Sky Multichannels

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The Sky Multichannels logo used in promotions by British Sky Broadcasting
The Sky Multichannels logo used in promotions by British Sky Broadcasting

Sky Multichannels was a package of analogue television channels offered by British Sky Broadcasting on the Astra fleet of satellites.[1][2] The service started on 1 September 1993[3] and continued until the closure of BSkyB's analogue service on 27 September 2001,[4] due to the launch and expansion of the Sky Digital platform. The service was originally priced £6.99 at launch, but was free to existing subscribers to premium channels, Sky Sports and Sky Movies.[5] Channels were encrypted using NDS Groups VideoCrypt system,[1] and required a monthly subscription payment, VideoCrypt decoder and valid viewing card to receive the channels.

Contents

[edit] Channels

Six channels were already broadcasting on Astra's satellites prior to being added to the Sky Multichannels package. Some of the channels did broadcast either in the clear or soft encrypted (whereby a Videocrypt decoder was required to decode, but without a subscription card) prior to their addition to the Sky Multichannels package:

Other channels which launched on 1 September 1993 as part of the Sky Multichannels package were:

More channels joined the multichannels package, including QVC which launched on 1 October 1993 and VH1 which launched on 1 October 1 1994.[5] Nick At Nite, although part of the original Multichannels plan, did not launch.[7] Sky Soap and Sky Travel also launched on 3 October 1994 as part of the package.[8][9] The launch of Astra 1D allowed Sky to expand the multichannels package further,[10] including the launch of Sky's pay-per-view Box Office channels in January 1997.

Sky News was also part of the Sky Multichannels package but remained in the clear.

A European Multichannels package run by BSkyB also using the VideoCrypt encryption system[11] was planned to be launched soon afterwards[12], but did not come to fruition. A European package of channels separate from BSkyB called Multichoice did launch on 1 November 1993 using VideoCrypt 2 encryption initially including Filmnet and The Adult Channel as premium channels and The Children's Channel, Discovery and CMT Europe as basic channels.[13]

[edit] Promotion

British Sky Broadcasting ran television advertisements prior to the new service launching. However in 1993, the Independent Television Commission 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.[14] As well as further complaints about the adverts failing to show that a one year contract needed to be taken out for any special introductory offer.[15]

To promote the Sky Multichannels package on the Astra satellites, a selection of channels were placed on Sky's preview channel on transponder 47 of Astra 1C in the clear.[16] The preview channel compromised of promotional material in the centre of the screen and 12 channels around the edge,[17] including some English channels which were not part of the package. The channel was replaced by Sky Sports 2 on August 19, 1994.[8][18]

[edit] See also

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British Sky Broadcasting
Channels
Defunct Channels
Joint Ventures
See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING. The Museum of Broadcast Communications. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
  2. ^ British Sky Broadcasting Group plc. Funding Universe. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
  3. ^ The 1990s. Key Dates. TV and Radio Bits. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
  4. ^ Wathan, Chris. How the Sky analogue service was run down in favour of digital..... Analoguesat. Retrieved on 2007-02-10.
  5. ^ a b Groves, Don (1993-09-06). BSKYB takes sky-high gamble with pay TV. Variety. Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
  6. ^ MTV did not encrypt at the time Sky Multichannels launched, but did so later.
  7. ^ NICK AT NITE FOR UK NOW IN DOUBT. Highbeam Research. Screen Digest (1994-03-01). Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
  8. ^ a b Profile. British Sky Broadcasting. Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
  9. ^ TELE SATELLIT - Number 19. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  10. ^ Sky Guide Issue 39. Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
  11. ^ Ingram, Darren (1993-10-11). Satnews - Issue 118. M2 Communications Limited. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  12. ^ Sky Guide - Issue 24. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  13. ^ Ingram, Darren (1993-10-25). Satnews - Issue 119. M2 Communications Limited. Retrieved on 2007-05-13.
  14. ^ Ingram, Darren (1993-09-27). Satnews - Issue 117. M2 Communications Limited. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  15. ^ Ingram, Darren (1993-11-08). Satnews - Issue 120. M2 Communications Limited. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  16. ^ Sky Guide Issue 37 (Inactive as of 2007-04-29). Retrieved on 2007-02-16.
  17. ^ Williams, Martyn. TELE Satellit - Number 6. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
  18. ^ Williams, Martyn. TELE Satellit - number 8. Retrieved on 2007-02-17.
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