THE BATTLE FOR SKY The Murdochs, Disney, Comcast, and the Future of Entertainment
CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS
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BLOOMSBURY BUSINESS Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK 1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA BLOOMSBURY, BLOOMSBURY BUSINESS and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in Great Britain 2019 Copyright © Christopher Williams, 2019 Christopher Williams has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work. Cover design by Eleanor Rose Cover photograph © Getty images All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can accept no responsibility for any such changes. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISBN: HB: 978-1-4729-6490-8 ePDF: 978-1-4729-6494-6 eBook: 978-1-4729-6495-3 Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed and bound in Great Britain To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com and sign up for our newsletters.
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Introduction
This is the story of how Sky became one of the hottest properties in global media and the subject of the most dramatic takeover battle in British corporate history. It is based on extensive research and more than two dozen interviews with major players. Most of my sources were unwilling to speak openly, which reflects the fact that they were speaking when the fate of Sky, and therefore the fate of their careers and business relationships, was still unknown. In general, and perhaps regrettably, business leaders are also less open than they used to be. In the more than 20 years since the publication of Mathew Horsman’s book Sky High, which gives an excellent account of Sky’s early fight for survival under Rupert Murdoch and Sam Chisholm, the rise of the public relations industry has contributed to a decline in accountability. To get to the truth of what has happened since that time, this book has had to rely on many anonymous sources. Sky’s success this century has been astonishing. In 1999 it had less than four million satellite subscribers and a business that appeared to be running out of steam, based almost entirely on Premier League football and Hollywood films. Today it is a pan-European leader and the latest addition to the vast Comcast empire, at the eye-popping price tag of £37bn. Sky has 23 million subscribers, extensive broadband and mobile operations, and the technological agility
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2
THE BATTLE FOR SKY
to play a role in the biggest shift in entertainment since the introduction of television. The turbulent rise of Sky reveals a company that, for better or worse, has always needed an enemy to spur itself forward. Over the years there has been no shortage of players to assume the role of nemesis. The BBC, ITV, the UK cable industry, regulators and BT have all found themselves on the wrong side of Sky’s will to win. No British company has been at the centre of more controversies. The long battle fought and lost by News Corp, and subsequently by Fox, for control of Sky ranks as the most extraordinary takeover saga in memory, as business, technology and politics clashed dramatically, often with unpredictable results. The new titans of media come from Silicon Valley and have international reach and financial clout that the Murdoch family and even Comcast cannot hope to match. The likes of Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook threaten Sky on a whole new scale. Yet history shows that Sky is, above all else, adaptable and ready to fight. And as its opponents have come to realise over the years, it should never be underestimated.
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