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Sky Group Limited is a leading European media and telecommunications conglomerate, headquartered in London, England, and a subsidiary of Comcast since 2018. It operates in key markets including the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, offering services such as satellite TV, broadband internet, telephone, on-demand streaming (Now TV), and content production through Sky Studios.
Key moments
November 2, 1990Founded via a merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting, initially named British Sky Broadcasting Group plc (BSkyB)
2014Renamed to Sky plc after completing acquisitions of Sky Italy and Sky Deutschland, expanding pan-European operations
2018Acquired by US media giant Comcast, becoming a fully-owned subsidiary while retaining its brand identity
2024Awarded its 6-year global media planning and buying contract to Publicis Groupe, ending a long-standing partnership with WPP's EssenceMediacom
Sky Group competes with a mix of traditional pay-TV providers, telecom operators, and streaming platforms across its European markets:
1. Regional Telecom Operators: In the UK, BT and Virgin Media O2 offer bundled broadband, TV, and phone services, leveraging their fixed-line infrastructure to challenge Sky's satellite dominance. In Germany, Deutsche Telekom's Magenta TV combines IPTV with high-speed internet, targeting similar customer segments. These operators often use bundled pricing and exclusive sports rights to compete.
2. Global Streaming Platforms: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+ pose significant competition in on-demand content. While Sky retains strong sports and original content (e.g., Succession via HBO partnership), it faces pressure from these global players' extensive libraries and lower entry costs. Sky has responded by integrating its Now TV streaming service and offering hybrid packages that combine linear TV with streaming access.
3. Local Pay-TV Providers: In Italy, Mediaset's Premium channels and in Germany, ProSiebenSat.1's offerings compete for niche content audiences. These local players often focus on regional programming and cost-effective packages to attract price-sensitive customers.
Key Competitive Advantages: Sky's exclusive sports rights (including Premier League in the UK, Bundesliga in Germany) and its vertically integrated content production through Sky Studios are major differentiators. Its established brand loyalty across Europe and bundled service offerings also help retain customers.
BT, Virgin Media O2 (UK) and Deutsche Telekom (Germany) are top telecom competitors with bundled services
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ lead in on-demand streaming, challenging Sky's content library
Local players like Mediaset (Italy) focus on regional content and budget packages
Sky's exclusive sports rights and in-house content production are core strengths
Sky Group is a premier European media and telecommunications conglomerate, headquartered in London, England, and a fully owned subsidiary of Comcast since 2018. The brand operates across seven key European markets including the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy, delivering a portfolio of services ranging from satellite television and broadband internet to fixed-line telephone, on-demand streaming via Now TV, and original content production through its Sky Studios division.
A dominant player in regional pay-TV and telecom, Sky’s competitive edge stems from exclusive long-term rights to major global sports properties, including the English Premier League (UK) and Bundesliga (Germany), alongside its vertically integrated content production capabilities. These assets have fostered strong brand loyalty among its customer base, with recurring subscription and service fees forming a stable core revenue stream.
In response to growing competition from global streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, Sky has expanded its direct-to-consumer offerings, launching hybrid packages that combine linear television access with on-demand streaming content via Now TV. This strategic adaptation has allowed the brand to retain market share amid shifting consumer viewing habits.
Brand Leadership
Score: 89/100
Sky holds leading market positions in pay-TV and bundled telecom services across its core European markets, with exclusive rights to high-value sports properties that differentiate it from competitors. Its parent company Comcast provides significant financial and operational support to sustain its industry leadership position.
Customer Interaction & Loyalty
Score: 83/100
Sky has cultivated strong customer loyalty through its integrated service bundles, which combine television, streaming, and broadband services to reduce customer churn. Its multi-platform Now TV service also enhances customer engagement by offering flexible viewing options for cord-cutting audiences.
Brand Momentum
Score: 78/100
The brand has maintained positive momentum by adapting to evolving media landscapes, expanding its direct-to-consumer streaming offerings and investing in original content through Sky Studios. Critical acclaim for content partnerships has further boosted brand relevance and market traction.
Brand Stability
Score: 90/100
With a decades-long operational history and millions of cross-market subscribers, Sky has a stable, recurring revenue base. Its acquisition by Comcast in 2018 strengthened its financial stability, providing access to greater resources to weather competitive shifts and regulatory changes.
Brand Age
Score: 85/100
Sky traces its origins to 1989, with the launch of the original Sky Television service, and was formally established as British Sky Broadcasting (later rebranded to Sky Group) in 1990. With over 35 years of continuous operation, it is one of the most established media brands in Europe, building deep market expertise and consumer trust over time.
Industry Positioning & Profile
Score: 88/100
Sky operates a diversified business model spanning pay-TV, broadband telecom, and original content production, reducing reliance on any single revenue segment. Its exclusive sports rights holdings and vertically integrated content studio create a unique competitive profile that sets it apart from both traditional telecom operators and global streaming platforms.
Global Regional Reach
Score: 82/100
While focused exclusively on European markets, Sky operates across seven distinct countries, adapting its service offerings to local regulatory and consumer preferences. Its parent company Comcast’s global scale supports cross-border knowledge sharing, enhancing the brand’s operational efficiency and expanding its effective regional footprint within Europe.
This brand valuation analysis is generated with AI-assisted reasoning, and all included metrics are for illustrative purposes only. For officially audited brand value assessments, please contact the World Brand Lab directly.
area served
Europe
key people
Dana Strong (CEO)
owner
* News Corporation (39.14%, until 2013)
* 21st Century Fox (39.14%, 2013–18)
products
Direct-broadcast satellite, pay television, broadcasting, broadband and telephony services
revenue
£14.5 billion
revenue year
2022
num employees year
2021
parent
Comcast (2018–present)
num employees
32,000
divisions
The Cloud
Diagonal View
subsid
Sky UK
Sky Deutschland
Sky Italia
Sky Studios
Now (operated by Xfinity in the United States)
homepage
skygroup.sky
footnotes
‡R1R‡‡R2R‡‡R3R‡
Sky Group Limited, more commonly known as Sky, [4] is a British media and telecommunications conglomerate owned by Comcast and headquartered in London. It has operations in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Sky is Europe's largest media company and pay-TV broadcaster by revenue (as of 2018),[5] with 23 million subscribers and more than 31,000 employees as of 2019.[2][6] The company is primarily involved in satellite television, producing and broadcasting.The current CEO is Dana Strong.
Formed in 1990 by the equal merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting, BSkyB became the UK's largest pay television company.[7] In 2014, after completing the acquisition of Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, the merged company changed its name to Sky plc.[8]
Since its founding, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation held 39.14% of Sky Group, and in June 2010 they attempted to buy out the rest of Sky, but the bid was withdrawn in July 2011 following the News International phone hacking scandal that also led to News Corporation splitting into News Corporation and 21st Century Fox, the latter of which continued to hold News' stake in Sky.[9] In December 2016, 21st Century Fox made a bid to acquire the remaining shares of Sky, pending government approval.After The Walt Disney Company announced that they were to acquire Fox, Comcast initially engaged in a bidding war, but dropped out to acquire Sky instead, outbidding Fox with an offer for £17.28 per share; Fox sold their stake in October 2018, followed by the remaining shareholders a month later.Following this, Comcast's film studios and US television businesses and other media assets are held by NBCUniversal, which is also under its control and was formed when Vivendi sold 80% of Universal Pictures to the now-defunct General Electric, NBC's then-owner.
Before the acquisition by Comcast, Sky was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.It had a market capitalisation of approximately £18.75 billion (€26.76 billion) in 2018.[10]
History
BSkyB
Formation
British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) was formed by the merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting on 2 November 1990.[11] Both companies had begun to struggle financially and were suffering financial losses as they competed against each other for viewers.The Guardian later characterised the merger as "effectively a takeover by News Corporation".[12]
The merger was investigated by the Office of Fair Trading[13] and was cleared a month later since many of the represented views were more concerned about contractual arrangements which had nothing to do with competition.[14]
Management
Executive Chairman: Jeremy Darroch (since January 2021)
Chief Executive: Dana Strong (since January 2021)
List of former chairmen
1) Rupert Murdoch (1990–2007)
2) James Murdoch (2007–2012)
3) Nicholas Ferguson (2012–2016)
4) James Murdoch (2016–2018); second term
List of former chief executives
The first CEO of BSkyB was Sam Chisholm, who was CEO of Sky TV before the merger. Chisholm served in this position until 1997. He was followed by Mark Booth who was credited with leading the company through the introduction of Sky.
Financial performance
Financial results have been as shown in the table.[111]
In February 2019, The Economist magazine claimed that Sky enjoys gross margins of 50%.[112]
was not consulted about the deal; after approval, the
IBA
demanded precise details of the merger, and stated they were considering the repercussions of the deal to ultimately determine whether BSB contracts were null and void.
On 17 November, the IBA decided to terminate BSB's contract, but not immediately, as it was deemed unfair to 120,000 viewers who had bought BSB devices.
Sam Chisholm was appointed CEO[18] in a bid to reorganise the new company, which continued to make losses of £10 million per week.The defunct BSB's HQ, Marco Polo House, was sold, 39% of the new company's employees were made redundant to leave just under 1000 employees,[12] and many of the new senior BSkyB executive roles were given to Sky personnel.In April, the nine Sky/BSB channels were condensed into five, with EuroSport being dropped soon after the Sky Sports launch.[19] Chisholm also renegotiated the merged company's expensive deals with the Hollywood studios, slashing the minimum guaranteed payments.The defunct Marcopolo I satellite was sold in December 1993 to Sweden's NSAB, and Marcopolo II went to Norway's Telenor in July 1992[20] after the Independent Television Commission was unable to find new companies to take over the BSB licences and compete with BSkyB.News International received 50%, Pearson PLC 17.5%, Chargeurs 17.5%, Granada 12%, and Reed International 2% of the new shares in the company.[21]
By September 1991, after losses had been reduced to $30M a week, Rupert Murdoch said "there were strong financial marketing and political reason[s] for making the compromise merger instead of letting BSB die. Many of the lessons had been learnt with more than half the running cost of the combined company".Further cuts in losses were a direct result of 313,000 new customers joining during the first half of 1991.[22] By March 1992, BSkyB posted its first operating profits, of £100,000 per week, with £3.8 million weekly from subscriptions and £1 million from advertising, but continued to be burdened with £1.28 billion of debt.Stockbroker firm James Capel forecast BSkyB would still be indebted in 2000.[23]
In the autumn of 1991, talks were held for the broadcast rights for Premier League for a five-year period, from the 1992 season.[24] British television network ITV were the current rights holders for the Football League, and fought hard to gain the new rights.ITV had increased its offer from £18m to £34m per year to obtain the new rights.[25] BSkyB joined forces with the BBC[26] to make a counter bid.The BBC was given the highlights of most of the matches, while BSkyB paid £304m for the Premier League rights, giving them a monopoly of all live matches, up to 60 per year from the 1992–93 season.[27] Murdoch has described sport as a "battering ram" for pay-television, providing a strong customer base.[28] A few weeks after the deal, ITV went to the High court to get an injunction as it believed their details were leaked before the decision was taken.ITV also asked the Office of Fair Trading to also investigate since it believed Rupert Murdoch's media empire via the newspapers had influenced the deal.[29] A few days later neither action took effect, ITV believed BSkyB was telephoned and informed of its £262m bid, and the Premier League advised BSkyB to increase its counter bid.[30] BSkyB retained the rights paying £670m for the 1997–2001 deal, but was challenged by On Digital[31] for the rights from 2001 to 2004, thus it was forced to pay £1.1 billion which gave it 66 live games a year.[32] Following a lengthy legal battle with the European Commission, which deemed the exclusivity of the rights to be against the interests of competition and the consumer, BSkyB's monopoly came to an end from the 2007–08 season.In May 2006, the Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports was awarded two of the six Premiership packages that the English FA offered to broadcasters.Sky picked up the remaining four for £1.3bn.[33]
Becoming a public limited company
In October 1994,[34] BSkyB announced its plans to float the company on the UK and US stock exchanges, selling off 20% of the company.[35] The stock flotation reduced Murdoch's holding to 40 per cent and raised £900m, which allowed the company to cut its debt in half.Sam Chisholm said "By any standards this is an excellent result, in every area of the company has performed strongly".[36] Chisholm became one of the world's most highly paid television executives.[37]
In 1995, BSkyB opened its second customer management centre at Dunfermline, Scotland,[38] in addition to its original centre at Livingston which opened in 1989.BSkyB entered the FTSE 100 index, operation profits increased to £155M a year, and Pearson sold off its 17.5% stake in the company.[39]
Sam Chisholm resigned from BSkyB due to a rift with Rupert Murdoch in June 1997.[40] A week later, Murdoch was quoted as saying "I cannot understand the fuss; BSkyB was grossly overpriced", which caused further rifts with the new management.[41]
In 1997, BSkyB formed a partnership with Carlton and Granada to bid for the right for the new digital terrestrial network.In June, it was awarded the right to start the service, ONdigital, under the condition BSkyB withdrew from the group's bid.[42] In February 2003 BSkyB wished to renegotiate its deal with MTV to reduce its payment from £20m. Chief executive Tony Ball said "We're definitely prepared to stare them down if we can't get a sensible deal. MTV, and other channels, have done particularly well out of the growth of Sky but the opportunity for savings is now there and Sky will be taking it," he added. "MTV has done extremely well out of that original deal."[43] On 17 April 2003 BSkyB launched its own range of music channels Scuzz, Flaunt and The Amp, as part of its plan to create its own original channels for the platform.[44] Within 18 months the channels failed to make impact, and were outsourced to the Chart Show Channels company.[45]
Shortly afterwards it acquired Artsworld, giving a majority of subscribers full access to the channel. The buyout was part of James Murdoch's strategy to improve the perceptions BSkyB which could lead to potential new subscribers. John Cassy, the channel manager of Artsworld, said: "It is great news for the arts that a dedicated cultural channel will be available to millions of households."[46]
In early 2007 Freeview overtook Sky Digital with nearly 200,000 more subscribers at the end of 2006, while cable broadcaster Virgin Media had three million customers.[47] In July 2007, BSkyB announced the takeover of Amstrad for £125m, a 23.7% premium on its market capitalisation.[48]
BSkyB and Virgin Media announced that they had reached agreement for the acquisition by BSkyB of Virgin Media Television.Virgin1 was also a part of the deal and was rebranded as Channel One on 3 September 2010, as the Virgin name was not licensed to Sky.[49][50] The new carriage deals are understood to be for up to nine years.[51] The deal was completed in July 2010 and Virgin Media Television was renamed Living TV Group.
In June 2010, News Corporation made a bid for complete ownership of BSkyB.However, following the News International phone hacking scandal, critics and politicians began to question the appropriateness of the proposed takeover.The resulting reaction forced News Corp. to withdraw its bid for the company in July 2011.[52][53] The scandal forced the resignation of James Murdoch, who was the chairman of both BSkyB and News International, from his executive positions in the UK, with Nicholas Ferguson taking over as Chairman of BSkyB.[54] In September 2012, Ofcom ruled that BSkyB was still fit to hold broadcast licenses in the UK, but criticised James Murdoch's handling of the scandal.[55] On 28 June 2013, News Corporation was split into two publicly traded companies; the company's publishing operations (including News International, renamed News UK) and broadcasting operations in Australia were spun into a new company known as News Corp, while the company's broadcast media assets, including its 39.14% stake in Sky, were renamed 21st Century Fox.[56]
European acquisitions
On 12 May 2014, BSkyB confirmed that it was in talks with its largest shareholder, 21st Century Fox, about acquiring 21st Century Fox's 57.4% stake in Sky Deutschland and its 100% stake in Sky Italia.The enlarged company (dubbed "Sky Europe" in the media) would consolidate 21st Century Fox's European digital TV assets into one company.[57] The £4.9 billion takeover deal was formally announced on 25 July, where BSkyB would acquire 21st Century Fox's stakes in Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia.BSkyB also made a required takeover offer to Sky Deutschland's minority shareholders,[58] resulting in BSkyB acquiring 89.71% of Sky Deutschland's share capital.The acquisitions were completed on 13 November.[8]
Formation
British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) was formed by the merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting on 2 November 1990.[11] Both companies had begun to struggle financially and were suffering financial losses as they competed against each other for viewers.The Guardian later characterised the merger as "effectively a takeover by News Corporation".[12]
The merger was investigated by the Office of Fair Trading[13] and was cleared a month later since many of the represented views were more concerned about contractual arrangements which had nothing to do with competition.[14] The Independent Broadcasting Authority was not consulted about the deal; after approval, the IBA demanded precise details of the merger, and stated they were considering the repercussions of the deal to ultimately determine whether BSB contracts were null and void.[15][16] On 17 November, the IBA decided to terminate BSB's contract, but not immediately, as it was deemed unfair to 120,000 viewers who had bought BSB devices.[17]
Sam Chisholm was appointed CEO[18] in a bid to reorganise the new company, which continued to make losses of £10 million per week.The defunct BSB's HQ, Marco Polo House, was sold, 39% of the new company's employees were made redundant to leave just under 1000 employees,[12] and many of the new senior BSkyB executive roles were given to Sky personnel.In April, the nine Sky/BSB channels were condensed into five, with EuroSport being dropped soon after the Sky Sports launch.[19] Chisholm also renegotiated the merged company's expensive deals with the Hollywood studios, slashing the minimum guaranteed payments.The defunct Marcopolo I satellite was sold in December 1993 to Sweden's NSAB, and Marcopolo II went to Norway's Telenor in July 1992[20] after the Independent Television Commission was unable to find new companies to take over the BSB licences and compete with BSkyB.News International received 50%, Pearson PLC 17.5%, Chargeurs 17.5%, Granada 12%, and Reed International 2% of the new shares in the company.[21]
By September 1991, after losses had been reduced to $30M a week, Rupert Murdoch said "there were strong financial marketing and political reason[s] for making the compromise merger instead of letting BSB die. Many of the lessons had been learnt with more than half the running cost of the combined company".Further cuts in losses were a direct result of 313,000 new customers joining during the first half of 1991.[22] By March 1992, BSkyB posted its first operating profits, of £100,000 per week, with £3.8 million weekly from subscriptions and £1 million from advertising, but continued to be burdened with £1.28 billion of debt.Stockbroker firm James Capel forecast BSkyB would still be indebted in 2000.[23]
In the autumn of 1991, talks were held for the broadcast rights for Premier League for a five-year period, from the 1992 season.[24] British television network ITV were the current rights holders for the Football League, and fought hard to gain the new rights.ITV had increased its offer from £18m to £34m per year to obtain the new rights.[25] BSkyB joined forces with the BBC[26] to make a counter bid.The BBC was given the highlights of most of the matches, while BSkyB paid £304m for the Premier League rights, giving them a monopoly of all live matches, up to 60 per year from the 1992–93 season.[27] Murdoch has described sport as a "battering ram" for pay-television, providing a strong customer base.[28] A few weeks after the deal, ITV went to the High court to get an injunction as it believed their details were leaked before the decision was taken.ITV also asked the Office of Fair Trading to also investigate since it believed Rupert Murdoch's media empire via the newspapers had influenced the deal.
Becoming a public limited company
In October 1994,[34] BSkyB announced its plans to float the company on the UK and US stock exchanges, selling off 20% of the company.[35] The stock flotation reduced Murdoch's holding to 40 per cent and raised £900m, which allowed the company to cut its debt in half.Sam Chisholm said "By any standards this is an excellent result, in every area of the company has performed strongly".[36] Chisholm became one of the world's most highly paid television executives.[37]
In 1995, BSkyB opened its second customer management centre at Dunfermline, Scotland,[38] in addition to its original centre at Livingston which opened in 1989.BSkyB entered the FTSE 100 index, operation profits increased to £155M a year, and Pearson sold off its 17.5% stake in the company.[39]
Sam Chisholm resigned from BSkyB due to a rift with Rupert Murdoch in June 1997.[40] A week later, Murdoch was quoted as saying "I cannot understand the fuss; BSkyB was grossly overpriced", which caused further rifts with the new management.[41]
In 1997, BSkyB formed a partnership with Carlton and Granada to bid for the right for the new digital terrestrial network.In June, it was awarded the right to start the service, ONdigital, under the condition BSkyB withdrew from the group's bid.[42] In February 2003 BSkyB wished to renegotiate its deal with MTV to reduce its payment from £20m. Chief executive Tony Ball said "We're definitely prepared to stare them down if we can't get a sensible deal. MTV, and other channels, have done particularly well out of the growth of Sky but the opportunity for savings is now there and Sky will be taking it," he added. "MTV has done extremely well out of that original deal."[43] On 17 April 2003 BSkyB launched its own range of music channels Scuzz, Flaunt and The Amp, as part of its plan to create its own original channels for the platform.[44] Within 18 months the channels failed to make impact, and were outsourced to the Chart Show Channels company.[45]
Shortly afterwards it acquired Artsworld, giving a majority of subscribers full access to the channel. The buyout was part of James Murdoch's strategy to improve the perceptions BSkyB which could lead to potential new subscribers. John Cassy, the channel manager of Artsworld, said: "It is great news for the arts that a dedicated cultural channel will be available to millions of households."[46]
In early 2007 Freeview overtook Sky Digital with nearly 200,000 more subscribers at the end of 2006, while cable broadcaster Virgin Media had three million customers.[47] In July 2007, BSkyB announced the takeover of Amstrad for £125m, a 23.7% premium on its market capitalisation.[48]
BSkyB and Virgin Media announced that they had reached agreement for the acquisition by BSkyB of Virgin Media Television.Virgin1 was also a part of the deal and was rebranded as Channel One on 3 September 2010, as the Virgin name was not licensed to Sky.[49][50] The new carriage deals are understood to be for up to nine years.[51] The deal was completed in July 2010 and Virgin Media Television was renamed Living TV Group.
In June 2010, News Corporation made a bid for complete ownership of BSkyB.However, following the News International phone hacking scandal, critics and politicians began to question the appropriateness of the proposed takeover.The resulting reaction forced News Corp. to withdraw its bid for the company in July 2011.[52][53] The scandal forced the resignation of James Murdoch, who was the chairman of both BSkyB and News International, from his executive positions in the UK, with Nicholas Ferguson taking over as Chairman of BSkyB.[54] In September 2012, Ofcom ruled that BSkyB was still fit to hold broadcast licenses in the UK, but criticised James Murdoch's handling of the scandal.[55] On 28 June 2013, News Corporation was split into two publicly traded companies; the company's publishing operations (including News International, renamed News UK) and broadcasting operations in Australia were spun into a new company known as News Corp, while the company's broadcast media assets, including its 39.14% stake in Sky, were renamed 21st Century Fox.[56]
European acquisitions
On 12 May 2014, BSkyB confirmed that it was in talks with its largest shareholder, 21st Century Fox, about acquiring 21st Century Fox's 57.4% stake in Sky Deutschland and its 100% stake in Sky Italia.The enlarged company (dubbed "Sky Europe" in the media) would consolidate 21st Century Fox's European digital TV assets into one company.[57] The £4.9 billion takeover deal was formally announced on 25 July, where BSkyB would acquire 21st Century Fox's stakes in Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia.BSkyB also made a required takeover offer to Sky Deutschland's minority shareholders,[58] resulting in BSkyB acquiring 89.71% of Sky Deutschland's share capital.The acquisitions were completed on 13 November.[8]
Sky plc
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc changed its name to Sky plc to reflect the European acquisitions, and the United Kingdom operations were renamed Sky UK Limited.Sky plc bought out the remaining minority shareholders in Sky Deutschland during 2015, using a squeeze-out procedure to obtain the remaining shares and delist Sky Deutschland on 15 September 2015.[59]
Competition around being acquired
On 9 December 2016, 21st Century Fox announced that it had made an offer to acquire the remainder of Sky plc for £11.7 billion at a value of £10.75 per-share. It marked Fox's second attempt to take over Sky, as its previous attempt under News Corporation was affected by the News International scandal.The two companies reached an agreement on the deal on 15 December, subject to regulatory approval.[60][61]
Ofcom expressed concern that this purchase would give the Murdoch family "material influence over news providers with a significant presence across all key platforms" and "increased influence over the UK news agenda and the political process".However, the regulator did deem that a Fox-owned Sky would be "fit and proper" to hold broadcast licences, despite the recent sexual harassment controversies that had emerged at the US Fox News Channel, as there was no evidence to the contrary.[62][63][64]Avaaz opposed Ofcom's opinion, stating that the regulator "made mistake after mistake in deciding to give the Murdochs a clean bill of health to take over more of our media".[65]
The Walt Disney Company announced on 14 December 2017 that it would acquire 21st Century Fox, including its stake in Sky plc but barring specific US assets. Fox stated that this purchase would "not alter [its] full commitment and obligation to conclude our proposed transaction". Analysts suggested that Disney's proposed transaction could ease regulatory concerns over Fox's purchase of Sky, as the company will eventually lose its ties to the Murdoch family. Disney has a narrower scope of media ownership in the country than the Murdoch family.[66] Sky already has a relationship with Disney for its Sky Cinema service, holding pay television rights to its films in the United Kingdom and operating a dedicated Sky Cinema channel devoted to Disney content.[67]
A preliminary report by the Competition and Markets Authority issued January 2018 called for the insulation or outright divestment of Sky News as a condition of the purchase, so that it is editorially independent from the Murdoch family.[68] Sky had threatened to reevaluate the channel's continued operations if they "unduly impeded merger and/or other corporate opportunities available in relation to Sky's broader business".The channel has operated on a loss of at least £40 million per-year.[69][70] In February 2018, Fox proposed the establishment of an independent editorial board, and committing to fund the network for at least 10 years.This commitment would be inherited by Disney after the completion of its purchase of 21st Century Fox.[71][72] On 3 April 2018, Fox stated that Disney had "expressed an interest in acquiring Sky News", which would not be conditional on its proposal to acquire 21st Century Fox.[73]
A bidding war began 25 April 2018, when the competing US media and telecoms conglomerate Comcast (owner of NBCUniversal), announced a counter-offer for Sky at £12.50 per-share, or approximately £22.1 billion.[74][75][76][77] NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke stated that purchasing Sky would roughly double its presence in English-speaking markets, and allow for synergies between the respective networks and studios of NBCUniversal and Sky.[78]
On 5 June 2018, Culture SecretaryMatt Hancock cleared both 21st Century Fox and Comcast's respective offers to acquire Sky plc.Fox's offer was contingent on the divestiture of Sky News.[79][80] On 12 June 2018, Comcast announced a US$65 billion counter-offer to acquire the 21st Century Fox assets that Disney had offered to purchase.[81] However, Fox subsequently agreed to an increased, US$71.3 billion offer from Disney instead.[82] On 15 June 2018, the European Commission gave antitrust clearance to Comcast's offer to purchase Sky, citing that in terms of their current assets in Europe, there would be limited impact on competition.Comcast included a 10-year commitment to the operations and funding of Sky News similar to that of Disney's offer.[83][84][85]
On 11 July 2018, Fox increased its bid for Sky to £14.00 per share, valuing it at £24.5 billion. Comcast subsequently counterbid just hours later with an offer at £14.75 per-share, valued at £26 billion.[87][88] On 19 July 2018, after Fox agreed to a Disney counter-offer,[89][90] it was reported that Comcast had abandoned its bid for 21st Century Fox to focus solely on Sky.[91][92]
On 20 September 2018, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers ordered that a blind auction be held "in order to provide an orderly framework for the resolution of this competitive situation". In this process, Fox, followed by Comcast, made new cash-only bids for Sky. After these first two rounds of bidding, there would be a third round where both companies could make new offers. However, the third round of bidding would only be binding if both companies make a bid. The results were to be revealed on 22 September, and be confirmed by the start of trading on 24 September.[93] Comcast won the auction with a bid of £17.28 per-share, beating Fox's bid of £15.67.[94][95] Sky plc had until 11 October to formally accept this offer.[96]
Following its auction victory, Comcast began to acquire Sky shares from the open market. On 26 September 2018, Fox subsequently announced its intent to sell all of its shares in Sky plc to Comcast for £12 billion.[97][96] On 4 October 2018, Fox completed the sale of their shares, giving Comcast a 76.8% controlling stake at the time.[98]
Competition around being acquired
On 9 December 2016, 21st Century Fox announced that it had made an offer to acquire the remainder of Sky plc for £11.7 billion at a value of £10.75 per-share. It marked Fox's second attempt to take over Sky, as its previous attempt under News Corporation was affected by the News International scandal.The two companies reached an agreement on the deal on 15 December, subject to regulatory approval.[60][61]
Ofcom expressed concern that this purchase would give the Murdoch family "material influence over news providers with a significant presence across all key platforms" and "increased influence over the UK news agenda and the political process".However, the regulator did deem that a Fox-owned Sky would be "fit and proper" to hold broadcast licences, despite the recent sexual harassment controversies that had emerged at the US Fox News Channel, as there was no evidence to the contrary.[62][63][64]Avaaz opposed Ofcom's opinion, stating that the regulator "made mistake after mistake in deciding to give the Murdochs a clean bill of health to take over more of our media".[65]
The Walt Disney Company announced on 14 December 2017 that it would acquire 21st Century Fox, including its stake in Sky plc but barring specific US assets. Fox stated that this purchase would "not alter [its] full commitment and obligation to conclude our proposed transaction". Analysts suggested that Disney's proposed transaction could ease regulatory concerns over Fox's purchase of Sky, as the company will eventually lose its ties to the Murdoch family. Disney has a narrower scope of media ownership in the country than the Murdoch family.[66] Sky already has a relationship with Disney for its Sky Cinema service, holding pay television rights to its films in the United Kingdom and operating a dedicated Sky Cinema channel devoted to Disney content.[67]
A preliminary report by the Competition and Markets Authority issued January 2018 called for the insulation or outright divestment of Sky News as a condition of the purchase, so that it is editorially independent from the Murdoch family.[68] Sky had threatened to reevaluate the channel's continued operations if they "unduly impeded merger and/or other corporate opportunities available in relation to Sky's broader business".The channel has operated on a loss of at least £40 million per-year.[69][70] In February 2018, Fox proposed the establishment of an independent editorial board, and committing to fund the network for at least 10 years.This commitment would be inherited by Disney after the completion of its purchase of 21st Century Fox.[71][72] On 3 April 2018, Fox stated that Disney had "expressed an interest in acquiring Sky News", which would not be conditional on its proposal to acquire 21st Century Fox.[73]
A bidding war began 25 April 2018, when the competing US media and telecoms conglomerate Comcast (owner of NBCUniversal), announced a counter-offer for Sky at £12.50 per-share, or approximately £22.1 billion.[74][75][76][77] NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke stated that purchasing Sky would roughly double its presence in English-speaking markets, and allow for synergies between the respective networks and studios of NBCUniversal and Sky.[78]
On 5 June 2018, Culture SecretaryMatt Hancock cleared both 21st Century Fox and Comcast's respective offers to acquire Sky plc.Fox's offer was contingent on the divestiture of Sky News.[79][80] On 12 June 2018, Comcast announced a US$65 billion counter-offer to acquire the 21st Century Fox assets that Disney had offered to purchase.[81] However, Fox subsequently agreed to an increased, US$71.3 billion offer from Disney instead.[82] On 15 June 2018, the European Commission gave antitrust clearance to Comcast's offer to purchase Sky, citing that in terms of their current assets in Europe, there would be limited impact on competition.Comcast included a 10-year commitment to the operations and funding of Sky News similar to that of Disney's offer.[83][84][85]
On 11 July 2018, Fox increased its bid for Sky to £14.00 per share, valuing it at £24.5 billion. Comcast subsequently counterbid just hours later with an offer at £14.75 per-share, valued at £26 billion.[87][88] On 19 July 2018, after Fox agreed to a Disney counter-offer,[89][90] it was reported that Comcast had abandoned its bid for 21st Century Fox to focus solely on Sky.[91][92]
On 20 September 2018, the Panel on Takeovers and Mergers ordered that a blind auction be held "in order to provide an orderly framework for the resolution of this competitive situation". In this process, Fox, followed by Comcast, made new cash-only bids for Sky. After these first two rounds of bidding, there would be a third round where both companies could make new offers. However, the third round of bidding would only be binding if both companies make a bid. The results were to be revealed on 22 September, and be confirmed by the start of trading on 24 September.[93] Comcast won the auction with a bid of £17.28 per-share, beating Fox's bid of £15.67.[94][95] Sky plc had until 11 October to formally accept this offer.[96]
Following its auction victory, Comcast began to acquire Sky shares from the open market. On 26 September 2018, Fox subsequently announced its intent to sell all of its shares in Sky plc to Comcast for £12 billion.[97][96] On 4 October 2018, Fox completed the sale of their shares, giving Comcast a 76.8% controlling stake at the time.[98]
Sky Group Ltd
On 12 October 2018, Comcast announced it would compulsorily acquire the rest of Sky after its bid gained acceptances from 95.3% of the broadcaster's shareholders with the company being delisted by 31 December 2018.[99] Sky was delisted on 7 November 2018 after Comcast acquired all remaining shares.[100]
In August 2021, Sky Group signed a deal with ViacomCBS to launch Paramount+ in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria by 2022.[101] On 3 May 2022, it was announced that Paramount+ will launch on 22 June 2022 for Sky customers in Ireland and the United Kingdom.[102]
In June 2025, Sky Group announced their intention to sell its German media broadcasting division Sky Deutschland including its channels and broadcasting rights across Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as the German streaming service WOW to RTL Group.The purchase price would consist of an initial €150 million in cash and a variable consideration linked to RTL Group's share price performance.[103]
In November 2025, it was confirmed by ITV plc that it and Sky Group had entered into discussions to purchase the company's media and entertainment assets (which include the television channels and ITVX, but not ITV Studios) for £1.6 billion.[104]
Tony Ball was appointed in 1999 and completed the company's analogue to digital conversion.
He is also credited with returning the company to profit and bringing subscriber numbers to new heights.
In 2003, Ball announced his resignation and James Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch was announced as his successor.
This appointment caused allegations of nepotism from shareholders.[106]
On 7 December 2007, it was announced that Rupert Murdoch would be stepping down as BSkyB's non-executive chairman and would be replaced by his son, James.In turn, James stepped down as CEO of BSkyB, to be replaced by Jeremy Darroch.[107] It was estimated that Darroch would earn around £38.2 million from selling Sky to Comcast.He sold his 775,772 shares in Sky worth £13.4 million and would cash in on previously awarded bonus shares.[108]
In January 2021, it was announced that Darroch would be standing down as CEO, and will become executive chairman of Sky for the remainder of 2021, and will then be an advisor to the company.[109] He was succeeded as CEO by Dana Strong in January 2021.[109][105]
The current company directors are Comcast personnel: Michael J Cavanagh (Comcast senior VP & CFO), Arthur R Block (legal counsel) and David L Cohen (senior VP & CDO).[110]
44.[http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/is-channel-growth-music-to-the-ears/2024338.article Is channel growth music to the ears? | Archive]. Marketing Week (20 March 2003). Retrieved on 9 December 2013.^
Following a lengthy legal battle with the European Commission, which deemed the exclusivity of the rights to be against the interests of competition and the consumer, BSkyB's monopoly came to an end from the
2007–08 season
.
In May 2006, the Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports was awarded two of the six Premiership packages that the English FA offered to broadcasters.
On 19 June 2018, Disney formally agreed to acquire Sky News as part of Fox's proposed bid, with a 15-year commitment to increase its annual funding from £90 million to £100 million.
On 19 June 2018, Disney formally agreed to acquire Sky News as part of Fox's proposed bid, with a 15-year commitment to increase its annual funding from £90 million to £100 million.
