SKY TV nostalgia

AwaitYourReply

For those who like to look back on SKY TV in the very early days, below is a very interesting insight taken from Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_Television_plc#History

Also below are some interesting video clips contained from this Web URL link:
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/skytv/
Ah, it does bring back some happy memories of a more innocent era in British TV broadcasting.

lgs 4

Yes back in the day when sky was good value tv . Now its ripping people off with gimmicks and channels that are really just box sets on tv. Thank god for Freesat HD and FTA channels on Astra 1 (19e) and Hotbird (13e) in English .

Chris_Bradley

Use to love that music Super Sunday had in the early to mid 90's - "Here we go".... then the two clubs badges would smash into each other.

All very boring now

Elmo

Sky One had achieved a 9% share of the Irish audience at one point in its early years. There is a Thesis in DCU by Noel Curran (former RTE DG) with the audience share, 9% is massive just shows how by the early 1990s cable was widespread in RoI.

_Kaiser_

Chris_Bradley wrote: »

Use to love that music Super Sunday had in the early to mid 90's - "Here we go".... then the two clubs badges would smash into each other.

All very boring now

Ahh yes I remember it well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bXzES95zAA

Then there was this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEAIyH_gDSk

1993-95 was the golden age for Sky Sports intros though:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-Ejze5JTGA

I remember when they had a falling out with Cablelink over carriage fees (if I recall rightly) which resulted in the loss of Sky One, News and others for over a year... disaster it was as back then they actually had great shows on One!

_Kaiser_

OK one more because now I'm missing the good old days when Sky was not only good value but had a premium feel for the extra cash...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2SuIXXRJjw

Jimbob1977

Lost in Space

Pat Sharp and the 'Run Ronnie Run' competition

A steamy Australian soap called 'Chances'

Star Trek non-stop

Dream Team.... brilliant in Season One. Story lines became ridiculous. An assassination at Wembley!!!!

_Kaiser_

Jimbob1977 wrote: »

Lost in Space

Pat Sharp and the 'Run Ronnie Run' competition

Ah you're back as far as the mid-80s there when there was just one Sky Channel

Remember it well though.. we were living in Holland for a few years and it was on the local cable network with BBC and ITV . Back then there were a lot of classic American 50s/60s stuff on Sky - Lost in Space, My Favorite Martian, Green Acres, The Green Hornet, The Time Tunnel, Land of the Giants

Plus at the weekends they had the Fun Factory with 4/5 hours of cartoons - Transformers, MASK, He-Man, Inspector Gadget, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors etc.. no being stuck with RTE and Bosco for me

Ahh, good times!

I loved The Time Tunnel as a child,steered me towards an interest in history!

lgs 4

Super Channel Screensport

Chris_Bradley

Those idents on Sky from 93-95 were very well made & I honestly don't think they've ever been bettered

Gonzo

early days of Sky/Astra 1 were the best. The thing I miss the most about Sky since the early 2000s is the whole pan-european there was back then.

MTV Ray Cokes Most Wanted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFjz1FUiTMg

MTV Headbangers Ball Intro:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V94CUPSgmKs

Early days of Sky Movies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFGm6KzwCOQ

Eurosport:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVDWW2PawbE

Filmnet:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejOyDWs0YaE

Satellite TV today is so bland and boring compared to the good old days.

_Kaiser_

Gonzo wrote: »

Early days of Sky Movies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFGm6KzwCOQ

When you saw this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ1sijJnT-k

or this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2kuDnxu27Q

You felt that it was something special, premium.. worth the extra cash.
I still vividly remember when Cablelink had a free weekend on and Die Hard was the feature (I also remember it scrambling at midnight for a minute or two before they copped the movie wasn't over!)

I also remember watching Red Heat on an early test with a very poor quality analogue signal.

Good times for sure!

mansize

Christ they really knew how to dress mutton up as lamb!

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

I reember the lifetime channel for women and screen sport used to come on after it in the evenings. Then there was country music channel cmt the weather channel which was one of my favourite channels. Also you had the childrens channel long before nickelodeon and all other childrens channels. Then outside of Sky if you could pick up a dmac encryption box which are now obselete you could pick up TV1000, TV1000 movies, Filmnet and the TV 3 channels from Norway , Sweden and Denmark. They were the good old days and all on the same dish.

Gonzo

Julius Massive Tuxedo wrote: »

I reember the lifetime channel for women and screen sport used to come on after it in the evenings. Then there was country music channel cmt the weather channel which was one of my favourite channels. Also you had the childrens channel long before nickelodeon and all other childrens channels. Then outside of Sky if you could pick up a dmac encryption box which are now obselete you could pick up TV1000, TV1000 movies, Filmnet and the TV 3 channels from Norway , Sweden and Denmark. They were the good old days and all on the same dish.

When we first bought Satellite back in 1990 we were getting it for 'Sky', at the time we didn't know that it would also include several European channels, the guy in the shop tried to sell us a Filmnet decoder instead of us trying to get Sky Movies and he nearly had my dad convinced this was a good move until the other guy at the till said 'there is no guarantee that box will work forever' and we left the box back and got a regular satellite box and ordered the sky movies videocrypt decoder from Sky.

mansize

I remember the Promo for Sky Sports 2
I think you should see this-
I think you should see this too!

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

The first time I saw Sky tv was when I was working in the Uk. Down the road from where I lived was a TV shop and when Sky launched I used to go in and the guy in the shop would show me the reciever and the small dish. A couple of weeks later I returned home and spotted the same set up in my local TV shop. I bought the dish and the reciever. It cost me £500 a lot of money back then. At the time Sky movies was free and didn't start until 2pm. My neighbours all called round and were amazed at the amount of channels you could watch. The make of my reciever was alba and cold only store 16 channels most of them german..

Chris_Bradley

Use to go down the pub with my mate's dad for the first couple of seasons of the Premier League - I remember going home to my Ma & Da and begging for it for all that time & eventually they gave in!!

We had it via Cablelink, Cryptovision box I think it was.

Sky Sports then eventually Sky Sports 2

The Movie Channel

Sky Movies

Sky Movies Gold

All the other channels like RTE, BBC, Sky One etc

Bizarrely they gave us CNN on the box but any new box we ever got that service would only work for 2 weeks or so then scramble.

All my mates use to come around and watch the game, felt like I was the king of the world hahaha.

Also, remember getting the first ever PPV on Box Office, think it was Bruno v Tyson 2

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

Around ten of my friends called round to my house to watch Argentina V Brasil on Screen Sport at 2pm in the morning one night. My parents weren't very happy as you can imagine. Matches were very scarce back tnen.

Chris_Bradley

Julius Massive Tuxedo wrote: »

Around ten of my friends called round to my house to watch Argentina V Brasil on Screen Sport at 2pm in the morning one night. My parents weren't very happy as you can imagine. Matches were very scarce back tnen.

Sky was on 19e back then yeah?

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

Chris_Bradley wrote: »

Sky was on 19e back then yeah?

Yes that's right I think until digital arrived and the choice of channels increased.

Chris_Bradley

Julius Massive Tuxedo wrote: »

Yes that's right I think until digital arrived and the choice of channels increased.

Was lucky enough to get Sky Digital when it eventually became accessible through Irish stores..... Genuine game changer

Gonzo

Chris_Bradley wrote: »

Sky was on 19e back then yeah?

It sure was, thats how we were able to also watch Dutch, German and Swedish channels as well as Sky TV. The Dutch and Swedish channels were mostly showing content in english and their subtitles was mostly accessed using teletext. Dutch channel RTL 4 had the subtitles hardcoded into the programme. German channels were dubbed.

mansize

Ah good old RTL2 - soft porn anyone?

mansize

Horizon Mulitchannel was our first taste of Sky TV

The Movie Channel rather than sky movies was the offering - much better channel the rep said...

First Premiership match Southampton v Sheffield United

Chris_Bradley

So was 3pms available on any of the foreign channels on 19e or was that just 1w?

I know were swaying off Sky here - apologies.

mansize

First PPV McCollough v Naz
I hated Prince Nazeem

Gonzo

mansize wrote: »

Ah good old RTL2 - soft porn anyone?

back then I was a 17 year old teenager and soon found out that using the TV tuner to offset Filmnet's very basic method of encryption often stabilized the picture with moderate success!

A year or 2 later the game was over when Filmnet switched to D2mac from pal.

The biggest disappointment was when Sky Digital was introduced in 1998. Irish viewers still had to watch Sky on 19e analogue while UK viewers were upgraded for free to digital on 28E. When that happened Sky started closing down the analogue feeds on 19E one by one while we were still subscribing. Then eventually in 2000 i think it was, Irish viewers could now get digital and the day we got it, I realized the whole pan-european tv was finished with Sky Digital. Since we got Sky Digital satellite tv has been nowhere nearly as fun or indeed cutting edge.

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

Am I right in thinking before Sky became the multi million pound juggernaut it is today Rubert Murdoch had one channel called Sky channel I think was Australian. I know there was Super channel but I don't know if it was owned by him.

Gonzo

Julius Massive Tuxedo wrote: »

Am I right in thinking before Sky became the multi million pound juggernaut it is today Rubert Murdoch had one channel called Sky channel I think was Australian. I know there was Super channel but I don't know if it was owned by him.

the history of it is here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_1

Elmo

Super channel is now CNBC EUROPE. but it seems like it was NBC Europe for a while, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_Europe

curiousoranje

We won a years subscription to Sky via a Cablelink decoder in the early-mid 90's. Was a chunky Pace box if I remember right. We had a crappy Texet TV at the time, and it was very fiddly to tune in.

Remember being mesmerised by all the kids shows on the Disney Channel that I'd never even heard of before. Was a sad day a year later when the free subscription ran out and I had to go back to TCC on normal piped TV, which was on it's death bed and (happily enough) soon to be replaced by Nickelodeon.

Got Sky Digital in 2001 when I was a teen, and my favourite part was all the digital radio stations, an alt rock one called 'The Storm' ( channel 857 iirc) being my introduction to so many bands I'd only read about previously. Remember my friend's family got the first ntl digital box around the same time (giant Pace box again) with the massive purple remote, which wasn't a patch on Sky's offering.

mansize

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgpOQRLPCEg

For the day that was in it

icdg

Elmo wrote: »

Super channel is now CNBC EUROPE. but it seems like it was NBC Europe for a while, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NBC_Europe

Not quite the case. The two coexisted for a period of time.

Super Channel was started by some of the ITV owners, and changed hands a couple of times before ending up in NBC's hands. It had already moved away from being a general entertainment channel to aiming itself towards "professionals" even before NBC took over.. It closed as a pan European channel in 1998, at which point it was simulcasting chunks of CNBC's output. Even after that it had a strange afterlife as a German channel, but that wasn't really the same channel either.

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

Gonzo wrote: »

the history of it is here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_1

Thanks for that link Gonzo great to look back and see how it all started. This is a brilliant thread it amazes me the amount of knoweldge you guys have. Thanks guys.

Gonzo

also of note, here is a list of the tv stations that have closed throughout the years. Many of these were broadcasted on Astra1 or Sky Digital in recent years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Defunct_British_television_channels

Some of the above may have got renamed and still exist under a different name.

AwaitYourReply

icdg wrote: »

Not quite the case. The two coexisted for a period of time.

Super Channel was started by some of the ITV owners, and changed hands a couple of times before ending up in NBC's hands. It had already moved away from being a general entertainment channel to aiming itself towards "professionals" even before NBC took over.. It closed as a pan European channel in 1998, at which point it was simulcasting chunks of CNBC's output. Even after that it had a strange afterlife as a German channel, but that wasn't really the same channel either.

More memories of satellite tv with launch of Super Channel back in 1987 can be found on the below link:

http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/superchannel.html

AwaitYourReply

Chris_Bradley wrote: »

Use to go down the pub with my mate's dad for the first couple of seasons of the Premier League - I remember going home to my Ma & Da and begging for it for all that time & eventually they gave in!!

We had it via Cablelink, Cryptovision box I think it was.

Sky Sports then eventually Sky Sports 2

The Movie Channel

Sky Movies

Sky Movies Gold

All the other channels like RTE, BBC, Sky One etc

Bizarrely they gave us CNN on the box but any new box we ever got that service would only work for 2 weeks or so then scramble.

All my mates use to come around and watch the game, felt like I was the king of the world hahaha.

Also, remember getting the first ever PPV on Box Office, think it was Bruno v Tyson 2

If memory serves me correct, "The Movie Channel" tv brand was taken over by Sky as it was originally from Robert Maxwell's satellite firm BSB (British Satellite Broadcasting) and they had the iconic satellite dish called a "squarial". Maxwell was a publisher and media proprietor and would have been seen as a major rival to Rupert Murdoch. The businesses owned by Maxwell were in financial trouble and one such business was his satellite tv broadcasting firm, BSB which was then merged with SKY and would later be renamed BSKYB to distinguish it from the former BSB company around November 1990. Maxwell died suddenly in November, 1991.

BSB offered 5 quality channels as part of it's package. They were as follows:

Galaxy - (The Entertainment Channel),
The Sports Channel,
Now - (The Channel for Living),
The Movie Channel
The Power Station.

Here are some nostalgic links from BSB package before it's merger with SKY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Movie_Channel_(UK)

http://testcards.retropia.co.uk/post/123354863921/british-satellite-broadcasting-the-movie-channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbydtYSyAKs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1UXMBIbG-M

http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/skytv/bsb_movie.html

http://www.tvlive.org.uk/tv-presentation/sky/sky-cinema/the-movie-channel-2/

icdg

Maxwell (of Mirror Group Newspapers fame) had no involvement with BSB; it was owned by a consortium of Granada, Anglia TV, Pearson, and others including Alan Bond.

The Movie Channel did originate with BSB and lasted seven more years after the merger until the "Sky Movies Screen 1 & 2" branding (which only lasted a couple of months before becoming Premier and Moviemax) was adopted in 1997.

Chris_Bradley

A Sky Symphony from '93

mikeym

I used to watch Sky 1 a lot during the nineties when I was a kid.

When I thought wrestling was real

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

I remember the childrens channel and when that would close the lifestyle channel for women would come on and then I think from around 11pm to the ealy hours there was the lifestyle satellite jukebox for a couple of hours. I used to love it.They played some great videos. I think was around 91-92.

Julius Massive Tuxedo

Julius Massive Tuxedo wrote: »

I remember the childrens channel and when that would close the lifestyle channel for women would come on and then I think from around 11pm to the ealy hours there was the lifestyle satellite jukebox for a couple of hours. I used to love it.They played some great videos. I think was around 91-92.

Yeah, between roughly 1989 to 1991. The Children's Channel moved from Astra channel 5 to 24 after the launch of Astra 1B in 1991, then moved again to 35 after the launch of 1C.

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

One of my favourite channels was the weather channel and CMT. Remember the Comedy channel Sky launched. They had a lot of old stuff on it like Hogans heroes, The Beverly Hilbillies and I think Sargent Bilko. I remember at the time we were happy to have such a channel but looking back it was bad and did'nt last long. Also I remwmber Sky soap which showed old Emmerdale farm as it was called back then, Take the high road, and some Australian soaps.

AwaitYourReply

For those viewers who have fond memories of Lifestyle channel:
Just Copy & Paste the below Web URL link if you want to see Lifestyle's channel idents and relive some of the old promos footage

http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/lifestyle.html

Below here is "The Childrens Channel" which would be later rebranded as "TCC" and would ultimately become focused on the teenager demographic under channel brand known as "Trouble"

http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/childrenschannel.html

The Comedy Channel (UK) was shortlived on SKY 1991-1992
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/skytv/comedychannel.html

Sky Soap (UK) on SKY from 1994-1999
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/skytv/skysoap.html

Bravo channel
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/bravo.html
Sky may relaunch the Bravo brand name again in the future

Premiere movie channel
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/premiere.html

Music Box channel prior to MTV in Europe
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/musicbox.html

Lifestyle Satellite Jukebox (WHSTV = WH SMITH Television) late night music videos
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/lifestyle_jukebox.html

Screensport channel
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/screensport.html

Quiz and Gaming Channels:

Quiznation (also Nation217, Nation277)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiznation_(UK_game_show)#/media/File:Quiznationlogo.jpg

Quiz Call
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiz_Call

Quizmania
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quizmania

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

AwaitYourReply wrote: »

For those viewers who have fond memories of Lifestyle channel:
Just Copy & Paste the below Web URL link if you want to see Lifestyle's channel idents and relive some of the old promos footage

http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/lifestyle.html

Below here is "The Childrens Channel" which would be later rebranded as "TCC" and would ultimately become focused on the teenager demographic under channel brand known as "Trouble"

http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/childrenschannel.html

The Comedy Channel (UK) was shortlived on SKY 1991-1992
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/skytv/comedychannel.html

Sky Soap (UK) on SKY from 1994-1999
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/skytv/skysoap.html

Bravo channel
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/bravo.html
Sky may relaunch the Bravo brand name again in the future

Premiere movie channel
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/premiere.html

Music Box channel prior to MTV in Europe
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/musicbox.html

Lifestyle Satellite Jukebox (WHSTV = WH SMITH Television) late night music videos
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/lifestyle_jukebox.html

Screensport channel
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/otherchannels/screensport.html

Quiz and Gaming Channels:

Quiznation (also Nation217, Nation277)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiznation_(UK_game_show)#/media/File:Quiznationlogo.jpg

Quiz Call
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiz_Call

Quizmania
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quizmania

looking at those links brings back fond meomeries of when I first got my Sky analouge dish and the excitement of having more than two channels. I used to love the background music for Screensport after it closed down for the night. Thanks for posting those links.

AwaitYourReply

In the early days of pan-european satellite tv channel, EUROSPORT you noticed it had a strong Sky TV marketing feel about it as you'll notice from this film footage links that follow. As far as I recall, the early days of Eurosport was a broadcasting partnership that included SKY and the EBU. Following the launch of the FA Premier League in the early '90s Sky went on to set up it's own sports network SKY SPORTS channel followed by additional sister channels in it's sports network. Once Sky Sports was in place Sky would eventually withdraw from it's involvement in Eurosport channel and the feel and presentation would become more French after a while. At one stage I thought Eurosport would go under after Sky departed to set up Sky Sports but a few years later Screensport was the sports channel to eventually close down altogether.

1990 Eurosport ident & soundtrack
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_kXvPA7r6I

1991 Eurosport promo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg_CYSqs_IA

1991/1992 Eurosport Open/Close Signature (the iconic Yellow-The Race promo soundtrack but this copy quality is actually quite poor)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP-J7bXkTJc

In those days Eurosport was available on most local analogue cable tv systems and it used broadcast free to air on analogue satellite systems across Europe alongside channels like Sky News, CNN International and so on. Unfortunately, Eurosport did not broadcast free-to-air on digital satellite when people were migrating across from analogue satellite in late '90s/early '00s

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

Fred Swanson wrote: »

From 1989 on Astra 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQkpVbehv_M

Teleclub I don't seem to remember but I do remember getting a decoder for filmnet, TV1000 and TV3 Norway, Sweden and Denmark. I remember they used Dmac encryption. I used to get my decorder box through what satellite tv magazine. Used to be great for the listings of tv channels all over Europe what satellite's there were on and what kind if decorder you would need to unencrypt them.

h7nlrp2v0g5u48

Fred Swanson wrote: »

From 1989 on Astra 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQkpVbehv_M

Teleclub I don't seem to remember but I do remember getting a decoder for filmnet, TV1000 and TV3 Norway, Sweden and Denmark. I remember they used Dmac encryption. I used to get my decorder box through what satellite tv magazine. Used to be great for the listings of tv channels all over Europe what satellite's there were on and what kind if decorder you would need to unencrypt them.Apoligies for the double post.