SkY...

Sky digital is the brand name for British sky broadcastings digital satellite service.

More than a third of the equity is owned by News Corporation , an American company chaired by Rupert Murdoch , who also acts as Chairman of BSkyB.

History of sky televsion...

Sky Digital was officially launched on 1st October 1988, offerring a range of innovative interactive services that allow viewers to send emails, shop on screen, play games, select their own camera angles, vote, place bets and manage their finances - all via their TV.

The most recent thing that The British Sky Broadcasting Group ('BSkyB') have introduced was SKY PLUS which was launched in 2001. The main unique selling point of sky plus is the digital satellite set-top box and personal video recorder.

1989-sky Television launches UK Direct-to-Home service via the Astra satellite with a four channel network. Subscriber Management Centre opens at Livingston, Scotland.

1990-Sky reaches one million UK homes. Sky Movies becomes the first UK encrypted channel. British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) launches, then Sky and BSB merge to form British Sky Broadcasting.

1991-Nine channels from BSB and Sky are streamlined into a five channel network: Sky Movies, The Movie Channel, Sky Sports, Sky One and Sky News.

1993-Sky Multi-Channels launch with a package of 14 channels at basic subscription level.

1994-17% of BSKYB is floated on the UK and US Stock Exchanges. Sky Sports 2 launched along with a further four channels.

1996-Over six million households now receive Sky channels across all platforms.

1998-The UK's first digital TV service, Sky digital, launches offering 140 channels. More than 100,000 decoders are sold in the first 30 days.

2000-The first interactive advertising campaigns are screened. Sky is awarded honours from the Royal TV Society for outstanding services to TV and for innovations in sports coverage. Sky News Active launches the world's first interactive TV news service.

2001-BSkyB reaches its target of 5 million subscribers and switches off its analogue signal - both ahead of schedule. Europe's first fully-integrated personal television recorder - Sky+ - launches.

2002-Sky digital now reaches 6.1 million households - a quarter of all British homes - and has a target of 7 million digital subscribers by the end of 2003. For the first time, half of all UK viewers have access to multi channel TV.. Sky offers three channels as part of Freeview - the new digital terrestrial service.

2003-Three new channels – Flaunt, The Amp, and Scuzz – are launched as BSkyB enters music television for the first time. Sky digital reaches fifth anniversary and achieves target of seven million subscribers three months early.

2006-In January 2006, Sky launched a service allowing customers who subscribe to the Sky Movies and Sky Sports channels to download video onto their Pc through a broadband internet connection. The video comprises sport highlights, feature-length movies and sports news.

Finances...

From the 31 December 2005, British Sky Broadcasting Group PLC's revenues increased 9% to £2.14B.

Net income increased 12% to £274M.

Net income benefited from lower movie costs and decreased third party channel costs.

For the year to 30th June 2006 BSkyB had turnover of £4.148 billion, and made a profit of £798 million before tax and £551 million after tax.

As off 30thJune 2006 it had 8,176,000 customers in the uk and Ireland.

Ownership and main people...

The main owner of sky is Rupert Murdoch who is the chairman.

He is also a global media excecutive and is a top shareholder within the company.

In recent years he has become become a powerful force in satellite television, the film industry, and other forms of media.

He also owns fox news which is part of sky digital and other media institutions such as "The sun"...

Media productions...

Sky televsion offers 400 different channels to consumers.

some of which are for educational purposes and for entertainment to appeal to everyone.

A few examples are MTV, SKY ONE, LIVING TV, TROUBLE, SKY MOVIES, THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL and The DISNEY CHANNEL.

The future...

Sky has recently developed a new version of its Sky Guide service, which includes new genres, easier access to channels, and a complete renumbering system. It also includes new hotkeys to get into new menus quicker. This is the biggest change to the Sky since its launch in 1998.