Sky Multichannels was a package of
analogue television services offered by
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 ...
on the
Astra satellites at
19.2° east from 1 September 1993 to 27 September 2001, which started off with 15 channels before expanding to over 40.
History
Overview
The service started on 1 September 1993, based on the idea from
chief executive officer
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
Sam Chisholm
Samuel Hewlings Chisholm Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (8 October 1939 – 9 July 2018) was a New Zealand-born Australian media executive who was a significant figure in the Australian media.
Career
Chisholm attended King ...
and
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian-born American business magnate. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing outlets around the world, including ...
of converting the company's business strategy to an entirely fee-based concept. The new package included four channels formerly available
free-to-air
Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the FTA Receiver, appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring ...
on Astra's satellites, as well as introducing new channels.
Some of the channels had been broadcast either in the clear or soft
encrypted
In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...
(i.e. a
VideoCrypt
VideoCrypt is a cryptographic, smartcard-based conditional access television encryption system that scrambles analogue pay-TV signals. It was introduced in 1989 by News Datacom and was used initially by Sky TV and subsequently by several other broa ...
decoder was required, but without a subscription card) prior to their addition to the Multichannels package.
Within two months of the launch, Sky gained 400,000 new subscribers with the majority taking at least one premium channel, which helped BSkyB reach 3.5 million households by mid-1994. The service continued until the closure of BSkyB's analogue platform on 27 September 2001,
due to the expansion of
Sky Digital after its launch three years earlier.
Channels added later include
QVC
QVC (short for "Quality Value Convenience") is an American free-to-air television network, and flagship shopping channel specializing in televised home shopping, owned by Qurate Retail Group. Founded in 1986 by Joseph Segel in West Chester, Pen ...
(1 October 1993) and
VH1 (1 October 1994).
When VH-1's
German version started on 10 March 1995, VideoCrypt decoders would blank out the service to British viewers and prevent them from watching the channel for free.
Nick at Nite
Nick at Nite (stylized as nick@nite) is an American nighttime basic cable television channel that broadcasts over the channel space of Nickelodeon. It typically broadcasts Mondays to Thursday nights from 9 p.m. - 6:30 a.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET/Pac ...
was originally part of the Multichannels plan but did not materialize.
Channels which joined the package were paid a fee of 15 pence per subscriber per month.
A European Multichannels package run by BSkyB – also using the VideoCrypt encryption system – was planned to be launched soon afterwards but did not come to fruition. A package of channels called
MultiChoice Kaleidoscope launched on 1 November 1993 using VideoCrypt 2 encryption. The MultiChoice service was run by South Africa-based Network Holdings, separate from BSkyB, and initially included
Filmnet
FilmNet was the name used for several premium television channels in Europe during the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. It was launched on 9 March 1985, broadcasting with a focus on Scandinavia, the Netherlands and the northern part of Belgium (Flanders). ...
and
The Adult Channel as premium channels, and
The Children's Channel
The Children's Channel, also known as TCC, was a British-based pan-European children's television channel in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, which was owned by Flextech in London, England, UK. It began broadcasting on the original Eutelsat ...
(in Benelux only),
Discovery
Discovery may refer to:
* Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown
* Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown
* Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence
Discovery, The Discovery ...
,
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 ...
,
Country Music Television
Country Music Television (CMT) is an American pay TV network owned by Paramount Media Networks, a division of Paramount Global. Launched on March 5, 1983, as Country Music Television, CMT was the first nationally available channel devoted to coun ...
and QVC as basic channels.
Sky Soap
Sky Soap was a satellite television channel operated by Sky UK, British Sky Broadcasting devoted to American and British soap operas that include ''Emmerdale, Emmerdale Farm'', ''Take the High Road'', ''Families (TV series), Families'' and ''Alb ...
and
Sky Travel
Sky Travel was first launched on 3 October 1994 (and later in 2003 relaunched as Sky Travel Shop) and showed extensive programmes about travel, adverts for travel agencies, and documentaries, with Sky Travel Shop being the adverts for travel ag ...
also launched on 3 October 1994 as part of the package,
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 ...
and
CNBC Europe
Consumer News and Business Channel Europe (referred to on air simply as CNBC) is a business and financial news television channel which airs across Europe. The station is based in London, where it shares the Adrian Smith-designed 10 Fleet Pla ...
remained free-to-air. QVC was switched to free-to-view broadcasting on 7 March 1995.
The launch of
Astra 1D
Astra 1D is a geostationary communications satellite launched in 1994 by the Société Européenne des Satellites (SES). , the craft remains in service for occasional use.
Astra 1D was the fourth, and under original plans, last Astra communica ...
allowed Sky to expand the Multichannels package further, including the
pay-per-view
Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast.
Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program guid ...
Box Office
A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...
channels on 1 December 1997.
Promotion
BSkyB ran
television advertisement
A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...
s prior to the new service launching. However, in 1993, the
Independent Television Commission
The Independent Television Commission (ITC) licensed and regulated commercial television services in the United Kingdom (except S4C in Wales) between 1 January 1991 and 28 December 2003.
History
The creation of ITC, by the Broadcasting Act ...
ruled against BSkyB after ten complaints regarding a number of false claims involving some of the channels which were due to be part of the package, as well as further complaints about the commercials failing to state that a one-year contract had to be taken out to take advantage of any special introductory offer.
In conjunction with the launch of the Multichannels package, all Sky networks adopted a cohesive graphical and music appearance as
idents
Station identification (ident, network ID or channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, particularly in the ...
featured the logo's newly-added "ring" forming out of swirling energy streaks while the text formed out of glass copies. The graphics were produced by American graphical firm Novocom, the look for
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 ...
resembling their earlier work for the ''
CBS Evening News
The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...
'' from 1991. A new music package from composer
Frank Gari
Frank Daniel Garofalo (born April 1, 1944), known professionally as Frank Gari, is an American singer-songwriter and composer.
Early life
Gari was a popular singer and songwriter from the late 1950s and early 1960s. His best known songs as a ...
dubbed the ''Sky Symphony'' was also used, with differing arrangements per channel (Sky News utilized a variant with the signature of Gari's pre-existing "Great News" package in 1989, which had been used since launch and received a slight update with the new look). The full package was used in promotional spots for what was termed as "the brand new Sky" and during periods where BSkyB channels were off the air.
To promote the Sky Multichannels package on the Astra satellites, a selection of channels was placed on Sky's preview service on
transponder
In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend word, blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''.
In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a T ...
47 of
Astra 1C
Astra 1C was a geostationary communications satellite launched in 1993 by the Société Européenne des Satellites (SES), now SES Astra. The satellite remained in service until 2011 and is now derelict.
History
Astra 1C was the third communi ...
in the clear This showed promotional material in the centre of the screen and 12 channels around the edge, including some English services which were not part of the package. During football matches on
Sky One
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
, services which were also part of the Multichannels package were made available free-to-view, allowing sports subscribers to sample them. This continued until the launch of
Sky Sports 2
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
on 19 August 1994.
Closure
Due to the growth of
digital television
Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advanc ...
and the Sky platform, alongside greater choice and the reduced need for channels to timeshare due to
bandwidth
Bandwidth commonly refers to:
* Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range
* Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...
constraints, BSkyB announced that its analogue service would cease transmission with all channels in this package closing by 2001. The first to be ceased was
TV Travel Shop
TV Travel Shop was a British television channel that sold holidays.
It launched in April 1998, primarily on satellite and cable, broadcasting between 6am and 5pm, sharing space with Challenge. In 1999, the channel began broadcasting 24 hours a ...
which became exclusive to digital in late 1999, and by February 2000 many of the channels on
Astra 1D
Astra 1D is a geostationary communications satellite launched in 1994 by the Société Européenne des Satellites (SES). , the craft remains in service for occasional use.
Astra 1D was the fourth, and under original plans, last Astra communica ...
had been discontinued.
On 9 May 2001, it was announced that due to the possibility of lost revenue from the 242,000 analogue subscribers, the closure of the remaining analogue channels would be delayed from June to September. BSkyB closed down the last service in the Multichannels package,
Sky One
Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non-terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...
, on 27 September of that year.
Channel list
1993
The subscription cost was
£6.99 a month at launch, although those who signed up before 1 September 1993 could get the channels for £3.99 a month until the start of 1994. Additional packages including the multiple channels alongside one or more of Sky's premium channels were available from £11.99 to £19.99.
The channels were
encrypted
In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...
using
NDS Group
Cisco Videoscape (formerly NDS Group and currently known as Synamedia) was a majority owned subsidiary of News Corp, which develops software for the pay TV industry (including cable, satellite and others). NDS Group was established in 1988 as an I ...
's
VideoCrypt
VideoCrypt is a cryptographic, smartcard-based conditional access television encryption system that scrambles analogue pay-TV signals. It was introduced in 1989 by News Datacom and was used initially by Sky TV and subsequently by several other broa ...
system,
and viewing them required a monthly subscription payment, a decoder and a valid viewing card.
1995
In 1995, the number of Sky customers exceeded five million.
Sky Sports 2
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
,
Sky Soap
Sky Soap was a satellite television channel operated by Sky UK, British Sky Broadcasting devoted to American and British soap operas that include ''Emmerdale, Emmerdale Farm'', ''Take the High Road'', ''Families (TV series), Families'' and ''Alb ...
and
Sky Travel
Sky Travel was first launched on 3 October 1994 (and later in 2003 relaunched as Sky Travel Shop) and showed extensive programmes about travel, adverts for travel agencies, and documentaries, with Sky Travel Shop being the adverts for travel ag ...
which launched on 3 October 1994 joined the package. By October and November 1995, the launch of
Astra 1D
Astra 1D is a geostationary communications satellite launched in 1994 by the Société Européenne des Satellites (SES). , the craft remains in service for occasional use.
Astra 1D was the fourth, and under original plans, last Astra communica ...
allowed Sky to expand the Multichannels package further with the
Sci-Fi Channel
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...
,
Paramount Channel
Paramount Network is a brand of several television channels operated by Paramount International Networks that showcase the Paramount Pictures film catalogue, and selected TV series from Paramount Global's television productions. The channel was ...
, Sky Sports Gold and
History Channel
History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
, as well as the
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 ...
,
Christian Channel Europe,
European Business News
Consumer News and Business Channel Europe (referred to on air simply as CNBC) is a business and financial news television channel which airs across Europe. The station is based in London, where it shares the Adrian Smith-designed 10 Fleet Pla ...
,
Television X
Television X (TVX) is a series of adult pay-per-view television channels in the United Kingdom owned by MG Global Entertainment (Europe) Limited. Until 2020, it was owned by Portland TV which was a subsidiary of Richard Desmond's publishing com ...
and
Playboy TV
Playboy TV (originally The Playboy Channel) is a pay television channel based in the United States.
History
The channel first launched on December 9, 1980, as Escapade by Rainbow Programing Services (a joint-venture of four cable companies, ...
which were added to
Astra 1C
Astra 1C was a geostationary communications satellite launched in 1993 by the Société Européenne des Satellites (SES), now SES Astra. The satellite remained in service until 2011 and is now derelict.
History
Astra 1C was the third communi ...
. QVC, which launched as part of the Multichannels package, switched to free-to-view broadcasting in this year.
[http://ftp.funet.fi/pub/dx/text/NEWS/SCDX/scdx2219.txt ]
Channel 11 notes (up until October 1995):
* Midnight to 6.00am:
Chinese Channel – daily entertainment and news service (
PAL
Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...
/clear)
* 8.00am to midday on weekdays:
Sky Soap
Sky Soap was a satellite television channel operated by Sky UK, British Sky Broadcasting devoted to American and British soap operas that include ''Emmerdale, Emmerdale Farm'', ''Take the High Road'', ''Families (TV series), Families'' and ''Alb ...
(PAL/VideoCrypt/Multi-channel)
* Midday to midnight on Mondays to Thursdays, and midday to 6.00pm on Fridays:
Sky Travel
Sky Travel was first launched on 3 October 1994 (and later in 2003 relaunched as Sky Travel Shop) and showed extensive programmes about travel, adverts for travel agencies, and documentaries, with Sky Travel Shop being the adverts for travel ag ...
(PAL/VideoCrypt/Multi-channel)
* 6.00pm to midnight on Fridays, and 8.00am to midnight on Saturdays and Sundays:
Sky Sports 2
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
(PAL/VideoCrypt/Sports subscription)
1996
In 1996, Sky reached six million subscribers. New channels included
Sky Sports 3
Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
(replacing Sky Sports Gold), along with
Sky 2
Sky Replay is a British pay television channel operated by Sky as a sister channel to Sky Max and Sky Witness. The current channel began broadcasting (as Sky One Mix) in December 2002. The 'Sky 2' name and format had earlier been used for a sim ...
,
Computer Channel,
Warner TV
Warner TV is a pay television channel mainly airing in Latin America, Europe, parts of South Asia and Southeast Asia, which is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its International unit that focuses on airing American series and films.
Most ...
,
Granada Sky Broadcasting
ITV Digital Channels Limited (formerly known as Granada Sky Broadcasting) is a wholly owned subsidiary of British broadcaster ITV plc. It manages all of the company's television channels with the exception of ITV, which is part of the entir ...
(with
Plus
Plus may refer to:
Mathematics
* Addition
* +, the mathematical sign
Music
* ''+'' (Ed Sheeran album), (pronounced "plus"), 2011
* ''Plus'' (Cannonball Adderley Quintet album), 1961
* ''Plus'' (Matt Nathanson EP), 2003
* ''Plus'' (Martin Ga ...
,
Men & Motors
Men & Motors was a men's lifestyle television channel in the UK. It was the last remaining station operated by the former Granada Sky Broadcasting joint venture, set up by Granada Television (now part of ITV plc) and satellite broadcaster Briti ...
,
Good Life and
Talk TV),
Weather Channel UK,
HSN Direct,
Fox Kids
Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's block programming, programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channel ...
,
Sky Scottish
Sky Scottish was a short-lived satellite television channel operating on the analogue service broadcasts between 6.00pm and 8.00pm.
History
The service was a joint venture between British Sky Broadcasting and ITV franchise Scottish Televisio ...
and
Trouble
Trouble may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin
* ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film
* ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film
* ''Trouble'' ...
(from early 1997).
1997
During 1997, but same as above:
*
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 ...
launches on 1 September, replacing
Sky 2
Sky Replay is a British pay television channel operated by Sky as a sister channel to Sky Max and Sky Witness. The current channel began broadcasting (as Sky One Mix) in December 2002. The 'Sky 2' name and format had earlier been used for a sim ...
as time shared with
Fox Kids
Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's block programming, programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channel ...
.
*
Christian Channel Europe (4.00am to 11.00am),
Sky Soap
Sky Soap was a satellite television channel operated by Sky UK, British Sky Broadcasting devoted to American and British soap operas that include ''Emmerdale, Emmerdale Farm'', ''Take the High Road'', ''Families (TV series), Families'' and ''Alb ...
(11.00am to 4.00pm),
History Channel
History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...
(4.00pm to 8.00pm) and
Sci-Fi Channel
Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...
(8.00pm to 4.00am) moved to a new service to allow
Sky Sports 2
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
and
Sky Travel
Sky Travel was first launched on 3 October 1994 (and later in 2003 relaunched as Sky Travel Shop) and showed extensive programmes about travel, adverts for travel agencies, and documentaries, with Sky Travel Shop being the adverts for travel ag ...
to broadcast longer, while
European Business News
Consumer News and Business Channel Europe (referred to on air simply as CNBC) is a business and financial news television channel which airs across Europe. The station is based in London, where it shares the Adrian Smith-designed 10 Fleet Pla ...
,
Trouble
Trouble may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin
* ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film
* ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film
* ''Trouble'' ...
and
Bravo
Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels
*Bravo (band), a Russian rock band
* Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984
*Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing company ...
continued to share a channel.
*
UKTV
UKTV Media Limited, simply known as UKTV, is a British multi-channel broadcaster, which, since 2019, has been wholly owned by BBC Studios (formerly BBC Worldwide), a commercial subsidiary of the BBC. It was formed on 1 November 1992 through ...
network launched on 1 November, adding three new channels (
UK Horizons
UK Horizons was a television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom, as part of the UKTV network of channels, showing mainly BBC documentaries. Most programmes were abridged for commercial timing purposes. It took its name from the BBC series '' ...
,
UK Style and
UK Arena
Alibi is a British pay television channel that was launched on 1 November 1997 as UK Arena. It was renamed UK Drama in 2000, and then UKTV Drama in 2004, and assumed its current name on 7 October 2008.
History
The channel originally launched ...
) which shared a service.
* Pay-per-view movies launched on
Sky Box Office
Sky Box Office is Sky's pay-per-view (PPV) system operated in the United Kingdom and Ireland. There were three branded divisions of Sky Box Office – Sky Cinema Box Office, Sky Sports Box Office and Sky 3D Box Office. Until 1 February 2011, the ...
from 1 December 1997.
References
{{BSkyB
Direct broadcast satellite services
Telecommunications-related introductions in 1993
Sky Group
1990s in the United Kingdom
1990s in British television
1993 in British television
2000s in the United Kingdom
2000s in British television
History of television in the United Kingdom