Andrew Neil

Andrew Neil (born May 21 1949) is a British journalist and broadcaster. Neil made his name at The Sunday Times where he was editor for 11 years. He is currently the editor-in-chief and Publisher of the Press Holdings group of newspapers, owner of The Scotsman, for which he writes.

Sky

In 1988 he also became founding chairman of Sky TV, also part of Murdoch's News Corporation. Neil was instrumental in the company's launch, overseeing the transformation of a down market, single channel satellite service into a four channel network in less than a year. Neil and Murdoch stood side by side at Sky's new headquarters in west London on February 5 1989 to witness the launch of the service at 18.00. Sky was not an instant success, the uncertainty caused by the competition provided by British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) and the initial shortage of satellite dishes were early problems.

Related Topics:
1988 - Sky TV - News Corporation - February 5 - 1989 - British Satellite Broadcasting

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The failure of BSB in November 1990 led to a merger, although few programs acquired by BSB found their way to Sky One and BSB's satelites were sold. The new company was called British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). The merger may have saved Sky financially; despite its popularity, Sky had very few major advertisers to begin with, and was also beginning to suffer from embarrassing breakdowns. Acquiring BSB's healthier advertising contracts and equipment apparently solved these problems. BSkyB would not make a profit for a decade but is now one of the most profitable and successful television companies in Europe.

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