1986: BSB wins the DBS franchise

WP

WillPS 30 July 2012 11:11pm

nwtv2003 posted:

I notice that two other channels come along before DBS, got started,
* The Children Channel ( in 1984-is this true)
* Super channel ( early 1987)
Both with ITV having there fingers in the pies. Were there really the first Pan euro tv channels, if so why was UK leading the way?

Apparently Thames and Central had a share in The Childrens Channel, not sure how long that lasted for.

ITV companies probably bought into Satellite TV as they saw it as the future to an extent, but this was at a time that they weren't allowed to buy each other up. The amount of channels expanded but for ITV they couldn't within their own network, hence why Super Channel launched and bombed. Even though Super failed it didn't stop Thames co-launching UK Gold and Granada starting their venture with Sky.

But of course UK gold become a success

I'm surprised none of the ITV companies never tried to get into bed with Sky. Saying that Sky tried to sue ITV and BBC for not selling them reruns of programmes, because there wanted to use the programmes them self for the Super channel in early 1986.

I just get the feeling ITV could have made a lot of money if there got in with sky.

They did.

:-(

A former member 30 July 2012 11:18pm

WillPS posted:

623058 posted:

nwtv2003 posted:

Apparently Thames and Central had a share in The Childrens Channel, not sure how long that lasted for.
ITV companies probably bought into Satellite TV as they saw it as the future to an extent, but this was at a time that they weren't allowed to buy each other up. The amount of channels expanded but for ITV they couldn't within their own network, hence why Super Channel launched and bombed. Even though Super failed it didn't stop Thames co-launching UK Gold and Granada starting their venture with Sky.

But of course UK gold become a success

I'm surprised none of the ITV companies never tried to get into bed with Sky. Saying that Sky tried to sue ITV and BBC for not selling them reruns of programmes, because there wanted to use the programmes them self for the Super channel in early 1986.
I just get the feeling ITV could have made a lot of money if there got in with sky.

They did.

AH but that was 10 years later and BSKYB were told to get out by ITC. , what I mean was back in the 1980s.

TH

Thinker 30 July 2012 11:23pm

623058 posted:

I notice that two other channels come along before DBS, got started,

* The Children Channel ( in 1984-is this true)
* Super channel ( early 1987)

Both with ITV having there fingers in the pies. Were there really the first Pan euro tv channels, if so why was UK leading the way?

Oh, there were many more. New regulation of cable TV that came into effect in 1984 paved the wave for several new channels. Sky Channel was the first channel out and became officially available in the UK in January 1984. It was followed in March by The Entertainment Network (TEN), ScreenSport and Music Box. The Children's Channel and Premiere launched later the same year.

Some obscure trade publication published a summary of all channel launches/mergers/closedown and other major events up until 1993. It used to be available on Google Books, but seems to have been removed. (It is quite likely that I have a copy saved on one of my hard drives, I'll look tomorrow.)

All the big five ITV companies plus TVS made investments in the fledgling cable channels. Many other British and American media groups were also heavily involved. At the time it was rare for a channel to have a single dominant owner, they were typically partnerships between several well-known owners (Sky Channel was a notable exception).

:-(

A former member 30 July 2012 11:38pm

Thinker posted:

Some obscure trade publication published a summary of all channel launches/mergers/closedown and other major events up until 1993. It used to be available on Google Books, but seems to have been removed. (It is quite likely that I have a copy saved on one of my hard drives, I'll look tomorrow.)

Cheers for that!

TH

Thinker 31 July 2012 4:37pm

http://i48.tinypic.com/2eedi1l.jpg

:-(

A former member 31 July 2012 4:46pm

Thanks for that!, what book did that come from just so I have an ref.

TH

Thinker 31 July 2012 4:50pm

623058 posted:

Thanks for that!, what book did that come from just so I have an ref.

It came from a newsletter called "Fiber Optics Cable Weekly". I don't know what issue, but it was most likely in 1994.

:-(

A former member 31 July 2012 5:05pm

The following two pages have been able to been sorted and now finished.

* http://www.tvlivewiki.co.uk/index.php?title=Sky_Television_plc

* http://www.tvlivewiki.co.uk/index.php?title=British_Satellite_Broadcasting

Alas actually channel pages still need to be sorted out.

(June 2012)