|
Do you remember
the music that accompanied |
 |
British Satellite Broadcasting 1986-1990
by Alan Jarvie
Alan Jarvie
worked for BSB as has very kindly written about his time with them
The UK’s
official satellite broadcaster (as licensed by the Independent Broadcasting
Authority),
British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) was formed in December 1986. The consortium
behind BSB originally consisted of
Granada, Virgin, Pearson and Amstrad. Two of these, Virgin and Amstrad, left
the consortium before launch to be replaced
by Alan Bond (Australian business tycoon) and Carlton Communications. Despite
these changes BSB was the 2nd biggest
ever privately funded company launch in British business history. The biggest?
The Channel Tunnel!
BSB then purchased 2 satellites from Hughes Communications (to be located
at 31 degrees west)
and named them Marcopolo 1 and 2. Initially only 3 of the UK’s DBS (Direct
Broadcasting by Satellite) channels
were awarded to BSB but this was increased to 5 prior to launch. Later, after
launch, a deal was agreed (but never implemented) with RTE to use the DBS
frequencies allocated to the Irish Republic to broadcast via the Marcopolo
satellites,
bringing the total number of frequencies available to 10. All these channels
were to broadcast in D-Mac, more of which later
I had the privilege to work for BSB from February 1989 to December 1990 in
it’s sales and marketing operation.
I can assure you it was a rollercoaster ride of a lifetime!
The first task of the sales and marketing operation was to get the BSB message
out to the British viewing public.
This was not as easy has it sounds because, as the advertising laws stood
at the time, a commercial broadcaster could refuse
to carry ads for a rival broadcaster on the grounds it could affect the ratings
and profitability of their own company.
Just think, could you remember an ITV company e.g. Thames carrying any ads
for Sky at this point? Therefore a change
in the advertising laws was necessary and BSB, after several court battles
with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), achieved this. This has since
resulted not only in broadcasters such as BSB and Sky being allowed to advertise
on ITV
but individual channels such as UK Gold and Bravo.
After
this victory the sales and marketing operation targeted the retailers. The
aim was simple (!) in that we set out to educate
the retailers about BSB’s plans. This was achieved via a national salesforce
of Area Promotional Managers
(of which I was one- covering Scotland) who carried out training seminars
and issued promotional material.
We set about this task in February 1989 in anticipation of the announced launch
date of
September 30th - this date was to be our first (and ultimately fatal) problem.
Despite
the successful marketing campaign via the media and the retailers, problems
soon began to appear at the
headquarters of BSB, Marcopolo House in London. In June 1989, due to problems
with the supply of chips for the receivers needed to receive BSB’s D-Mac transmissions.
Unlike Sky who broadcast on the Astra satellite using the standard PAL format,
BSB were required to use the D-Mac platform. Albeit that D-Mac was the superior
format, like anything new this caused problems with the supply of the required
technology and the problem was non-availability of suitable chips.
This resulted in BSB having to delay the launch of broadcasting for six months.
Despite the delay the marketing campaign continued. The next major announcement
was one that took away the breath
of the media and public alike- The Squarial! This 45 cm dish would ensure
reception of BSB across most of the UK
unlike the 60 or 80 cm dishes required for Sky. It also did not (in most cases)
require planning permission
as it was less than 60 cm. A success at last!
The next
success was The Launch Club. This was a scheme in which the public were invited
via retailers, and at a cost of £10,
to pre-order their BSB receivers. A crazy idea or what?! However approximately
70,000 consumer
did this knowing that the launch of programming was not for another six months.
All seemed
be going well. All we needed now was a launch date. In early 1990, the launch
date was announced
April 15th -15 months after the launch of Sky. Great! As the launch date approached
more and more pre-order sales of BSB receivers were placed. Sky’s sales were
slipping. All seemed rosy in BSB’s garden.
Surely nothing could stop us winning the battle of the British airwaves. Or
could it?
A few
weeks before the launch of programming it became clear that the manufactures
of BSB receivers
(Philips, Nokia, Ferguson and Tatung) could not meet the demand. So, not wanting
to change the official launch
date for a second time, it was decided to go ahead on April 15th. Unfortunately
this resulted in only a few thousand receivers being in UK homes and most
of the viewers being cable subscribers. I myself did not get my BSB- supplied
receiver
until 10 days after launch. Even the BSB directors and management did not
have any!
In fact, order that BSB staff could view the launch, we all travelled to a
hotel in Berkshire.
Of course
certain media journalists loved the news about the shortage of receivers and
started to rubbish and kill off BSB.
Instead of looking upon this as a glitch and highlighting the fact that BSB
was in demand by the British viewing public,
certain pro-Sky journalists renewed their campaign against BSB. They also
neglected to mention the fact that,
for the previous 3 months, Sky’s sales were down and some subscribers were
even returning their Sky receivers and dishes.
After
the launch of programming all seemed to be going very well. Receivers (and
Squarials!)were in the shops
and being snapped up by the British public. BSB receivers were outselling
Sky by 60% and the public liked
the mix of BSB’s programming ranging from the arts through football to movies.
All was well at last.
We all waited for the Christmas buying season to start and surely we would
see off Sky once and for all.
Despite
the success of BSB, in October 1990, two of BSB’s main shareholders, Granada
and Pearson, approached
Sky about a merger. These discussions were brought about by the fact both
companies were losing several millions of
pounds per week. However, in what should have been approached by these two
shareholders as a takeover of Sky by BSB resulted in the opposite happening.
So, on Friday November 2nd 1990, BSB “merged” with Sky. The new company was
to be known as British Sky Broadcasting. In fact the only part of BSB that
was left after the “merger” was it’s initials!
The Sky management pretty quickly closed the (more successful) Marcopolo operation,
firing the majority of BSB staff
and emptying the headquarters. They also announced that transmissions from
the Marcopolo satellites would cease at the end
of 1991 and the satellites be sold to other broadcasters, leaving 31 degrees
west silent. This last decision was particularly
galling for all at BSB as it was a condition of the awarding of the UK DBS
licence that that the successful applicant use the
D-Mac format. Despite this no-one in government or the broadcasting authorities
bothered Sky with this detail.
Despite
the eventual premature demise of BSB I can honestly say that, even with the
benefit of hindsight, I would not forgo
the experience of working for them. The tales of spending within the company
are legendary and not all published.
For example, the Chief Executive at BSB had 3 company cars at his disposal-
a chauffeur driven Jaguar, a 4 x4
for driving to his home in the country and a Vauxhall Cavalier for jaunting
around town!
However
the classic story I heard was that a BSB executive (whom I knew but shall
remain nameless for legal reasons)
was dining at a London restaurant on the day of the merger with representatives
of a multiple retail chain.
He received a phone call at the restaurant informing him of the “merger” and
requesting him to return to Marcopolo House.
He left the restaurant and got into his company Jaguar. As he was driving
alongside the Thames contemplating his departure
from BSB he stopped. He then decided that Mr. Murdoch may have taken away
his his job but they weren’t going take
away his beloved Jag so he promptly drove his car into the Thames! He emerged
unscathed but the police were called
to the scene. When questioned by the police why he had done this, the BSB
executive explained and the police officer replied, “S***! I’ve just bought
a BSB receiver!”
Two footnotes
to the story of BSB: Granada have been involved in both of the UK’s highly
publicised broadcasting “failures”- BSB and ITV Digital. Also Marcopolo House
was the base of both these broadcasters!
Is that the “Twilight Zone” theme I hear?
BSB:
The Highs:
* D-Mac format - improved sound and picture quality.
* Programming - the 5 high quality channels consisting of
news and arts (Now Channel), general entertainment (Galaxy),
movies (The Movie Channel), sport (The Sports Channel) and music (The Power
Station).
* The Marketing Campaign - for the first time in British consumer history
treating the
viewing public as an equal and listened to what they wanted from a tv service.
* The Technology - BSB pioneered the use of several on-screen facilities now
used by Sky Digital
e.g. Now & Next Banner, Signal Information Meter.
BSB:
The Lows:
*The “Merger”!!!
