Sky Group

"Sky (company)" redirects here. For other companies called Sky, see Sky (disambiguation) § Business.
For Sky's UK operations, see Sky UK. For Sky's Irish operations, see Sky Ireland.

Sky Group Limited
FormerlyBritish Sky Broadcasting plc (1990–2014)
Sky plc (2014–2019)
Company typeSubsidiary
LSE: SKY (1990s–2018)
Industry
Predecessor
Founded2 November 1990; 34 years ago (2 November 1990)
HeadquartersSky Campus
London, England, UK
Area served
Europe
Key people
ProductsDirect-broadcast satellite, pay television, broadcasting, broadband and telephony services
RevenueDecrease £14.5 billion (2022)
Number of employees
32,000 (2021)
ParentComcast (2018–present)
Divisions
Subsidiaries
Websiteskygroup.sky
Footnotes / references
[1][2][3]

Sky Group Limited[4] is a British media and telecommunications conglomerate, which is a subsidiary of the American conglomerate Comcast, and headquartered in London, England. 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.

Initially formed in 1990 by the equal merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting, BSkyB became the UK's largest digital 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]

Prior to November 2018, Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox owned a 39.14% controlling stake in the company;[9] on 9 December 2016, following a previous attempt under News Corporation that was affected by the News International phone hacking scandal, 21st Century Fox announced that it had agreed to buy the remainder of Sky, pending government approval. However, after a bidding war that included the Walt Disney Company (which was, in turn, acquiring most of 21st Century Fox's assets), US media and telecoms conglomerate Comcast acquired the entirety of Sky in 2018 for £17.28 per share. NBCUniversal, which is Sky Group's sister company, has also been a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast since 2013.

Before the acquisition by Comcast, Sky was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index and had a market capitalisation of approximately £18.75 billion (€26.76 billion) as of 2018.[10]

  1. ^ "Sky ad revenue down 9% as Comcast reports lower profit". the-media-leader.com. 26 January 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Sky at a glance". Sky. Archived from the original on 4 November 2018. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  3. ^ "Sky to double down on originals under in-house Studios banner". TBI Vision. 12 June 2019. Retrieved 26 July 2019.
  4. ^ "SKY GROUP LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". Companies House. 14 May 2015. Retrieved 26 December 2023.
  5. ^ "Leading European pay TV operators by revenue 2018". Statista. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
  6. ^ "News Corp. slows BSkyB bid". Ottawa Citizen. 14 October 2010.[permanent dead link‍]
  7. ^ Mike, Snider (15 December 2016). "Murdoch's Fox acquires U.K.'s Sky network". USA Today. Retrieved 16 November 2018.
  8. ^ "Sky creates Europe's leading entertainment company". Sky. 13 November 2014. Archived from the original on 15 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014.
  9. ^ "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.
  10. ^ "FTSE All-Share Index Ranking". stockchallenge.co.uk. Retrieved 26 December 2011.