Personal video recorder (PVR) offering (branded Sky+). BSkyB initially charged additional subscription fees for using a Sky+ PVR with their service; waiving the charge for subscribers whose package included two or more premium channels. This changed as from 1 July 2007, and now customers that have Sky+ and subscribe to any Sky subscription package get Sky+ included at no extra charge. Customers that don't subscribe to Sky's channels can still pay a monthly fee to enable Sky+ functions. In January 2010 Sky discontinued the Sky+ Box, limited the standard Sky Box to Multiroom upgrade only and started to issue the Sky+HD Box as standard, thus giving all new subscribers the functions of Sky+.[24] In September 2007, Sky launched a new TV advertising campaign targeting Sky+ at women. As of 31 March 2008, Sky have 3,393,000 Sky+ users.[25]

Criticism and controversies

Main article: Criticisms of BSkyB

Competition

Virgin Media

Virgin Media (Rebranded in 2007 from NTL:Telewest) is a major competitor to Sky in the satellite broadcasting market. Virgin Media's cable network was also formed by numerous mergers and acquisitions over the last decade, with different cable companies having used different types of network and technology in their areas.

Virgin Media currently own a 50% stake in the UKTV network and previously owned Sit-up Ltd and Virgin Media Television, the former content arm of Telewest, then known as Flextech Television.

Like Sky, Virgin Media offers a high-definition television (HDTV) capable set top box, although from 30 November 2006 until 30 July 2009 it only carried one linear HD channel, BBC HD, after the conclusion of the ITV HD trial. Virgin has claimed that other HD channels were "locked up" or otherwise withheld from their platform,[26] although Virgin did in fact have an option to carry Channel 4 HD in the future.[27][28] Nonetheless, the linear channels were not offered, Virgin instead concentrating on its Video On Demand service[29] to carry a modest selection of HD content.[30] Virgin has nevertheless made a number of statements[26][31][32] over the years, suggesting that more linear HD channels are on the way.

In Q3 2009 Virgin announced that it was making more linear HD channels available on its platform, including FX HD, MTVN HD, Channel 4 HD, and National Geographic HD. As expected, Living HD followed shortly.

In 2007, BSkyB and Virgin Media became involved in a dispute over the carriage of Sky channels on cable TV. The failure to renew the existing carriage agreements negotiated with NTL and Telewest resulted in Virgin removing the basic channels from the network on 1 March 2007. Virgin claimed that Sky had substantially increased the asking price for the channels, a claim which Sky denied, on the basis that their new deal offered "substantially more value" by including HD channels and Video On Demand content which was not previously carried by cable.[33]

In response, Sky ran a number of TV, radio and print advertisements claiming that Virgin media 'doubted the value' of the channels concerned, at first urging Virgin customers to call their cable operator to show their support for Sky, but later urging Virgin customers to migrate to Sky to continue receiving the channels. The broadcasting regulator Ofcom subsequently found these commercials in breach of their code.[34]

The availability (at an extra charge) of Sky's premium sport and movie services was not affected by the dispute. This impasse continued for twenty-one months, with both companies initiating High Court proceedings.[35] Amongst Virgin's claims to the court[36] (denied by Sky)[37] were that Sky had unfairly reduced the amount which it paid to VMTV for the carriage of Virgin's own channels on satellite.

Eventually, on 4 November 2008 it was announced that an agreement had been struck for Sky's Basic channels – including Sky1, Sky2, Sky3, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Real Lives and Sky Real Lives 2 to return to Virgin Media from 13 November 2008 until 12 June 2011. In exchange will be provided continued carriage of Virgin Media Television's channels – Living, Livingit, Bravo, Bravo +1, Trouble, Challenge and Virgin1 for the same period.[38]

The agreements include fixed annual carriage fees of £30m for the channels with both channel suppliers able to secure additional capped payments if their channels meet certain performance-related targets. Currently there is no indication as to whether the new deal includes the additional Video On Demand and High Definition content which had previously been offered by Sky. As part of the agreements, both Sky and Virgin Media agreed to terminate all High Court proceedings against each other relating to the carriage of their respective basic channels.[39]

On 4 June 2010, British Sky Broadcasting and Virgin Media announced that they have reached agreement for the acquisition by Sky of Virgin Media Television.[40][41] The companies have, in parallel, agreed to enter into a number of agreements providing for the carriage of certain Sky standard and high-definition (HD) channels. Sky acquired VMtv for a total consideration of up to £160 million in cash, with £105 million paid on completion and the remainder paid following the regulatory process. The acquisition expanded Sky's portfolio of basic pay TV channels and eliminated the carriage fees it previously paid for distributing VMtv channels on its TV services. New carriage agreements will secure wholesale distribution of Sky's basic channel line-up, including Sky1 and Sky Arts, and the newly acquired VMtv channels, on Virgin Media's cable TV service. For an incremental wholesale fee, Virgin Media will, for the first time, have the option of carrying any of Sky's basic HD channels, Sky Sports HD 1 and Sky Sports HD 2, and all Sky Movies HD channels. Virgin Media will make available through its on-demand TV service a range of content from Sky's basic and premium channels, including the newly acquired VMtv channels. Virgin Media will also have access to red button interactive sports coverage and the opportunity to deliver selected standard definition programming over the internet. Sky will assume responsibility for selling advertising for the newly acquired VMtv channels from January 2011. Completion of the agreements was conditional on obtaining merger control clearance in the Republic of Ireland.

Virgin1 was also a part of the deal but was rebranded as Channel One on 3 September 2010, as the Virgin name was not licensed to Sky.[42][43] The new carriage deals are understood to be for up to nine years.[44] Previously the carriage deals tended to be struck every three years.

On 29 June 2010, The Competition Authority in Ireland cleared the proposed transaction.[45] The parties proceeded after the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation did not direct the Authority to carry out a full investigation within 10 days of the date of the Authority’s decision.

On 13 July 2010, British Sky Broadcasting and Virgin Media announced that Sky has completed the acquisition of Virgin Media Television (VMtv) following regulatory approval in the Republic of Ireland. VMtv was then re-named the Living TV Group. In completing the acquisition, Sky has paid Virgin Media an initial £105 million. Up to an additional £55 million will be paid on UK regulatory clearance.

On 20 July 2010, The Office of Fair Trading announced that they would review BSkyB's acquisition of the Virgin Media Television business to judge whether it posed any competition concerns in the UK.[46] The OFT planned to investigate the deal to see whether it could constitute a qualifying merger under the Enterprise Act 2002. The watchdog invited interested parties from the industry to comment on the sale, including its potential impact on the pay-TV market. On 14 September 2010, The OFT decided not to refer BSkyB's takeover of Virgin Media's TV channels to the Competition Commission.[47]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Key facts and figures". British Sky Broadcasting. 30 June 2010.
  2. ^ a b "News Corp. slows BSkyB bid". Ottawa Citizen. 14 October 2010.
  3. ^ Bell, Emily (5 November 2003). "Rupert and the joys of nepotism". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 6 March 2007.
  4. ^ BSkyB - Investor Relations - Press Release
  5. ^ Teather, David (15 June 2010). "Rupert Murdoch reaches for the Sky with bid for full control of £12bn BSKyB empire". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "Group investments" (PDF). Annual Report 2009. British Sky Broadcasting. 2010. p. 109. Retrieved 20 March 2010.
  7. ^ "About us". www.freeview.co.uk. Freeview. Retrieved 20 March 2010. Freeview is managed by DTV Services Ltd, a company owned and run by its five shareholders - BBC, BSkyB, Channel 4, ITV and Arqiva. {{cite web}}: External link in |work= (help)
  8. ^ "Ntl Incorporated Discussions with ITV plc" (Press release). NTL. 9 November 2006. Retrieved 6 December 2006.
  9. ^ "ITV and NTL 'in merger talks'" (Press release). ITV plc. 9 November 2006. Retrieved 6 December 2006.
  10. ^ Welsh, James (17 November 2006). "Sky buys 17.9% of ITV". Digital Spy. Retrieved 6 December 2006.
  11. ^ Wilkes, Neil (20 November 2006). "Sky/ITV: Branson statement in full". Digital Spy. Retrieved 6 December 2006.
  12. ^ Welsh, James (21 November 2006). "Ofcom examines impact of Sky's ITV stake". Digital Spy. Retrieved 6 December 2006.
  13. ^ Oatts, Joanne (6 December 2006). "NTL complains about Sky as it drops plans for ITV Ofcom". Digital Spy. Retrieved 6 December 2006.
  14. ^ Oatts, Joanne (16 November 2006). "RTL to make ITV decision this week". Digital Spy. Retrieved 6 December 2006.
  15. ^ Oatts, Joanne (8 February 2007). "Sky to launch new DTT service". Digital Spy. Retrieved 5 March 2007.
  16. ^ Quinn, Ian (5 March 2007). "Sky rethinks Freeview exit and football strategy". Brand Republic. Retrieved 5 March 2007.
  17. ^ "Sky Player comes to Xbox Live". CNET. 14 September 2007. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
  18. ^ ;Douglas, Torin (12 March 1999). "Murdoch's rise to the top". BBC News. Retrieved 5 March 2007.
  19. ^ "Setanta joins Premiership action". BBC News. 5 May 2006. Retrieved 5 March 2007.
  20. ^ What Do I Get? | Sport On Demand | BT Vision
  21. ^ "Sky HDTV launch runs into trouble". BBC News. 22 May 2006.
  22. ^ "Sky to Broadcast 3D Premier League Live Games This Weekend". TFTS. 28 January 2010.
  23. ^ TUNING GUIDE FOR ALL UK FTA CHANNELS, Posters on www.boards.ie, 14 September 2007, retrieved 29 June 2009
  24. ^ "Supertelly from Sky". Digital TV Advice. 29 January 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2010.
  25. ^ "BSkyB's new Sky+ advert claims to show What Women Think". Tech Digest. 14 September 2007. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
  26. ^ a b Multiple HD channels to launch on Virgin
  27. ^ Virgin to show Channel 4 content in HD
  28. ^ Virgin Media in HD content deal with Channel 4
  29. ^ No more Virgin HD despite Sky launches
  30. ^ Virgin - we only need one HD channel
  31. ^ Virgin to add linear HD channels
  32. ^ Virgin Media working on HD
  33. ^ Sky statement on Virgin dispute
  34. ^ Sky breached code over Virgin promotions
  35. ^ BBC News
  36. ^ Rapture TV
  37. ^ Rapture TV
  38. ^ "BSkyB and Virgin Media Sign New Channel Carriage Agreements". skyuser.co.uk. 1 March 2007. Retrieved 4 November 2008. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  39. ^ "Virgin pays Sky £30m for basic channels". digitalspy.co.uk. 1 March 2007. Retrieved 6 November 2008. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  40. ^ "BskyB and Virgin Media Reach Agreements on Sale of VMtv and Channel Distribution". BSkyB. 4 June 2010. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  41. ^ "BskyB and Virgin Media Reach Agreements on Sale of VMtv and Channel Distribution". Virgin Media. 4 June 2010. Retrieved 4 June 2010.
  42. ^ "Virgin secures new Sky carriage deal after VMtv sale". Broadband TV News. 2010-06-04.
  43. ^ Sweney, Mark (5 August 2010). "BSkyB rebrands Virgin1 as Channel One". London: The Guardian.
  44. ^ Deans, Jason (2010-06-04). "BSkyB buys Virgin Media TV channels for £160m". London: The Guardian.
  45. ^ "Competition Authority clears the acquisition by British Sky Broadcasting Limited of Virgin Media Television" (PDF). The Competition Authority. 2010-06-29.
  46. ^ "OFT to review Sky's VMtv deal". Digital Spy. 2010-07-20.
  47. ^ "OFT okays Sky's Virgin Media TV deal". C21Media. 2010-09-14.
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