History of Sky TV Network - Case Study Example

The purpose of this paper is to explore Sky TV network. In the of this paper I will answer five investigative questions: Who? What? When? Where? and Why? The first one was already answered- it is Sky TV. This paper will also deal with what? by answering what Sky TV is doing and what is offered by the network inregard to different services. I will present the history of the network from its beginnings in 1989, thus answering when portion. Under where section I will talk about locations where Sky TV offers services. Finally, I will explore goals and missions of the network to answer the why? Beginnings On Sunday, February 6th 1989, media magnate Rupert Murdoch launched, what he called, his revolution in choice satellite broadcasting network Sky Television into orbit. The company consisted of Sky News, Sky Channel, Sky Movies and Eurosport. In its early years the network incurred losses and its functioning was subsidized by profits made by other Murdoch’s holdings. This practice was nothing new for Murdoch, since he utilized it on many of his newly acquired projects. In most cases it worked, therefore Murdoch’s media empire today includes dozens of newspapers, radio and TV stations and studios such are The Wall Street Journal, British tabloid The Sun, Fox News and 20th Century Fox. In 1990, Murdoch managed to merge his network with rival satellite operator British Satellite Broadcasting and this new company under the name BSkyB dominated British TV market ever since. The Early Impact On the occasion of celebrating Sky TV’s 20th birthday , the Head of Sky News John Ryley wrote in the Independent Newspaper that “Before Sky News launched as the first European news channel, on 5 February 1989, the television news landscape was a grey place. CNN, initially derided as Chicken Noodle News, was gaining a foothold. But in Europe the 24 hour news cycle did not exist (Ryley, 2009).” In the same article published on February 2, 2009, Ryley summed the pioneering role of Sky News by saying that “Sky News challenged the status quo by offering viewers choice. Its pioneering journalists set out to shake up the cozy duopoly of BBC and ITN. The stations first slogan, Were there when you need us, emphasized that difference from the terrestrial channels with their fixed bulletins (Ryley, 2009).” History The network history that followed proved on many occasions revolutionary role of Sky TV. In 1990 Sky Channel started broadcasting popular show The Simpsons. In 1992 Sky acquired exclusive rights for live coverage of English Premier Football League, a move that will allow Sky TV to cut losses and starts operating with profits. In 1996 the network had the UKs first pay-per-view TV event, the Frank Bruno v Mike Tyson fight in Las Vegas. That same year Sky landed the pay-TV rights for American import shows ER and Friends. For the next few years both shows, along with the Simpsons were top rated programs in the UK. Sky News covered the funeral of Princess Diana on Saturday 6 September, 1997. The previous Sunday morning, 31 August, Sky News presenter Kay Burley was hauled out of bed at 3.30am to anchor breaking news coverage of Diana and Dodi Fayeds car crash in Paris. Just after 5am, shortly after getting to the studio, Burley read out the Press Association story confirming that Diana was dead. Kay Burley was on air once again on Sky News on Tuesday 11 September, 2001, just before 2pm, London time, trying to make sense of reports that a light plane had hit the World Trade Centre, when live pictures from New York showed the second airliner flying into the towers. Also, Sky News won an international Emmy for its coverage of the 7 July, 2005 bombings in London. Timeline 2009 Sky broadcast the UK’s first live event in 3D TV to a domestic 3D TV set, via its satellite network and existing Sky+HD set-top boxes. 2008 Sky News is named News Channel of the Year by the Royal Television Society for the sixth time in seven years. 2006 Sky is the first major media company in the world to become Carbon Neutral. Sky makes movies, sport and entertainment available for download to PCs. The launch of Sky Broadband brings more choice and value to UK broadband users. 2005 Sky News and Sky Sports News are streamed live to mobile phones as part of the new Sky Mobile TV service. Sky plans expansion into broadband with the acquisition of the telecoms networking company, Easynet. 2001 The launch of Sky+ puts customers in control of how they watch TV. 2000 Sky News launches the worlds first interactive TV news service. 1999 Sky Sports broadcasts the world’s first interactive football coverage. 1998 Sky Digital launches, offering the UK’s first digital TV service, with over 140 channels. 1996 660,000 customers buy the Bruno vs. Tyson heavyweight boxing fight on pay-per-view. 1993 Sky launches first multi-channel package, offering 14 basic subscription channels. 1992 Sky signs £304 million deal for exclusively live coverage of the new FA Premier League. BSkyB makes an operating profit for the first time. 1991 Sky Sports launches its first channel. 1990 Sky and rival broadcaster BSB agree to merge and form BSkyB. Sky Movies uses encryption technology to become a subscription service. 1989 Sky launches a ‘Direct to Home’ satellite television service via the Astra satellite with four free-to-air channels including Sky News, Europe’s first 24-hour news channel. Today Sky today operates the most comprehensive multi-channel television service in the UK and Ireland. Over 9.9 million households enjoy a great choice of movies, news, entertainment and sports channels and interactive services on Sky digital. Sky became a valuable part in lives of its customers. Customers have a choice from six basic subscription packs – News & Events, Music, Style & Culture, Kids and Knowledge, as well as premium sports and movies options. Sky TV packages start from £19 a month, offering access to over 500 television and radio channels (Sky.com). In addition to their choice of Sky TV channels, all customers can receive more than 330 free-to-air television and radio channels and services. Interactive functionality is also available to all customers, as is access to Sky’s popular electronic programme guide, Sky Guide. Sky excites, entertains and inspires customers with the multitude of choices and high quality content. Today’s Impact When Sky launched in 1989, the number of television channels in the UK doubled from four to eight. Since that time, the multi-channel universe has expanded to include hundreds of channels, proving that viewers would respond to more choice. Even in such a highly dynamic and competitive marketplace, Sky’s family of channels continues to thrive and expand. Whether it is Sky Sports’ commitment to the highest standards in sports broadcasting, Sky News’ reputation for breaking news, the best in entertainment from Sky1, or Sky Arts, Sky maintains a unique position in UK broadcasting. As part of developments in high definition television, a growing proportion of Sky’s commissioned programming in entertainment, arts and sport is now broadcast in HD, as are many of our acquired programs in entertainment and movies. Key People At the head of the network today is James Murdoch, who is, not surprisingly Rupert Murdoch’s son. Murdoch was appointed as a Director of the Company on 13 February 2003 and Chairman on 7 December 2007. Between November 2003 and December 2007 he was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Company. Murdoch also holds non-executive directors at pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline and, also, Sotheby’s. Deputy Chairman of the company is Nicholas Ferguson and Chief Executive Officer Jeremy Darroch. Other non-executive directors at BSkyB are David F. DeVoe, David Evans, Andrew Griffith, Andrew Higginson, Allan Leighton, Tom Mockridge, Jacques Nasser, Dame Gail Rebuck, Daniel Rimer, Arthur Siskind and Lord Wilson of Dinton (Sky.com). Customers As mentioned before Sky currently have around 10 million customers. This number is pretty much equally divided between HD customers (2.9 million), Multiroom customers (2.1), Broadband (2.6) and Talk (2.3 million). Customers are allowed and, even urged, to combine different services and create their own bundles, saving money along the way if they use more of offerings from Sky. In that regard Sky is not different from other providers of similar services and is facing competition. Competition The biggest competitor Sky has is Virgin Media. Formed by numerous mergers and acquisitions over the last ten years Virgin Media exists as it is from 2007. It also offers high definition TV, broadband and talk and currently has about the same number of active customers (virginmedia.com). In a fight to earn new customers each of the two networks has advantages and, also, shortcomings. Sky HD is much more superior in channel numbers to Virgin HD. Also, when it comes to broadband, Sky offers truly unlimited one, while with Virgin there are upgrades required to enjoy unlimited status. On the other hand, Virgin has better “budget” deals and the fastest broadband. Sky holds an edge with far superior sports and movies. In the end, which way the pendulum swings for each individual, depends on what you want and need from media. The Future However, media landscape changes every day and to achieve a definitive edge with competitors like Virgin Media and others, Sky will have to take that into account. The predictions are that the future of television is online, since people are more increasingly looking into web for news and pretty much everything else. Sky knows and recognizes that and already has an option for their customers to watch TV channels online. A few years back, Sky introduced Sky Player and branded it as the home of Sky TV online. Sky Player allows customer to watch over 40 of Sky channels, including Sky Sports, Sky Movies, the BBC, National Geographic Channel and Disney Channel. Also offered is TV on demand, tailored to customers that want to watch programming when they want. Sky News Sky News was a part of original Sky TV lineup back in 1989. The very first broadcast ever from Sky was from Sky News and included announcers Alastair Yates and Penny Smith. In the last two decades many others sat in the Sky studios and went on air maintaining the high quality of news Sky keeps delivering. At the center of interest for Sky News are rolling news, including the latest breaking news. The program is at this time broadcast from London, although Sky News has seven other UK bases as well as many other bureaus around the World. Sky News were always counting on their main presenters and the schedule is mostly built around them. The broadcasts usually have one presenter, however, when breaking news occur viewers can see the old double-headed broadcast. For its innovations Sky News regularly win awards. The channel won Royal Television Society awards many times. Sky News has won BAFTA awards for coverage of the September 11 attacks in New York and the 2003 Soham murders. Coverage of the July 7, 2005 London bombings won the 2006 International Emmy Breaking News award commending the "fast and accurate" reporting. In June 2007 Sky News was named the "Best News Channel" at the Broadcast Digital Channel Awards. SWOT As of June 30, 2010, Sky TV adjusted revenue is close to 6 billion Pounds. At the same time, company sets aside almost 2 billion for investments in programming which shows stron commitment to expansion and development. Currently, Sky’s greatest strength is having exclusive rights to sports, including English Premiership and other major events. As sports are being a lucrative field for broadcasting networks this represents one of the major edges Sky has over its competition. Also, the biggest opportunity for expansion is seen in offering triple-play services by bundling TV, Broadband and Talk. Sky already works intensly on this topic and offers many different packages to its customers. Summary Today, 21 years after its inception, Sky TV is the leading provider of TV, Broadband and Talk services in the United Kingdom and Ireland. With its 10 million customers, Sky is a part of daily life for one in three households, a part that entertains, informs, and excites. Over the years the network developed, transformed and adjusted to new demands in the media landscape. Not for one second it fell behind on newest developments in technology. At the same time, Sky’s staple channels such are Sky News, Sky Arts and others still offer educational content and in this manner influence the British society as a whole. References “The Independent”. TV News has been a Darwinian Evolution (Feb.2, 2010). http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/tv-news-has-been-a-darwinian-evolution-1522833.html . Retrieved Aug.11, 2010 Sky TV Online. Key Facts and Figures. http://corporate.sky.com/about_sky/key_facts_and_figures.htm Retrieved Aug.12, 2010. Sky TV Online. Timeline. http://corporate.sky.com/about_sky/timeline.htm. Retrieved Aug.12, 2010 Articlebase.com. British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc - Swot Analysis.  http://www.articlesbase.com/cable-and-satellite-tv-articles/british-sky-broadcasting-group-plc-swot-analysis-market-reserach-report-on-aarkstore-enterprise-2150275.html#ixzz0O8GeEDKX . Retrieved Aug.12, 2010 Royal Television Society. Awards Archive. http://www.rts.org.uk/Info_page_two_pic_2.asp?sec_id=3571. Retrieved Aug.11, 2010. . Read More