Sky Group
Logo used since 2020 | |
Sky Campus in Isleworth, England | |
| Formerly | British Sky Broadcasting plc (1990–2014) Sky plc (2014–19) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| LSE: SKY (2014–18) LSE: BSY (1994–2014) NYSE: BSY (1994–2010) FTSE 100 component (BSY, 1995-2014) FTSE 100 component (SKY, 2014-18) | |
| Industry | |
| Predecessor |
|
| Founded | 2 November 1990 |
| Headquarters | Sky Campus London, England, UK |
Area served | Europe |
Key people |
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| Products | Direct-broadcast satellite, pay television, broadcasting, broadband and telephony services |
| Revenue | £14.5 billion (2022) |
| Owner |
|
Number of employees | 32,000 (2021) |
| Parent | Comcast (2018–present) |
| Divisions |
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| Subsidiaries | |
| Website | skygroup.sky |
| Footnotes / references [1][2][3] | |
Sky Group Limited[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News Corporation held 39.14% of Sky Group, and in June 2010, they attempted to buy out the rest of Sky, but the bid was withdrawn in July 2011 following the News International phone hacking scandal that also led to News Corporation splitting into News Corp and 21st Century Fox, the latter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]
- ^ "Sky ad revenue down 9% as Comcast reports lower profit". the-media-leader.com. 26 January 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
- ^ a b "Sky at a glance". Sky. Archived from the original on 4 November 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
- ^ "Sky to double down on originals under in-house Studios banner". TBI Vision. 12 June 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
- ^ "SKY GROUP LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". Companies House. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
- ^ "Leading European pay TV operators by revenue 2018". Statista. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
- ^ "News Corp. slows BSkyB bid". Ottawa Citizen. 14 October 2010.
- ^ Mike, Snider (15 December 2016). "Murdoch's Fox acquires U.K.'s Sky network". USA Today. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
- ^ "Sky creates Europe's leading entertainment company". Sky. 13 November 2014. Archived from the original on 15 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
- ^ "Phone Scandal Poses Defining Test for a Murdoch Son". The New York Times. 8 July 2011. Archived from the original on 9 July 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
- ^ "FTSE All-Share Index Ranking". stockchallenge.co.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2011.