The Sports Channel (UK)
The Sports Channel was a British television channel that broadcast sport exclusively. It launched in March 1990 as one of the five channels of British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB), and after the BSB–Sky merger of November 1990 it survived as one of only two BSB channels retained by British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). On 20 April 1991 it was renamed Sky Sports, becoming the foundation of the Sky Sports brand that went on to dominate British sports broadcasting.
Overview and place in broadcasting history
The Sports Channel occupied a pivotal position in British television history. It was the sports service of the short-lived British Satellite Broadcasting consortium, and its renaming to Sky Sports in April 1991 created the brand under which satellite sports broadcasting would transform the economics of British sport. Within a year of the rename, the channel's £304 million acquisition of exclusive Premier League football rights took live top-flight English league football from terrestrial television for the first time and made Sky Sports a household name.
The channel's origins as a BSB service meant that Sky Sports was not originally a Sky Television creation. Sky Television had not launched with a sports channel of its own, choosing instead to invest in Eurosport. The Sports Channel was the inherited asset that became Sky's sports flagship, a fact that shaped the early programming and rights portfolio of the rebranded service.
Launch on British Satellite Broadcasting
The Sports Channel launched in March 1990 as part of the BSB line-up. BSB's channels began broadcasting on 25 March 1990, and The Sports Channel was among them. It was broadcast from BSB's Marcopolo 1 satellite at 31°W, from the company's headquarters at Marco Polo House in London. Unlike BSB's Movie Channel, which was a subscription service, The Sports Channel was broadcast free-to-view.
The channel's broadcast hours ran from approximately 10:50 until 01:00. In the BSB years it shared its frequency arrangements with the underpromoted Computer Channel, which broadcast in the mornings when the sports channel was off air. Its transponder on Marcopolo was at 11.938 GHz.
Early programming and rights
In its BSB incarnation, The Sports Channel showed a mixture of British and international sport. Its early rights included international football, Scottish football and Italian league football, alongside golf and boxing. The Italian and German league football rights it carried were inherited by Sky Sports after the rename and continued on the rebranded channel from 1991.
Many of BSB's sports rights packages, including those for the FA Cup, Wimbledon and Test cricket, had been acquired in tandem with the BBC. The channel's sporting line-up in its first year also included rugby and golf, and it built its schedule around a combination of live and recorded coverage aimed at sports viewers who had bought BSB's receiving equipment.
The BSB–Sky merger of 1990
Both BSB and Sky Television suffered heavy losses in their battle for the British satellite market, and on 2 November 1990 the two companies announced a merger, forming British Sky Broadcasting. The merger was effectively a takeover by Sky that saw BSB's channels, satellites and assets phased out, but The Sports Channel was one of only two BSB services — alongside The Movie Channel — to be retained.
BSkyB moved quickly to rationalise the combined channels. Galaxy was closed with its transponder handed to Sky One on 2 December 1990, and Now was closed with its transponder handed to Sky News on 1 December 1990. The Sports Channel initially retained its name while BSkyB planned its future, continuing to broadcast to BSB's Marcopolo viewers.
Renaming to Sky Sports in April 1991
On 20 April 1991, The Sports Channel was renamed Sky Sports. On the same date, the channel began broadcasting to Sky viewers via the newly launched Astra 1B satellite, alongside its existing transmissions on BSB's Marcopolo satellite. The rename unified the sports offering of the merged company under a single brand for the first time.
The launch of Sky Sports also ended the previous arrangements around Eurosport. Sky Television had been a co-founder of Eurosport with the European Broadcasting Union, but Eurosport and the old Sports Channel discontinued their partnership upon the launch of Sky Sports, although Eurosport continued to be available on the Astra platform.
Encryption and the subscription model
The rebranded channel was sold as one of the major draws of the Sky system. It was initially encrypted but broadcast free-to-view, with viewers requiring an analogue VideoCrypt decoder to watch. Since VideoCrypt decoders were only officially available within the United Kingdom, this measure was intended to prevent viewing of the service outside the United Kingdom and Ireland.
The channel carried over sports from its BSB incarnation, initially airing rugby and golf in 1991 before the German and Italian league football rights, previously held by The Sports Channel, continued under the new brand. From 1 September 1992, Sky Sports became a monthly subscription channel, the second Sky channel to be encrypted after Sky Movies.
The Premier League breakthrough
The transformation of the channel into a commercial powerhouse came with the formation of the Premier League for the 1992–93 football season. By bidding £304 million, BSkyB beat ITV to acquire the exclusive live Premier League football broadcasting rights for the United Kingdom and Ireland for a five-year period. In doing so, it took live top-flight English league football from terrestrial and free-to-air television for the first time.
The Premier League deal is widely credited with encouraging the Premier League to break away from the Football League in 1992, and it established the Sky Sports brand as the dominant subscription sports broadcaster in Britain. The rights portfolio inherited from The Sports Channel — the German and Italian football coverage — formed part of the offering that the channel sold to subscribers in the crucial early years.
Expansion of the Sky Sports family
After the rename, the channel that began life as The Sports Channel grew into a multi-channel operation. Sky launched Sky Sports 2 on 19 August 1994, and Sky Sports 3 on 16 August 1996, when the original channel was renamed Sky Sports 1. Further launches followed, including Sky Sports News in October 1998, Sky Sports Xtra in March 1999, and later channels covering cricket, football and Formula One, as well as high-definition services.
The brand has played a major role in the increased commercialisation of British sport since 1991, sometimes inducing organisational changes in the sports it broadcasts. Its dominance of subscription sports television in the United Kingdom and Ireland traces directly back to the BSB sports channel launched in 1990.
Legacy of the BSB sports channel
The Sports Channel's legacy is that of the founding service of Sky Sports. Although the name survived only thirteen months after the BSB merger, the channel's rights, transponder position and audience formed the basis on which Sky built its sports business. The rename on 20 April 1991 marked the moment when satellite sports broadcasting in Britain moved from the competing BSB and Sky systems to a single, consolidated brand.
The channel also illustrates the paradox of the BSB story: a company that failed commercially within a year left behind two of the most successful channels in British pay television. The Movie Channel endured under its own name until 1997, while The Sports Channel, reborn as Sky Sports, became the engine of BSkyB's growth and the most valuable sports broadcasting brand in Britain.
Key facts
The Sports Channel launched in March 1990 on British Satellite Broadcasting, headquartered in London. It was owned by BSB in 1990 and by British Sky Broadcasting from 1990 to 1991. It broadcast free-to-view on the Marcopolo 1 satellite, with broadcast hours of approximately 10:50 to 01:00. Its early programming included international, Scottish and Italian football, golf and boxing, and many of its rights were acquired in tandem with the BBC. On 20 April 1991 it was renamed Sky Sports and launched on the Astra 1B satellite. In 1992 it acquired the exclusive Premier League rights for £304 million, becoming the dominant subscription sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
