Sky is a subscription satellite TV/cable TV network; originally pan-European until 1989, but now available legally only in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It forms the cornerstone of Sky Television (a British satellite service now known as British Sky Broadcasting) and belongs to
Rupert Murdoch. Essentially
Fox's UK counterpart; during the early years they shared much of the same programming and
The Simpsons is still a part of Sky1's lineup, while Sky News and Fox News frequently team up to cover global news.
The network includes the channels:
- Sky1 (the flagship channel showing most of the original programmes and their bigger US imports)
- Sky2 (basically a catch-up service for Sky1, showing the same shows at different times)
- Pick TV (formerly Sky3, the network's only free-to-air station apart from Sky News, effectively an advert for a full Sky TV package)
- Sky Living and LivingIt (formerly just Living, airs ABC and CBS content)
- Sky Atlantic (which airs HBO/Showtime/etc content, as well as British originals for some reason)
- Sky Arts 1 and 2 (airing shows about contemporary and classical art respectively)
- Sky News (pretty much Murdoch's only TV news network that's impartial)
- The Sky Sports and Sky Cinema multipack networks
Most of Sky's channels are also carried by cable operators like Virgin. Pick TV and Sky News can also be seen on broadcast (Freeview). The exception is Sky Atlantic, launched as a Sky-exclusive showcase channel, though rumors have swirled about other services carrying it.
Other Sky-branded TV services are available in Italy and Germany; a similar service is available via both cable and satellite in Australia called Foxtel (up until the 2013 split of Murdoch's entertainment and print assets, they also owned NDS, the people who made the encryption software; hence the services also share similar equipment and on-screen guides). Murdoch also tried a few times to enter the US market; both attempts failed.
note His first attempt was in 1990, with his planned Sky Cable operation alongside Hughes Electronics, Cablevision Systems and NBC. The plan called for a 108-channel service with HDTV capabilities and 12-to-18 inch satellite dishes to be launched by 1993. However, due to NBC and Fox both fearing upset affiliates if they were to provide their feeds, cable providers not wanting the operation to carry cable networks, and News Corp's financial drain related to BSkyB and Murdoch's acquisition of TV Guide, the project was abandoned by early 1991. (Hughes would later launch their own service, DirecTV in 1994 (since acquired by AT&T); News Corp. from 2003 to 2006 held a 38% stake of DirecTV, several of DirecTV's foreign operations use Sky branding, and DirecTV also owns some former Fox Sports Networks stations under the branding of Root Sports.) 1996 saw the planned American Sky Broadcasting or ASkyB, a joint venture between News Corp. and MCI Communications. At one point, a merger between EchoStar- owners of Dish Network- and ASkyB was near completion (with plans calling for Dish Network to be rebranded as Sky), but the merger fell apart for various reasons, including Congressional opposition to ASkyB's planned carriage of local TV stations and EchoStar's founder Charlie Ergen repeatedly clashing with News Corp. executives. The satellites were sold to PrimeStar (which had briefly planned to merge with ASkyB, but did not due to the cable operators who owned Primestar unable to come to an agreement), who planned to use the satellites but went out of business shortly after (the assets went to DirecTV). Meanwhile, the 110-degree orbital slot and the uplink facility in Gilbert, AZ were sold to EchoStar, who would use the orbital slot to launch their new Dish 500 service.Not to be confused with
Sky One, which is the name of a submarine-launched fighter aircraft in
Gerry Anderson's
UFO.
In the UK, Sky means:
As well as various US imports, either first-run or bought from other networks:
Sky has also become famous to fans of game shows
The Price Is Right and
Sale Of The Century for airing low-budget versions in 1989 that, despite being short-lived, nonetheless have their fans.
