This is a timeline of the history of Sky Television.

1970s and 1980s

* 1977 ** 21 October – The

World Administrative Radio Conference The World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) was a technical conference of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) where delegates from member nations of the ITU met to revise or amend the entire international radio regulations pertainin ...

assigns each country five high-powered direct broadcast by satellite channels for domestic use. * 1980 ** Plans for a pan-European satellite television station are put together by Brian Haynes, back by backed by

Guinness Mahon Guinness Mahon was an Irish merchant bank originally based in Dublin but more recently with operations in London. History Formation The firm was founded as a land agency in Dublin in 1836 by barrister Robert Rundell Guinness, a great-nephew of t ...

and Barclays Merchant Bank and in November Mr Haynes sets up Satellite Television Ltd. (SATV) *1981 ** 21 October – SATV begins test transmissions on the

Orbital Test Satellite The Orbital Test Satellite (OTS) programme was an experimental satellite system inherited by the European Space Agency (ESA) in 1975 from its predecessor, the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO). OTS was the first three-axis-stabilised ...

after the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (120 ...

allowed the company to test the satellite for the use of commercial television, with an hour of light entertainment in English each night. The low-powered satellite forces it to broadcast to cable systems rather than directly to individual satellite dishes. * 1982 ** February – The BBC is awarded two of the five channels DBS satellite channels. ** 26 April –

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 com ...

launches as a pan-European service. The channel was often referred to on-screen as ''Super Station Europe''. However the channel is initially only available in some European countries, with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

being the first two countries to permit the new service's transmission via cable, followed by

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

. * 1983 ** 27 June –

News International News Corp UK & Ireland Limited (trading as News UK, formerly News International and NI Group) is a British newspaper publisher, and a wholly owned subsidiary of the American mass media conglomerate News Corp. It is the current publisher of ...

becomes the majority shareholder of Satellite Television. ** 16 October –

begins broadcasting in the UK. ** Autumn – Shortly after the

Home Secretary The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all nationa ...

announced that the three remaining satellite channels would be given to the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...

(IBA) to allow the private sector to compete against the BBC, starts talking with the IBA about a joint project to help cover the cost. The Government subsequently gives permission and a consortium emerges consisting of the BBC,

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

, Anglia,

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

, Thorn EMI,

Pearson Longman Longman, also known as Pearson Longman, is a publishing company founded in London, England, in 1724 and is owned by Pearson PLC. Since 1968, Longman has been used primarily as an imprint by Pearson's Schools business. The Longman brand is also ...

and Consolidated Satellite Broadcasting. The BBC holds a 50% stake in the consortium. * 1984 ** 16 January – Satellite Television is renamed Sky Channel. ** 25 June – The consortium wanting to launch satellite television announces that the original launch date of 1986 will be delayed until 1989. * 1985 ** 15 June – The consortium which has been planning to launch satellite television in the UK collapses on costs grounds.The Times, Saturday, 15 June 1985; pg. 3; British satellite TV project collapses By Bill Johnstone Technology Correspondent. * 1986 ** 2 April – The IBA invites bids from the private sector to operate a commercial service on three of the five DBS channels allocated to the UK in 1977 for satellite broadcasting. ** 11 December – The IBA announces that BSB has been awarded a fifteen-year franchise to operate the satellite television service. * 1987 ** No events. * 1988 ** 8 June – Having failed to become part of the BSB consortium,

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 ...

announces plans to launch a four-channel service on the soon to be launched Astra satellite. ** 11 December – The satellite on which Sky Television will broadcast,

Astra 1A Astra 1A was the first satellite launched and operated by SES (Société Européenne des Satellites), launched in December 1988. During its early days, it was often referred to as the Astra Satellite, as SES only operated one satellite origina ...

, is successfully launched by

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth ...

company

SES SES, S.E.S., Ses and similar variants can refere to: Business and economics * Socioeconomic status * Scottish Economic Society, a learned society in Scotland * SES, callsign of the TV station SES/RTS (Mount Gambier, South Australia) * SES S.A., ...

. * 1989 ** 5 February – Sky Television launches at 6.00pm. The channel line-up consists of Sky Channel,

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 he ...

Sky Movies Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema ...

and

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territorie ...

. ** 3 June – Sky Television and

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

come to an arrangement which allows to broadcast movies for a five-year period, this agreement comes a few weeks after plans to create a full-time channel were scrapped, although a Disney-branded version eventually launched on 1 October 1995. ** June – BSB is awarded the other two DBS channel slots, meaning that the service will launch with five channels. These two channels had originally been allocated to the BBC but were handed over for commercial use when the BBC dropped its plans to use the two channels on cost grounds. ** 31 July – Sky Channel becomes a UK and Ireland-only service and is renamed

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, ...

although for a short time after the relaunch, some of Sky Channel's former pan-European programming is broadcast in the hours before Eurosport's startup, and the programme block is branded as ''Sky Europe''.

1990s

* 1990 ** 5 February –

is fully encrypted, thereby becoming Sky's first pay channel. ** 11 February – Sky Movies broadcasts its first special event – the boxing fight between Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas. ** 25 March – BSB launches, but initially only on cable - the channels do not begin broadcasting on satellite until the end of April. Its channels are

Galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System ...

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

The Movie Channel The Movie Channel (TMC) is an American premium television network owned by Showtime Networks, a subsidiary of Paramount Global operated through its Media Networks unit. The network's programming mainly features first-run theatrically released ...

, The Sports Channel and The Power Station. BSB had planned to launch in September 1989 but problems with the supply of receiving equipment had delayed the launch. ** 2 September –

begins airing the American animated series ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, ...

''. ** 2 November – Sky TV and BSB merge. The new company is called

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 ...

. ** 2 December –

and

are closed down and are replaced on the

Marcopolo Thor (previously known as Marcopolo) is a family of satellites designed, launched and tested by Hughes Space and Communications (now part of Boeing Satellite Systems) for British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB), and were used for Britain's Direc ...

satellite by

and

although arts programmes are shown for a short time on Marco Polo as a weekend opt-out service from Sky News so that contractual obligations can be fulfilled. This opt-out service is called

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 ...

. * 1991 ** 8 April – The Power Station closes at 4.00am and two hours later at 6.00am,

launches in its place on the Marcopolo satellite. ** 15 April —

launches on Astra 1B satellite with the first showing of 1989's ''

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade ''Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'' is a 1989 American action- adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg, from a story co-written by executive producer George Lucas. It is the third installment in the ''Indiana Jones'' franchise and a s ...

''. ** 20 April –

Sky Sports 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 ...

launches, replacing the BSB Sports Channel. ** 6 May – ***

briefly closes after the competing

Screensport Screensport was a pan-European cable and satellite sports television network that was on air from 1984 until 1993 before merging with Eurosport. History 1984–1986: Early years Screensport was founded in 1981 by Bob Kennedy — who had sta ...

channel had filed a complaint to 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 ...

over its corporate structure.

TF1 Group TF1 Group (french: Groupe TF1) is a French media holding company. Its best-known property is the broadcast network TF1. The group was formed after TF1 was privatized in April 1987. It is controlled with a 43% stake by Bouygues, and is quoted ...

subsequently steps in to replace

as Eurosport's joint owners when the service resumes on 22 May. ***

and

begin broadcasting 24 hours a day. Previously they had been on air from early afternoon until the early hours of the next morning. ** 26 May – The final

weekend output takes place on the Marco Polo satellite. ** 1 October –

The Comedy Channel The Comedy Channel (promoted on air as comedy) is a defunct Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020. History A joint venture between Artist Serv ...

launches. * 1992 ** February –

TV-am TV-am was a TV company that broadcast the ITV franchise for breakfast television in the United Kingdom from 1 February 1983 until 31 December 1992. The station was the UK's first national operator of a commercial breakfast television franchis ...

closes its in-house news service and contracts out news bulletins to

. ** 18 May – Sky purchases the live rights to the newly formed football

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 Fo ...

for £304 million. ** 1 July – Sky sells the

satellite to

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norwegian majority state-owned multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the world's largest mobile telecommunications companies with operations worldwi ...

for about £30 million. ** 15 August –

launches ''Sports Saturday.'' The programme follows the same format as the BBC's ''

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap al ...

'' programme featuring a mix of sporting action, concluding with the day's football results. ** 16 August – To mark the start of

's coverage of the

, the channel launches an afternoon-long football programme called '' Super Sunday''. ** 1 September – ***

becomes a subscription channel. ***

stops showing non-movies content. It had previously shown selected premium content such as live boxing, music concerts and

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and var ...

due to it having been Sky's only encrypted channel and had been known as ''Sky Movies Plus''. ** 1 October –

closes and is replaced by

Sky Movies Gold Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema o ...

, a "classic movies" service is launched as part of

package and broadcasts from late afternoon until the early hours, with the first film is shown at 6.00pm on the new network was 1979's ''

Rocky II ''Rocky II'' is a 1979 American sports drama film written, directed by, and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the sequel to ''Rocky'' (1976) and is the second installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise. It also stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl W ...

''. ** 31 December – Sky stops broadcasting via the

satellite. * 1993 ** 1 February – BSkyB introduces a new system of film ratings often used for various times, replacing the

British Board of Film Classification The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC, previously the British Board of Film Censors) is a non-governmental organisation founded by the British film industry in 1912 and responsible for the national classification and censorship of ...

certificates. ** 1 September – Sky Multichannels launches. * 1994 ** 19 August –

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. I ...

launches, initially as a weekend-only service, ** 3 October –

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 launch as part-time weekday channels. * 1995 ** 1 November – Sky Sports Gold launches. * 1996 ** 16 March – The boxing match between Frank Bruno and Mike Tyson is the UK's first

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 g ...

event. ** 16 August – ***

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 ...

launches. *** Sky Sports is renamed Sky Sports 1 *** Sky Sports Gold closes. ** 1 September – Sky 2 and The Computer Channel launch. ** 1 October –

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 ...

, in conjunction with ITV, launches. The channel line-up consists of Granada Plus, Granada Good Life, Granada Men & Motors and Granada Talk TV ** 1 November – A joint venture between

Scottish Television Scottish Television (now, legally, known as STV Central Limited) is the ITV network franchisee for Central Scotland. The channel — the largest of the three ITV franchises in Scotland — has been in operation since 31 August 1957 and is th ...

and

results in the launch of

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 ...

. * 1997 ** 31 January – BSkyB enters into a joint venture with ITV companies

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was its ...

and

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Tele ...

to create British Digital Broadcasting (BDB) so that they can apply to operate three

digital terrestrial television Digital terrestrial television (DTTV or DTT, or DTTB with "broadcasting") is a technology for terrestrial television in which land-based (terrestrial) television stations broadcast television content by radio waves to televisions in consumers' ...

(DTT) licences. ** 25 June – BSkyB is forced by 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 ...

to pull out of BDB on competition grounds. ** 31 August – Granada Talk TV and Sky 2 stops broadcasting. ** 1 September –

becomes a full-time service. ** 1 November –

and

are rebranded under the Sky Movies Screen banner and are now called Sky Movies Screen 1 and Sky Movies Screen 2. ** 1 December –

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, th ...

launches a four-channel near on-demand movies service. It also carried by Cable & Wireless chooses not to use the service, instead opting for Front Row. * 1998 ** 1 May – Granada Good Life is renamed Granada Breeze. ** 31 May –

stops broadcasting. ** 15 August – On the first day of the 1998–99 football season, the first edition of ''

Soccer Saturday ''Gillette Labs Soccer Saturday'' is a weekly television programme broadcast on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and Ireland during the football season. The programme updates viewers on the progress of association football games in the United ...

'' is broadcast. The afternoon-long football scores and results service replaces ''Sports Saturday''. ** 10 September – Sky Movies Screen 1 becomes Sky MovieMax, Sky Movies Screen 2 becomes Sky Premier, and Sky Movies Gold is renamed Sky Cinema. ** 1 October – Sky Digital launches,

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British paid television sports news channel run by Sky, a division of Comcast. History Since 1992, Sky Sports had broadcast sports news, initially a brief ''Football Update'' and later this was expanded into a ...

launches,

launches seven more channels and many more Sky Movies Box Office channels start broadcasting. ** 15 November – Rival digital television service ONdigital launches and despite Sky no longer being a partner in the venture, some Sky channels include

, and **

channels (Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 3 – Sky Sports 2 is added later) and two

channels, do appear on the service. * 1999 ** April – Sky Sports launches its interactive service,

Sky Sports Active Sky Sports Active is a term used by British TV channel, Sky Sports, to describe its interactive sports service. It was launched in April 1999, on Sky Sports 1. Presented by Richard Keys, the first football game that was interactive was Arsenal ...

. ** 30 April –

closes. ** June –

launches

Sky News Radio Sky News Radio is the radio arm of Sky News, owned by Sky UK. It has been operating since June 1999, providing a news bulletin service for UK commercial radio stations operators across the UK and for a number of English-speaking radio stations aro ...

. ** 22 August – Sky Sports Xtra launches, initially primarily as an interactive service. ** 1 October – Sky MovieMax 5 launches.

2000s

* 2000 ** March – Sky News Active launches. ** 10 April –

is renamed Sky Sports.com TV. * 2001 ** The first

Sky+ 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, ...

boxes go on sale. ** 1 July – The Sky Sports.com TV brand is scrapped and the channel reverts to its original name of

. ** 18 August –

PremPlus PremPlus (originally Premiership Plus) was Sky Sports' first and only pay-per-view channel which was dedicated to airing live and interactive football from the Premier League. The main presenter on PremPlus was Marcus Buckland with former Arsena ...

launches. ** 2 September –

.tv The domain name .tv is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Tuvalu. Except for reserved names like com.tv, net.tv, org.tv and others, any person may register second-level domains under .tv. The domain name is popular, and thus ...

stops broadcasting. ** September – Sky launches its first

personal video recorder A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes with direct to d ...

, Sky +. ** 27 September – Sky stops broadcasting via analogue. Sky had originally planned to switch off its analogue service earlier in 2001 but delayed it by three months due to the possibility of lost revenue from the remaining analogue subscribers, thereby giving those customers extra time to switch to Sky's digital service. The last channel to stop broadcasting via analogue satellite is

. ** 1 October – Following its acquisition of interactive service Open..., Sky launches

Sky Active Sky Active was the brand name for interactive features on Sky Digital and was available in the UK and Ireland. It enabled a viewer to interact with TV content, respond to an advertisement or access internet-based services. History and techn ...

. * 2002 **7 January –

content becomes available on terrestrial television for the first time in a decade when Channel 5 begins simulcasting part of its breakfast news programme ''

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

''. ** 1 March –

F1 Digital+ F1 Digital+ (also known as just F1 Digital) was the name of the enhanced world feed package for Formula One coverage that existed from 1996 to 2002. The service offered additional features to the standard, single analogue television feed of th ...

launches. It offers enhanced multi-screen coverage of

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, ...

on a pay-per-view basis. ** 1 May –

ITV Digital ITV Digital was a British digital terrestrial television broadcaster which launched a pay-TV service on the world's first digital terrestrial television network. Its main shareholders were Carlton Communications plc and Granada plc, owners ...

stops broadcasting. ** 1 July – In another major rebranding of

, the Sky Premier channels are renamed Sky Movies Premier, the Sky MovieMax channels become Sky Movies Max and the Sky Cinema channels become Sky Movies Cinema. ** 30 October – Freeview (UK), Freeview launches and Sky contributes three channels –

and Sky Travel – to the platform. ** 9 December – Sky Replay, Sky One Mix launches. ** 12 December – After just one season,

closes. * 2003 ** February – Sky Real Lives, Sky Travel Shop launches as a full-time travel retail channel. ** 17 April – Sky launches three music channels – The Amp, Scuzz and Flaunt (TV channel), Flaunt. The channels are operated on Sky's behalf by CSC Media Group channels. ** June – The Sky Movies Premier Widescreen channel is closed and the majority of films on the remaining channels are now shown in widescreen. ** 1 November – The Sky Movies Premier and Sky Movies Max channels are brought under one banner as Sky Movies 1 through 9 and Sky Movies Cinema 1 and 2 become Sky Cinema 1 and 2. * 2004 ** 24 May –

launches Sky News Ireland – a 30-minute news bulletin for viewers in the Republic of Ireland. ** 11 June – At the Races relaunches as a stand-alone venture. Between 2000 and 2003 the channel had been on air in conjunction with Channel 4. ** August – ''Football First'' launches. The programme allows viewers to choose the game they want to watch. ** 1 November – ITV buys out

's stake in ITV Digital Channels, Granada Sky Broadcasting. *2005 ** 1 January –

takes over the contract to provide Channel 5's news service from ITN. The first scheduled Sky produced news programme had been due to air on 3 January, but two shorter bulletins for 1 and 2 January were hastily added to provide updates following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Indian Ocean tsunami on Boxing Day 2004. ** January – Sky Travel +1 launches. ** June – Sky takes full control of Artsworld, two years after it bought a 50% stake in the channel. ** 31 October – Sky Replay, Sky One Mix is rebranded as Sky Two, and Pick (TV channel), Sky Three launches on Freeview which replaced Sky Travel. * 2006 ** January – Sky launches its online television service Sky Go, Sky By Broadband, which is rebranded later in 2006 to Sky Anytime on PC. ** 30 January – A tenth

channel is launched and Sky Movies starts broadcasting two HD channels. Sky Movies 9 and the new Sky Movies 10 are Personal identification number, PIN-protected, meaning that for the first time Motion picture rating system#United Kingdom, 15 rated films were able to be shown as early as 5.00pm. ** 2 March – Alternative/indie music channel The Amp is relaunched as a classic hits channel called Bliss (TV channel), Bliss. ** 22 May – ***

becomes the exclusive broadcaster of all live cricket matches in the UK following the England and Wales Cricket Board, ECB awarding Sky exclusive coverage of all of England's home tests, one-day internationals and Twenty20 Internationals. ***Sky launches its high definition service when Sky 1, Sky One HD and Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD1 begin broadcasting. ** 31 July – Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD2 launches. ** 3 November – The final edition of Sky News Ireland is broadcast. ** December – Sky sells their three music channels Bliss (TV channel), Bliss (previously The Amp), Scuzz, and Flaunt (TV channel), Flaunt to CSC Media Group, Chart Show Channels. CSC had previously operated the channels on Sky's behalf. * 2007 ** 1 March – ***The Sky basics channels stop broadcasting on Virgin Media when the two companies cannot agree a new carriage deal. ***

launches, replacing Artsworld. ** 27 March – Sky launches its on-demand service Sky Anytime. ** 4 April –

is revamped with each channel now covering a specific genre and are renamed. The new line-up is Sky Movies Premiere, Sky Movies Premiere +1, Sky Movies Comedy, Sky Movies Action & Thriller, Sky Movies Family, Sky Movies Drama, Sky Movies Classics, Sky Movies Sci-Fi & Horror, Sky Movies Modern Greats, Sky Movies Indie, Sky Movies HD1 and Sky Movies HD2. ** 6 May –

closes. ** 7 November – ***Sky Real Lives launches. ***Sky Travel is relaunched as a holiday retail channel, replacing Sky Travel Shop. Sky Travel +1 is renamed Sky Real Lives +1 and Sky Travel Extra becomes Sky Real Lives 2. * 2008 ** 17 March – Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD3 launches. ** 20 March – A HD simulcast of Sky Movies Premiere is launched. ** 16 May – Sky Anytime on PC is rebranded as Sky Player, along with updated software to include live simulcasts of

and

. ** 18 August – Sky Arts, Sky Arts +1 starts broadcasting. ** 31 August –

, Sky Replay, Sky Two and Pick (TV channel), Sky Three are renamed Sky1, Sky2 and Sky3 respectively. ** October – High-definition simulcast channels of Sky Movies Action/Thriller, Sky Movies Sci-Fi/Horror, Sky Movies Drama, Sky Movies Modern Greats, Sky Movies Family and Sky Movies Comedy launch. ** 20 October – Sky Arts 2 launches and focusses on classical music, opera, dance and fine arts programming. ** 13 November – The Sky Basics channels return to Virgin Media. * 2009 ** 26 October – Sky Movies Indie HD launches.

2010s

*2010 ** 6 January – Sky Sports Xtra is renamed Sky Sports 4. ** 26 March – Some Sky Movies channels are renamed. Sky Movies Showcase replaces Sky Movies Screen 1, Sky Movies Action & Thriller is renamed Sky Movies Action & Adventure, Sky Movies Drama becomes Sky Movies Drama & Romance and Sky Movies Screen 2 becomes Sky Movies Crime & Thriller. ** 3 April – Sky 3D launches, although it is initially only available in commercial premises. ** 29 April – Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD4 launches. ** 6 May – Sky News, Sky News HD launches. ** 10 May–9 August – Sky conducts three-month experimental revision of Sky Two, under which Sky Two predominantly operated a one-hour Timeshift channel, timeshift of programming on Sky One. ** June – ***Sky Sports, Sky Sports Radio launches. ***Sky UK, Sky TV removes Stingray Music (Europe), Music Choice. It had been available on Sky since it launched its digital service in 1998. ** 24 June – Sky Travel closes due to the increased competition from the internet for the holiday retail market. ** 5 July – Sky Living Loves, Living Loves launches. The channel shows comedy and drama programmes that have recently aired on Sky Living, Living, and broadcasts each day between 3.00pm and 2.00am. ** 13 July – Sky UK, British Sky Broadcasting buys Living TV Group, Virgin Media Television., thereby adding several channels, including Channel One (UK and Ireland), Channel One, Bravo (British TV channel), Bravo, Bravo 2, Challenge (TV channel), Challenge, Jackpot247, Challenge Jackpot and Sky Witness, Living to its portfolio. ** 9 August – Sky Movies Classics HD launches. ** 19 August – Sky Real Lives closes and some of the factual content shown on the channel moves to Sky 2. ** 23 August –

stops broadcasting on Freeview (UK), Freeview and a HD version of the channel is launched. On Freeview, Sky Sports News is replaced by Sky 3 +1. ** 1 October – Sky 3D becomes available to residential customers for the first time. *2011 ** 1 January – ***Sky closes four of the channels - the Bravo (British TV channel), Bravo channels and Challenge Jackpot - that it had bought following its purchase of Living TV Group, Virgin Media Television the previous year. ** 1 February – ***Sky Atlantic launches. ***Channel One (UK TV channel), Channel One closes and its slot on Freeview is given to Challenge (TV channel), Challenge. Much of Channel One's programming moves to Sky's free-to-air channel Pick (TV channel), Pick. ***Living is renamed Sky Witness, Sky Living and Living Loves is renamed Sky Living Loves. ** 28 February – Pick (TV channel), Sky 3 is rebranded as Pick TV. ** 6 July – Sky Anytime is merged with Sky Mobile and is rebranded as Sky Go. Key changes include the ability to watch live channels in line with your Sky TV subscription at no additional cost, limited to two simultaneous devices. **5 September – Sky Living Loves begins broadcasting 24 hours a day. ** 20 September – Pick TV +1 is removed from Freeview. ** 12 October – The final edition of Sky Magazine is published. ** 8 November – ITN confirms it has secured a five-year contract to resume production of ''5 News'' from early 2012, meaning Sky News will cease to broadcast on the channel from the end of 2011. *2012 ** 21 February – Sky Living Loves stops broadcasting. ** 9 March – Sky Sports F1 launches. ** 17 July – Sky launches Now (Sky), Now TV. It is launched to provide access to Sky TV to those who have no existing pay television, pay TV subscription and do not want to be tied into a contract. The service offered only films at first, adding sports in March 2013, and entertainment channels in October 2013. ** 12 November –

launches a +1 channel although for licensing reasons, ''

'' is not broadcast on the timeshift channel. *2013 ** 28 March – Sky Cinema, Sky Movies Disney is launched, effectively replacing Disney Cinemagic. To facilitate the new channel, Sky Movies Classics stops broadcasting, Sky Movies Modern Greats is rebranded as Sky Movies Greats and Sky Movies Indie becomes Sky Movies Select. ** 30 June – Sky Sports launches its first temporary channel ''Sky Sports Ashes'' to provide full coverage of the 2013 Ashes Series. Temporary channel renaming of this nature is now common practice within Sky, both for sports and movies. ** 7 October – Pick TV is rebranded as Pick (TV channel), Pick. ** 30 October – Teletext#Digital teletext, digital teletext serviceSky Text closes. *2014 ** 12 August – ***Sky Sports, Sky Sports 5 launches, primarily to broadcast European football. ***

is rebranded Sky Sports News HQ. ** September – Sky Sports News Radio closes. ** 13 October – Following BSkyB's 2014 acquisition of Sky Italia and a majority 90.04% interest in Sky Deutschland in November 2014, its holding company British Sky Broadcasting Group plc changes its name to Sky plc. The United Kingdom operations also changes the company name from British Sky Broadcasting Limited to Sky UK Limited, and still trades as Sky. *2015 ** 31 January –

closes. ** 9 June – ***The two

channels merge into a single service. ***Sky 3D closes as a linear channel. with 3D programming transferring to On Demand services. ***Sky Livingit is rebranded as Real Lives (TV channel), Real Lives. *2016 ** 9 February – Sky launches its latest set-top box Sky Q. and later in 2016, Sky stops selling its Sky+ HD box to new customers. ** 8 July – Sky Movies is rebranded as Sky Cinema. ** 13 August –

broadcasts its first event in Ultra-high-definition television, UHD. ** 24 August – Sky Sports, Sky Sports Mix launches. It is available to all Sky customers, and is designed to offer a sampling of content from the full range of Sky Sports networks to non-Sky Sports customers. *2017 ** 4 January – Sky Box Office, Sky Cinema Box Office closes. ** 18 July –

is revamped with the numbered channels being replaced by sports-specific channels. These include two channels dedicated to football, a cricket channel and a golf channel. Other sports are moved to two new channels – Action and Arena – and a showcase channel called Sky Sports Main Event is launched which features simulcasts of the top events being shown on Sky Sports that day. Also,

drops the HQ label. *2018 ** 23 January – Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox's £11.7bn bid to take full control of Sky UK, Sky is provisionally blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) amid concerns of plurality. ** 14 February – BT Group, BT and Sky UK, Sky have agreed a £4.4bn three-year deal to show live Premiership football matches from 2019 to 2022, but the amount falls short of the £5.1bn deal struck in 2015. ** 27 February – US cable TV giant Comcast makes a £22.1bn bid for Sky UK, Sky, challenging the existing offer from 21st Century Fox. ** 1 March – Pick +1 returns to Freeview. ** 6 August – Sky Living is rebranded as 'Sky Witness', bringing an end to the ''Living'' brand after 25 years. ** 26 September – 21st Century Fox announces it will sell its 39% stake in Sky UK to Comcast, ending

's three decade association with the broadcaster. *2019 ** 1 January – Sky Sports Racing launches, replacing At The Races. ** 1 October – Sky Crime launches. It replaces Real Lives (TV channel), Real Lives.

2020s

*2020 ** 27 January – Sky Comedy launches, replacing Universal TV (British and Irish TV channel), Universal TV. ** 27 May – ***Sky Documentaries and Sky Nature launch. *** History (European TV channel), History and H2 (A&E Networks), History 2, which operate as a joint venture between Sky Limited, Sky and A&E Networks, are rebranded as Sky History and Sky History 2 respectively. ** 1 June – Challenge (TV channel), Challenge +1 closes. **23 July – Sky Cinema, Sky Cinema Animation launches. Sky Cinema Animation SD replaces Sky Cinema Premiere +1, while Sky Cinema Animation HD is a new channel. **27 August – Sky Replay replaces Sky Two. **17 September –

launches on Freeview (UK), Freeview and Freesat, thereby becoming a free-to-air channel. **30 December – Sky Cinema, Sky Cinema Disney closes. It is replaced with a temporary channel called Sky Cinema Five Star Movies. *2021 **6 January – Sky Cinema, Sky Cinema Premiere +1 resumes broadcasting as Sky Cinema Disney's permanent replacement. **16 March – NOW TV to rebrand as NOW (Sky), NOW. **1 September – ***

closes after more than 30 years on air. Its entertainment and drama programmes move to a new channel called Sky Max with its comedy programming moving to Sky Comedy. ***Sky Showcase launches. It broadcasts a selection of programmes from across Sky’s portfolio of channels as well as selected highlights from Sky Cinema and

. **18 October – Sky releases Sky Glass, a TV with Sky built-in, thereby removing the need of a set-top-box or a satellite dish. *2022 ** 31 March – ***Sky stops broadcasting channels in standard definition for the first time when it switches off the SD feed of three Sky Cinema channels - Comedy, Drama and Thriller. ***The Pick (TV channel), Pick and Sky Sci-Fi, Syfy timeshift channels close. ** 26 July – Syfy rebrands as Sky Sci-Fi. ** 27 July – Sky Sports launches a UHD channel for Sky Sports Main Event. **18 October – Sky launches its new streaming box, Sky Stream, and becomes the second way to receive Sky without in need of a satellite dish. ** 31 October – Sky sells its stake in Nickelodeon (British and Irish TV channel), Nickelodeon UK Ltd. to Paramount Networks EMEAA. The Nickelodeon agreement had contained a non-compete clause that otherwise restricted Sky and Comcast from launching a children's television network while still holding a stake in Nickelodeon UK Ltd. Less than a month later, Sky announces plans to launch its own linear kids channel. *2023 ** 13 February – Sky Kids (TV channel), Sky Kids launches and is aimed at children aged 1–7. Apart from promos, the channel doesn't carry any advertisements. ** 18 October – Pick rebrands as Sky Mix. *2024 ** 11 February – Sky Sports Tennis launches, beginning transmission shortly after Sky took over as rights holder to the ATP Tour, WTA Tour and the US Open (tennis), US Open.

References