Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

platform owned by the American media conglomerate

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

. Sky Italia also broadcasts three national free-to-air television channels: TV8,

Cielo Cielo (Spanish and Italian for "heaven" or "sky"), El Cielo (in Spanish) or Il Cielo (in Italian) may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Cielo'' (film), a 2017 Chile-Canadian documentary film * Cielo (TV channel), an Italian television ...

and

Sky TG24 Sky TG24 is Italy's second all-news channel, owned by Sky Italia. Launched on 31 July 2003, it provides non-stop rolling news, weather forecasts and sports stories with half-hourly updates. Overview Part of Sky TG24's programming is available o ...

. As of 2018, following an agreement with

Mediaset Mediaset Italia S.p.A., also known as Mediaset, is an Italian-based mass media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE - MediaForEurope. Founded in 1987 by former ...

, Sky Italia also operates a series of subscription-based terrestrial channels offering sports, entertainment, and movies. Sky Italia is also the major sports broadcaster in Italy.

Pay TV Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

services on Sky Italia satellite platform are encrypted in

NDS NDS may stand for: * Low German ( nl, Nedersaksisch, links=no, german: Niederdeutsche Sprache, links=no, ISO 639-2 language code: nds), a West Germanic language native to Northern Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands * Lower Saxony (german: Niedersa ...

VideoGuard VideoGuard (sometimes referred to simply as ''NDS''), produced by NDS, is a digital encryption system for use with conditional access television broadcasting. It is used on digital satellite television systems - some of which are operated by News ...

History

Sky Italia was founded on 31 July 2003 by the merger of TELE+ and Stream TV. Sky Italia uses the

Hot Bird 13B Hot Bird 13B, known as Hot Bird 8 prior to 2012, is a geostationary communications satellite. Operated by Eutelsat, it provides direct-to-home (DTH) broadcasting services from geostationary orbit as part of Eutelsat's Hot Bird constellation at ...

satellite at 13.0°E. On 28 June 2010, Sky Italia changed its brands and logos, making them identical to the BSkyB ones. On 1 October 2010, Sky activated its first 3D channel, Sky Sport 3D, available without any extra cost to the Sport pack subscribers. The very first event Sky Sport 3D aired was the 2010 Ryder Cup. On 25 December 2010, Sky launched another 3D channel: Sky Cinema 3D, airing 3D movies, available for free for Cinema pack subscribers. These channels have been replaced by Sky 3D on 6 September 2011, then closed on 16 January 2018. Tom Mockridge, the then head of Sky Italia replaced

Rebekah Brooks Rebekah Mary Brooks (; born 27 May 1968) is a British media executive and former journalist and newspaper editor in chief, editor. She has been chief executive officer of News UK since 2015. She was previously CEO of News UK, News International ...

as chief executive of

News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a List of newspapers in the United Kingdom, British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media Conglomerate (c ...

after she had resigned on 15 July 2011. Andrea Zappia replaced Tom Mockridge as CEO on 1 August 2011. On 7 October 2011 Sky Italia announced it reached the 5 million subscribers benchmark. Following

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

's split into two on 28 June 2013, to create two separate companies,

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, f ...

(the re-branded News Corporation), and the spin-off company New

News Corp News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the News Corporation (1980–2013), original News Corporation, it was formed ...

, the 100% stake held by News Corporation in Sky Italia was retained by the re-branded 21st Century Fox. Following media speculation, on 12 May 2014 Sky Italia's sister company,

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

, confirmed that it was in talks with its largest shareholder,

, about acquiring 21st Century Fox's 57.4% stake in

Sky Deutschland Sky Deutschland GmbH, branded as Sky, is a German media company that operates a direct broadcast satellite Pay TV platform in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (through Sky Switzerland). It provides a collection of basic and premium digital sub ...

and its 100% stake in Sky Italia. The enlarged company would be likely to be called "Sky Europe" and it will consolidate 21st Century Fox's European digital TV assets into one company. The sale was announced on 25 July 2014 which was subject to regulatory and shareholder approval. The acquisition was completed on 13 November. In 2016, Sky Italia created Vision Distribution, a film distribution venture with five Italian production companies: Wildside (owned by

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

), Cattleya (backed by

ITV Studios ITV Studios is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcas ...

), Lucisano Media Group, Palomar and Indiana Production. Since the beginning of August 2019,

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...

, Sky's corporate cousin via

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primari ...

, handles theatrical distribution for Vision's releases in Italy. On 20 January 2020, Vision launched their own international sales arm, Vision Distribution International. Since October 2018, Sky Italia, as well as

Sky UK Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

Sky Ireland Sky Ireland Limited is a subsidiary of Comcast-owned Sky and supplies television, internet and telephony services in Ireland. Its corporate headquarters are in Dublin which were opened by Taoiseach Enda Kenny on 18 January 2013. Sky Ireland ...

and

, is controlled by

. On 1 October 2019, Maximo Ibarra replaces Andrea Zappia as CEO. Maximo Ibarra however left Sky Italia already on 30 June 2021. On 16 June 2020, Sky Italia launched Sky Wifi, its ultra-broadband service. On 6 September 2021 Andrea Duilio Started as the new CEO of Sky Italia.

Timeline

1998

*December: Miro Allione,

Stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

's CEO, stated that

signed a preliminary deal with

Telecom Italia Gruppo TIM, legally TIM S.p.A. (formerly Telecom Italia S.p.A.), also known as the TIM Group in English, is an Italian telecommunications company with headquarters in Rome, Milan, and Naples, (with the Telecom Italia Tower) which provides fixe ...

to buy 80% of Stream, but the introduction of a bill limiting the acquisition of soccer pay TV rights has made the company reconsider its plans.

1999

*April: 35% of

is acquired by

2002

*June: TelePiù is acquired by

2003

*March: the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

approves the merger between TELE+ and Stream TV. *31 July: Sky Italia is founded. At the same day,

is launched as a rolling news channel.

2004

*April: Sky Italia abandons

SECA The SecA protein is a cell membrane associated subunit of the eubacterial Sec or Type II secretory pathway, a system which is responsible for the secretion of proteins through the cell membrane. Within this system the SecA ATPase forms a translo ...

encryption system to switch to the

, managed by the

. *1 August: Sky launches weather news channel, Sky Meteo 24. *November: Sky's subscribers reach 3 million.

2005

*May: Sky Italia are awarded the broadcast rights to the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

. *November: Sky Italia launches the My Sky decoder with PVR functionality.

2006

*May: Sky launches its first high definition channels: Sky Cinema HD, Sky Sport HD,

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television television network, network and flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel owned by the National Geograp ...

HD and Next:HD. *December: Sky's subscribers reach 4 million.

2007

*April:

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

airs the first TV drama created by an Italian pay television channel, '' Boris''. *May: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for

Formula One Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship, ...

for two and a half years. *November: A selection of Sky channels become available via

IPTV Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the delivery of television content over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This is in contrast to delivery through traditional terrestrial, satellite, and cable television formats. Unlike downloaded media, ...

, Fastweb and Wind.

2008

*February: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. *May: Sky launches My Sky HD. *30 August: Sky launches sport news channel, Sky Sport 24. *December:

VAT A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the en ...

on subscriptions is increased from 10% to 20%.

2009

*January: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

and the

Six Nations Championship The Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) is an annual international men's rugby union competition between the teams of England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. The current champions ar ...

. *April: Sky launches

Sky Uno Sky Uno ( en, Sky One) is an Italian entertainment television channel, based on the defunct reality television channel '' SKY Vivo'', both owned and broadcast by Sky Italia. It broadcasts the Italian version of the shows ''The X Factor'', ''Got ...

and

Sky Primafila Sky Primafila is an Italian language Pay-Per-View Near Video On Demand service owned by Sky Italia and carried on its Satellite Pay TV service. Launched in July 2003 with 17 channels, now counts 28 channels all offered in 16:9 Widescreen format. ...

HD. *August: Sky increases its high-definition offering to 12 channels. *September: Sky announces the Sky Digital Key, a

USB Key A USB flash drive (also called a thumb drive) is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. It is typically removable, rewritable and much smaller than an optical disc. Most weigh less than . Since first ...

with terrestrial decoder functions. *December: **Sky On Demand service launches. **Sky launches free-to-air channel

2010

*January: All

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

matches begin transmitting in high-definition. *April: Sky launches three Sky Movies channels in high-definition, bringing the total number of HD channels to 25 channels. *June: **Sky changes its brand identity with a new logo, similar to that used by

. **Mondiali 1–4 launch for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. *August: The number of high-definition channels reaches 36. *October: The 2010 Ryder Cup final is the first sport event to be broadcast in 3D. *November: **Sky's subscribers reach 4.8 million.

2011

*January: ''

Avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

'' is the most watched film on Italian

pay TV Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

, with an audience of 1.3 million viewers. *February: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South Americ ...

, 2011 and

2012 Copa Sudamericana The 2012 Copa Sudamericana de Clubes (officially the 2012 Copa Bridgestone Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons) was the 11th edition of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's secondary international club football tournament organized ...

and 2012 Copa Libertadores. *March: Sky Cinema Passion and Sky Cinema Comedy launch. *May: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for ''

X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

''. *August: Sky launches Sky Go, an app which allows a number of Sky channels to be viewed on

smartphone A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whic ...

s and tablets. *September: Sky launches

Sky 3D The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

, the first 3D channel in Italy. *October: **Sky's subscribers reach 5 million. **

begins broadcasting in HD for the premiere of ''

''. *December: **Sky's HD channels reach 40 with the launch of

Eurosport 2 Eurosport 2 is a French sports television network. It is a sister channel to Eurosport 1, which is a division of the Eurosport Network and a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. Several different versions of the channel exist across Europe, where te ...

HD.

2012

*February: **12 new HD channels are launched,

Fox Life Fox Life is an international pay television network, launched by the Fox Networks Group in 2004. The network has been discontinued in several markets over time, except for the Middle East, Bulgaria, Portugal, the Balkans, India and Greece. The ...

HD, Real Time HD,

Extreme Sports Channel The Extreme Sports Channel is a pay television channel that was launched from Amsterdam on 1 May 1999. The channel broadcasts in over 60 countries and 12 languages, and covers extreme sport and adventure sports which include surfing, skateboardi ...

HD,

ESPN America ESPN America was a British-based European sports network, focusing on professional and collegiate sports of the United States and Canada. Originally launched on 5 December 2002 as NASN (the ''North American Sports Network''), ESPN America broadca ...

HD, Discovery Science HD,

Discovery Travel & Living Discovery Travel & Living is a defunct channel brand from Discovery Communications. This name was used in countries of Europe, Latin America and Asia. In other parts of the world the channel is known as Travel and Living Channel. It features tra ...

HD, History HD,

Nat Geo Wild National Geographic Wild (shortened as Nat Geo Wild and abbreviated NGW) is a global pay television network owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). T ...

HD, Nat Geo Adventure HD, Gambero Rosso Channel HD, Disney Channel HD and

MTV Live HD MTV Live (formerly MTVNHD and MTV Live HD) is an international 24-hour high-definition live music pay television network that is operated by Paramount International Networks' subsidiary Paramount Networks EMEAA. The channel is currently avail ...

, bringing the total number of HD channels to 52. **Sky changes the

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

of My Sky HD. *March: Sky Go becomes free and is made available for PC,

OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

, iPhone and Android. *May: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

Grand Prix motorcycle racing Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

for the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 seasons of

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

Moto2 Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start of ...

and

Moto3 Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start of ...

series. *June: **Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

and its feeder series ( GP2, GP3 and

Porsche Supercup The Porsche Supercup (officially known as Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, known as Porsche Michelin Supercup prior to 2007) is an international one-make sports car racing series supporting the FIA Formula One World Championship organized by Porsche ...

) for the 2013, 2014 and 2015 seasons, with an option for the 2016 and 2017 seasons. **The launch of

Sky Arts Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

is announced. *July: **Sky updates the On Demand service. **Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

for the 2012–13 and 2013–14 seasons. **Sky adds 12 extra channels for the

. *August: Sky's subscribers reach 4.9 million. *September: **

receives an on-screen rebrand. **Sky adds two more high definition channels: DeA Sapere HD and Disney XD HD. *October: Planet Kids, a new channel for kids, is launched. *November: **1:

launches in HD, bringing the total number of HD channels to 58. **Sky Go is updated to include three more channels and Sky On Demand.

2013

*February: Sky's subscribers fall to 4.83 million. *March: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

for two seasons. Sky launches the Sky Sport F1. *3 April:

launches in HD. *May: Sky's subscribers fall to 4.78 million. *July: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

, but transfers the rights for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

. *9 August:

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

launches on Sky and

Mediaset Premium Mediaset Premium was an Italian Pay television, pay TV provider owned by Mediaset. Until closure in 2019, it provided subscription TV channels and pay-per-view events (only for football matches) via the Italian digital terrestrial television net ...

, broadcasting the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

and

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

. *September:

launches in high-definition, bringing the total number of HD channels to 63. *October: Classica and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

launches in high-definition, bringing the total number of HD channels to 65. *November: Sky's subscribers fall to 4.76 million. *December: Sky Go launches on

Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design la ...

2014

*February: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for ''

Italia's Got Talent ''Italia's Got Talent'' is the Italian version of the international ''Got Talent'' series. The pilot episode was aired on 12 December 2009 on Canale 5 and it was seen by 5.3 million people. After this episode, Mediaset decided to hold on this sho ...

'' and the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

for 3 seasons. *10 March: Sky Sport MotoGP launches. *9 April:

Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HBO ...

launches, broadcasting American, Italian and European TV series.

2015

*August: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club basketball league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball Federation (FIP). It is the highest-tier le ...

for 2 seasons. *December: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

for the 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons.

2016

*May: Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

EuroBasket 2017 EuroBasket 2017 was the 40th edition of the EuroBasket championship that was organized by FIBA Europe and held between 31 August and 17 September 2017. Beginning from 2017, the continental championships take place every four years with a similar ...

EuroBasket Women 2017 The 2017 European Women Basketball Championship, commonly called EuroBasket Women 2017, was the 36th edition of the continental tournament in women's basketball, sanctioned by the FIBA Europe. The tournament was awarded to Czech Republic after ...

, 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup,

EuroBasket Women 2019 The 2019 EuroBasket Women, European Women Basketball Championship, commonly called EuroBasket Women 2019, was the 37th edition of the continental tournament in women's basketball, sanctioned by the FIBA Europe. The tournament was co-held in Latvia ...

EuroBasket 2021 The EuroBasket 2022 was the 41st edition of the EuroBasket championship organized by FIBA Europe. It was the first since it was agreed it would take place every four years, with a similar system of qualification as for the FIBA Basketball World C ...

AfroBasket 2021 FIBA AfroBasket 2021 was the 30th edition of the FIBA AfroBasket, a men's basketball continental championship of Africa. The tournament was hosted by Rwanda for the first time. It was originally scheduled to take place between 17 and 29 August 2 ...

, AmeriBasket 2021,

2021 FIBA Asia Cup The 2022 FIBA Asia Cup (formerly known as the FIBA Asia Championship) will be the 30th continental basketball championship in Asia. The tournament is organised by FIBA Asia. Originally intended to be the 2021 edition, the tournament was initiall ...

and

EuroBasket Women 2021 The 2021 European Women Basketball Championship, commonly called EuroBasket Women 2021, was the 38th edition of the continental tournament in women's basketball, sanctioned by the FIBA Europe. It was co-hosted by France and Spain between 17 and ...

. *October: **Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

for the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons. **Sky's subscribers rise to 4.67 million. *November: Cartoon Network HD is launched, bringing the number of HD channels to 66.

2017

*June: ** Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 20 ...

. ** Sky are awarded the broadcast rights for the

and

for the 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21 season, and for the 2018, 2019 and 2020

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

. *November: Sky launches Sky Q Platinum.

2018

*April:

's cinema channels start broadcasting on Sky. *June:

's TV series channels start broadcasting on Sky. *July: Channel logos became identical to the Sky UK ones. Sky launches Sky Q Black. *December: Sky's subscribers reach to 5,2 million.

2019

*February: Discovery Travel & Living and

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily dev ...

close. *July:

's TV series channel Premium Joi close. *September: Sky launches Sky Q Fiber. *October: Disney XD, Disney in English,

Fox Animation Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

Fox Comedy Fox Comedy is a television network, launched by the Fox Networks Group, which airs in Poland and Portugal. Its basic programming include numerous comedy series and films. It was launched in Italy on November 1, 2014, Poland on January 16, 2015, an ...

and

Nat Geo People Nat Geo People was an international pay television channel owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). Targeted at female audiences, with programming fo ...

close.

2020

*May: Bike Channel,

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

, Disney Junior, Teennick, MTV Rocks and

MTV Hits MTV Hits is a music video-only spin-off cable/satellite television channel of MTV in several international markets, originally based on the pop music format of a defunct programming block on the American MTV itself. It may refer to the following ch ...

close. *July:

, Lei, Dove TV and Man-ga close. *September: **Due to the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

pandemic, Sky's subscribers fall to 4,6 million. **The logos became identical to the Sky UK ones. *December:

GINX Esports TV Ginx TV, officially GINX Esports TV (stylised as GiПX ESPORTSTV), is a United Kingdom-based media group specialised in esports. Founded in 2007, it develops and operates media businesses dedicated to gaming and esports for its international ...

close.

2021

*July: Fox Crime and Roma TV close and Sky Documentaries, Sky Investigation, Sky Nature and Sky Serie are launched.

2022

*January: Premium Action, Premium Stories, Premium Crime, Premium Cinema, Paramount Network and Spike close. *July:

close. *October: National Geographic,

National Geographic Wild National Geographic Wild (shortened as Nat Geo Wild and abbreviated NGW) is a global pay television network owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). T ...

and Baby TV close and Lazio Style Channel is upgraded to HD.

Sky HD and 4K HDR

Sky HD is the brand name of the

HDTV High-definition television (HD or HDTV) describes a television system which provides a substantially higher image resolution than the previous generation of technologies. The term has been used since 1936; in more recent times, it refers to the g ...

service launched by Sky Italia on 20 April 2006 in Italy – during the

– to enable high definition channels on Sky Italia to be viewed. The service requires the user to have a Sky Box HD (distributed by Sky Italia), and a

with

HDCP High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a form of digital copy protection developed by Intel Corporation to prevent copying of digital audio and video content as it travels across connections. Types of connections include DisplayPort ...

enabled.

A HD PVR decoder called My Sky HD was launched on 26 May 2008 (on 20 December 2008 was sold a particular edition designed by

Fendi Fendi () is an Italian high-end luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in Rome in 1925, Fendi is known for its fur, fur accessories, and leather goods. ...

in favour of the international organisation ''Child Priority''). Sky Q Silver

On 29 November 2017, Sky launched Sky Q Platinum, a set-top box enabled to view programmes in 4K HDR and to use the multiscreen wireless service.

On 2 July 2018, Sky launched Sky Q Black, a set-top box identical to the Sky Q Platinum which enables the 4K HDR service but not the multiscreen wireless. Here are the channels available in HD:

Logos

Channel Packs

Sky Italia offers a range of channels that are grouped into: * Sky TV – Entertainment, TV series,

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

's sport, news, documentaries and music; *Entertainment plus – Adds

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

to the Sky TV package; *Sky Cinema – Movies; * Sky Sport and Sky Calcio (Football) – Sports and football; *Sky Kids – cartoons.

Sky TV

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...

Rai 2 Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting ''TG2'' news bulletins, tal ...

Rai 3 Rai 3 (formerly Rete 3) is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It was launched on 15 December 1979 and its programming is centred towards cultural and ...

Rete 4 Rete 4 (in English Network 4) is an Italian free-to-air television channel operated by Mediaset Italia and owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. Presently the director is Sebastiano Lombardi. Programs TV Programmes (currently) Rete 4's strengt ...

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have a national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a s ...

Italia 1 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is oriented at both young and adult people. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, originally, was o ...

La7 La7 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned by Cairo Communication. Until 2013 it was a pay-per-view channel owned by Telecom Italia Media and operated by Telecom Italia. Signal overspill means that parts of Albania, Croatia, Swi ...

(Sky One, +1 available) * Sky Serie (+1 available) *

(+1 available) *

Crime+Investigation Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal p ...

* Sky Arte (Sky Arts, +1 available) * TV8 * Blaze *

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

(+1 available) *

* La EFFE * Classica * NOVE * 20 Mediaset *

* 27 Twentyseven *

La5 La5 is an Italian entertainment television channel, launched on May 12, 2010, operated by the media company Mediaset and owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is broadcast in Italy on Digital terrestrial television, DTT Virtual channel, channel 30 on ...

* Real Time *

Mediaset Extra Mediaset Extra is an Italian entertainment television channel, operated by the media company Mediaset and owned by MFE - MediaForEurope, launched on 26 November 2010. It is broadcast in Italy on DTT channel 34 on mux ''Mediaset 2''. The chan ...

Giallo In Italian cinema, ''Giallo'' (; plural ''gialli'', from ''giallo'', Italian for yellow) is a genre of mystery fiction and thrillers that often contains slasher, crime fiction, psychological thriller, psychological horror, sexploitation, and, ...

* TOPcrime * Sky Investigation (+1 available) * DMAX *

Mediaset Italia 2 Mediaset Italia Due, commonly known as Italia 2 (pronounced ''Italia Due'' ), is an Italian television channel, operated by Mediaset and owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was founded, and started to broadcast, in 2011. Italia 2 currently broadca ...

Eurosport 1 Eurosport 1 is a France, French television sports network channel which is a division of Eurosport and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Discovery took a 20% minority interest share in December 2012, and became majority shareholder in the ...

* Horse TV * Gambero Rosso Channel * Food Network * HGTV *

(Sky News Italy) * Sky TG24 Primo Piano *

Sky Meteo 24 Sky Meteo 24 is the first Italian television channel dedicated exclusively to weather forecasts, it was launched on 1 August 2004, owned by Sky Italia Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian satellite television platform owned by the American media c ...

(Sky Weather 24) *

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

* Mediaset TGCom24 * MTV Music * VH1 *

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

(+1 available) * National Geographic (+1 available) *

Discovery Science Discovery science (also known as discovery-based science) is a scientific methodology which aims to find new patterns, correlations, and form hypotheses through the analysis of large-scale experimental data. The term “discovery science” enco ...

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

(+1 available) *

Sky Documentaries Sky Documentaries is a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky, a division of Comcast, which launched on 27 May 2020. Sky Documentaries broadcasts imported programming from US networks HBO and Showtime, alongside new original p ...

(+1 available) *

Sky Nature Sky Nature is a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky, a division of Comcast, which launched on 27 May 2020. Sky Nature broadcasts original Sky content, content from Canadian channel Love Nature, and Sky's collection of Da ...

(+1 available) *

Focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...

Motor Trend ''MotorTrend'' is an American automobile magazine. It first appeared in September 1949, and designated the first Car of the Year, also in 1949. Petersen Publishing Company in Los Angeles published ''MotorTrend'' until 1998, when it was sold to ...

Super! Super! is an Italian television channel owned by Paramount Networks EMEAA. The channel was launched on 1 September 2010 as ''DeA Super'' on Sky Italia. On 18 March 2012, it became free-to-air and changed name to ''Super!''. The network official s ...

* K2 *

Frisbee A frisbee (pronounced ), also called a flying disc or simply a disc, is a gliding toy or sporting item that is generally made of injection-molded plastic and roughly in diameter with a pronounced lip. It is used recreationally and competitive ...

Sky Kids

DeA Kids DeA Kids is an Italian children's television channel owned by De Agostini. The channel was launched on October 1, 2008 on Sky Italia for children aged 4–14. A month later, a timeshift version of the channel, Dea Kids +1 on November 10, 2008. Cu ...

(+1 available) *

Nick Jr. Nick Jr. (known on-air as the Nick Jr. Channel) is an American pay television channel spun off from Nickelodeon's long-running programming block of the same name. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Gr ...

(+1 available) *

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

(+1 available) *

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

(+1 available) *

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

(+1 available) * DeA Junior

Sky Sport and Sky Calcio

* Sky Sport 24 (Sky Sports News) * Sky Sport Uno * Sky Sport Serie A * Sky Sport Football * Sky Sport Arena * Sky Sport Collection * Sky Sport NBA * Sky Sport F1 * Sky Sport MotoGP * Roma TV * Sky Sport (channels from 251 to 263)

Sky Cinema

* Sky Cinema Uno (+24 available) *

Sky Cinema Due Sky Cinema Due HD is a High-definition television, high-definition satellite television Television channel, channel on the Sky Italia platform in Italy. Sky Cinema Cult HD, channel 302, supersedes the Standard-definition television, standard-defi ...

(+24 available) * Sky Cinema Collection * Sky Cinema Family * Sky Cinema Action * Sky Cinema Suspense * Sky Cinema Romance * Sky Cinema Drama * Sky Cinema Comedy * Iris * Cine34

Optional Channels

DAZN DAZN ( "da zone") is a global sports entertainment platform. Different to traditional linear and satellite broadcasting, DAZN is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming service meaning that it is delivered directly to viewers via the internet. The ...

1 * DAZN 1+ * Milan TV *

Inter TV Inter TV is a subscription-based channel, entirely dedicated to the Italian professional football club Inter. It is headquartered at the training centre of Inter in Appiano Gentile. The channel offers Inter fans exclusive interviews with play ...

* Lazio Style Channel * Torino Channel *

Caccia e Pesca ''Caccia e Pesca'' (''Hunting and Fishing'') is an Italy-based premium television channel about hunting and fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also ...

* Doctor's Life Channel

References

External links

*
Sky Italia
on

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sky Italia 2003 establishments in Italy Telecommunications companies established in 2003

Italia Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Direct broadcast satellite services Italian-language television networks