Had the IBA actually banned the sale of Sky dishes and boxes, assuming they'd have even had that power back then,
then If BSB hadn't had another satellite TV company such as Sky to merge with (or be taken over by whichever way
you look at it) when it all eventually went tits-up, what would've likely happened then?
Had the IBA actually banned the sale of Sky dishes and boxes, assuming they'd have even had that power back then,
then If BSB hadn't had another satellite TV company such as Sky to merge with (or be taken over by whichever way
you look at it) when it all eventually went tits-up, what would've likely happened then?
But its been said, that BSB business plan was flawed. BSB should have used existing satellites instead of putting up brand new ones,
Market-based pay television (bottom-up
à la
Sky rather than top-down
à la
BSB and the IBA) would have arrived in the UK in any case, just as it did in all other European countries, regardless of whether they had left-wing or right-wing governments in power. Maybe it would have taken a few more years, and maybe Murdoch wouldn't have had a dominant position, but there is no way BSB could have maintained a regulator-enforced monopoly against market forces. Pay-TV and PSB-style regulation just don't mix. They are two very different beasts.
Had the IBA actually banned the sale of Sky dishes and boxes, assuming they'd have even had that power back then,
then If BSB hadn't had another satellite TV company such as Sky to merge with (or be taken over by whichever way
you look at it) when it all eventually went tits-up, what would've likely happened then?
They wouldn't necessarily have gone tits up at all.
Iba could outlawed the sale of the boxes and dishes in UK?
Would have been very tricky. There was nothing unique to the receivers and dishes for Sky - the same kit would work with quite a few satellites operating at the time (we had a motorised dish in 1990 that got quite a few) - and there were perfectly valid reasons to own and run one.
Sky broadcast from Astra 1, operated by SES in Luxembourg (within the EU - or whatever it was called at the time if it wasn't the EU?) in standard frequency bands and there were other operators based in the UK operating in the same bands (SuperChannel springs to mind).
When Did the ITV companies sell of there shares in BSKYB?
It was really just Granada by the 1990s. They progressively sold their holdings down after BSkyB's floatation in 1995. They did not actually completely offload their stakes until 1999.
1. The original concept of BSB tracking and control was to contract this to British Telecommunications. Plans were established to develop the Tracking Telemetry and Control facility (and standby uplink facility) for the Marcopolo satellites at Goonhlly Earth Station in Cornwall. They never progressed beyond planning and provison budgeting.
2. I believe that the BSB franchise was removed from the Independent Television Commission's regulated portfolio by an order in council when it became defunct and the newly established BSkyB became unstoppable.