Sky UK in the context of "Sky Group"

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⭐ Core Definition: Sky UK

Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of Sky Group (currently owned by Comcast) and is headquartered at the Sky Studios in Isleworth.

Sky is a major media company and the largest British broadcaster by revenue. It operates the Sky News news media organisation, Sky Sports which is the largest sports TV broadcaster in the UK, and the Sky Studios film and TV production company. Sky is also the country's leading provider of pay-TV services (12.7 million customers as of the end of 2019) through its satellite TV platform Sky Q as well as the IPTV-based Sky Glass and Sky Stream products. Its flagship channels include Sky Showcase, Sky Max, Sky Witness, Sky Documentaries, Sky Atlantic, and Sky Cinema. Sky is also one of the "big four" internet service providers.

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πŸ‘‰ Sky UK in the context of Sky Group

Sky Group Limited 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), with 23Β million subscribers and more than 31,000 employees as of 2019. 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. In 2014, after completing the acquisition of Sky Italia and Sky Deutschland, the merged company changed its name to Sky plc.

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Sky UK in the context of Media in London

London is a major international communications centre with a virtually unrivalled number of media outlets. Almost all of the major media organisations in the UK are based in London. Much of the British media is concentrated in London and is sometimes accused of having a "London bias". All the major television networks are headquartered in London including the BBC, which remains one of the world's most influential media organisations, and the largest broadcaster in the world. Partly to counter complaints about London bias, the BBC announced in June 2004 that some departments are to be relocated to Manchester. Other networks headquartered in London include ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, CNN International and Sky UK. Like the BBC, these produce some programs elsewhere in the UK, but London is their main production centre. Local programming, including news, is provided by the regional services of the main networks: e.g. BBC London News on BBC One and ITV London on ITV.

There is a huge choice of radio stations available in London. Local citywide stations include music-based stations such as Absolute Radio, Capital London, Smooth London, Kiss, Magic Radio, Heart London, Radio X and Greatest Hits Radio London. Popular news/talk stations include BBC Radio London, LBC and LBC News.

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Sky UK in the context of Broadcasters' Audience Research Board

Barb Audiences Ltd (formerly Broadcasters Audience Research Board) is a British organisation that compiles audience measurement and television ratings in the United Kingdom. It was created in 1981 to replace two previous systems whereby ITV ratings were compiled by JICTAR (Joint Industry Committee for Television Audience Research), whilst the BBC did its own audience research.

BARB is jointly owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. It is a Joint Industry Currency.

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Sky UK in the context of Sky Arts

Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, films, documentaries and music (such as opera performances and classical and jazz sessions). The channel is available in the United Kingdom through Freeview, Freesat, BT TV, Sky, Virgin Media, and TalkTalk TV and in the Republic of Ireland via Sky Ireland, Virgin Media Ireland, Vodafone Ireland and Eir, included in most basic subscription packs, but started life as a premium service requiring an additional payment on top of the monthly Sky subscription. The channel launched on Freeview and Freesat as a free-to-air service in September 2020.

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Sky UK in the context of Sky Q

Sky Q is a subscription-based satellite television and entertainment service operated by British provider Sky, as part of its operations in Austria and Germany, Ireland, Italy and in the UK. The name also refers to the Sky Q set-top box.

Sky Q launched in 2016 replacing the previous Sky+ and Sky X services. Sky Q has been referred to as a "multimedia platform" that combines conventional television with on-demand and catch-up services, as well as third-party services. It includes a PVR set top box, a multiroom set top box, a dedicated broadband-connected "hub", and applications for mobile and desktop devices. As of April 2018, Sky Q was in 2.5 million homes in the UK, Ireland and Italy. In July 2018, Sky reported that there were 3.6 million Sky Q customers.

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Sky UK in the context of Sky Showcase

Sky Showcase is a British pay television channel which launched on 1 September 2021. It is owned and operated by Sky Group, a division of American media company Comcast.

Sky Showcase was announced on 28 July 2021, along with Sky Max, as a replacement for flagship brand Sky One; with its programming transferred to Max and Sky Comedy. Both Showcase and Max would launch on the same day. The channel broadcasts a selection of programmes and simulcasts from across Sky UK's portfolio of channels, including highlights from Sky Cinema, Sky News, and Sky Sports. Starting in January 2024, Sky Showcase began showing select programming from Sky Atlantic.

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Sky UK in the context of Sky Atlantic

Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited that launched in 2011 and broadcasts in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel airs original British-produced dramas like Fortitude, Tin Star, and Gangs of London but is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States. It has held the domestic rights to HBO programming since 2011, which is set to expire in early 2026, and has previously held the domestic rights to Showtime programming from 2016 to 2021. It is exclusively available on the Sky satellite TV platform (including Sky Go and Now).

Sky Deutschland broadcasts a German-language version of the channel in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, while Sky Italia broadcasts an Italian-language version of the channel in Italy. Their programming is also dominated by acquired series, usually dubbed in the domestic language. The Italian channel also premieres Sky Originals produced in the country, like Gomorrah, The Young Pope, and ZeroZeroZero.

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Sky UK in the context of Sky Cinema

Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema on demand content are available through these as well as via Now, EE TV and TalkTalk TV.

In 2016, Sky rebranded its television film channel operations under one single branding on 8 July, the channels in the United Kingdom and Ireland were rebranded from Sky Movies to Sky Cinema; on 22 September in Germany and Austria, the Sky Cinema brand (originally used for the flagship network) was extended to the German channels in the group formerly known as Sky Film; the Italian Sky Cinema channels followed suit on 5 November by adopting the brand packages introduced in the United Kingdom and Ireland earlier.

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Sky UK in the context of Capital (radio network)

Capital is a network of twelve independent contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Ten of the stations are owned and operated by Global, while the other two are owned and operated under separate franchise agreements.

As of September 2024, the stations serve a combined weekly audience of 7.5 million listeners and target a core audience in the 15–34 age group; 57% of all listeners are within this demographic. The national version of the network is widely available on Global Player, Freeview, Sky, Freesat, Virgin Media and Digital One DAB. Capital is the fifth most-popular radio network in the UK by listeners, and the second largest of the commercial stations after Heart.

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