Sky One

Credits

Video captures courtesy of
Wyraachur

Background

British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) was formed by the merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting on 2 November 1990. Both companies had begun to struggle financially and were suffering financial losses as they competed against each other for viewers. The Guardian later characterised the merger as "effectively a takeover by News Corporation".

In early 2007, Freeview overtook Sky Digital with nearly 200,000 more subscribers at the end of 2006, while cable broadcaster Virgin Media had three million customers. In July 2007, BSkyB announced the takeover of Amstrad for £125 million, a 23.7% premium on its market capitalisation. BSkyB and Virgin Media announced that they had reached agreement for the acquisition of Virgin Media Television by BSkyB. Virgin1 was also a part of the deal and was rebranded as Channel One on 3 September 2010, as the Virgin name was not licensed to Sky. The new carriage deals were understood to be for up to nine years. The deal was completed in July 2011 and Virgin Media Television was renamed Living TV Group.

In June 2010, News Corporation made a bid for complete ownership of BSkyB. However, following the News International phone hacking scandal, critics and politicians began to question the appropriateness of the proposed takeover. The resulting reaction forced News Corp. to withdraw its bid for the company in July 2011. The scandal forced the resignation of James Murdoch, who was the chairman of both BSkyB and News International, from his executive positions in the UK, with Nicholas Ferguson taking over as Chairman of BSkyB.

In September 2012, Ofcom ruled that BSkyB was still fit to hold broadcast licenses in the UK, but criticised James Murdoch's handling of the scandal. On 28 June 2013, News Corporation was split into two publicly-traded companies; the company's publishing operations (including News International, renamed News UK) and broadcasting operations in Australia were spun into a new company known as News Corp, while the company's broadcast media assets, including its 39.14% stake in Sky, were renamed 21st Century Fox.

On 12 May 2014, BSkyB confirmed that it was in talks with its largest shareholder, 21st Century Fox, about acquiring 21st Century Fox's 57.4% stake in Sky Deutschland and its 100% stake in Sky Italia. The enlarged company (dubbed "Sky Europe" in the media) will consolidate 21st Century Fox's European digital TV assets into one company. The £4.9 billion takeover deal was formally announced on 25 July, where BSkyB would acquire 21st Century Fox's stakes in Sky Deutschland and Sky Italia. BSkyB also made a required takeover offer to Sky Deutschland's minority shareholders, resulting in BSkyB acquiring 89.71% of Sky Deutschland's share capital. The acquisitions were completed on 13 November.

British Sky Broadcasting Group plc changed its name to Sky plc to reflect the European acquisitions, and the United Kingdom operations were renamed Sky UK Limited. Sky plc bought out the remaining minority shareholders in Sky Deutschland during 2015, using a squeeze-out procedure to obtain the remaining shares and delist Sky Deutschland on 15 September 2015.

The Walt Disney Company announced on 14 December 2017, that it would acquire 21st Century Fox, including its stake in Sky plc but barring specific US assets. Fox stated that this purchase would "not alter [its] full commitment and obligation to conclude our proposed transaction". Analysts suggested that Disney's proposed transaction could ease regulatory concerns over Fox's purchase of Sky, as the company will eventually lose its ties to the Murdoch family. Disney has a narrower scope of media ownership in the country than the Murdoch family. Sky already has a relationship with Disney for its Sky Cinema service, holding pay television rights to its films in the United Kingdom and operating a dedicated Sky Cinema channel devoted to Disney content.

On 12 October 2018, Comcast announced it will compulsorily acquire the rest of Sky after its bid gained acceptances from 95.3% of the broadcaster's shareholders. Sky was delisted on 7 November 2018 after Comcast acquired all remaining shares.

On 28 July 2021, it was announced that the Sky One channel would cease broadcasting by 1 September, and be replaced with Sky Showcase, a new channel intended to showcase content from across Sky's other channels. Many of Sky One's existing general entertainment and original productions would move to another new channel called Sky Max.

1st Logo (1984-1989)

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Logo: Against a cloudy background, or a space background, the text "SKY" in a 3D, chrome stylized font, flips toward the screen, stops and shines. The text "EUROPE's NUMBER #1" wipes in. Sometimes, we pan through the SKY logo and it zooms out. "CHANNEL" fades in.

Technique: TBA.

Music/Sounds: A majestic fanfare, with an announcer saying "This is Sky, Europe's number 1.". On the space variant, a synth guitar theme plays, then after the announcer says "This is SKY.", a choir sings "Europe's number 1.".

Availability: Extinct, but preserved on tape.

2nd Logo (February 1989-1991)

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Logo: We start with an extreme close up of the SKY logo, panning through the letters. Then we zoom out, and a gold line writes in the word "channel". On some shows, the word "TELEVISION" zooms out.

Technique: The zooming out, and the writing of the word "TELEVISION". Done by Pacific Data Images on an SGI 4D/25.

Music/Sounds: A light mellow tune combined with what sounds like the ticking of a clock. On the "TELEVISION" variant, a single synth theme was used. Both of these themes were composed by Frank Gari, using an Alesis HR-16, and an E-MU Emulator III.

Availability: Extinct, but preserved on tape.

3rd Logo (May 1989-1993)

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Logo: On a black background, we see the SKY logo rotating into place, with what looks like glass swirls spinning counterclockwise around it. When it stops, tilted at an angle, a gold line writes out the word "Channel" (or "One", as of 1989). The letters "glow".

Trivia: On 30 July 1989, Sky Channel became "Sky One", the name was used until 1996 and again from 1997 to 2008.

Variant: In 1990, the script "One" was replaced by a sans-serif "ONE" which descends into the logo, accompanied by a thinner neon light version of it.

Technique: This was designed and animated by Pacific Data Images.

Music/Sounds: Same as the 2nd logo.

Availability: Same as the 2nd logo.

4th Logo (1993-1995)

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Logo: On a blue background with the words "SKY ONE" swirling around, we see a bunch of streaks fly in and form the SKY "ring", and 3 glass copies of the SKY logo, at an angle, forming one SKY logo. It turns to rotate us, and tilts back a little bit. The letters "O", "N", and "E", encased in silver "boxes", fly in, and turn blue, yellow, and red, respectively. The whole thing shines.

Variants: There were many, depending on the topic (e.g: Sports, Sports 2, News, Movies, Movie Channel, Movies Gold, Travel, Soap).

Technique: This was done by Novocom/GRFX.

Music/Sounds: A mellow tune composed by Frank Gari, this time, using a Korg M1 and E-MU Proteus series synthesizers. An announcer says "From the Sky Satellite Network, this is Sky One.". Each of the Sky channels had a jingle which incorporated the musical logo from this jingle (a recurring set of six notes); for example, Sky News's version combined it with Gari's Great News (used by the channel from 1989-1993), and Sky Soap had a version that sounded like the theme song to General Hospital.

Availability: Same as before.

5th Logo (1995-1996)

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Logo: On a swirling background which flashes, the SKY logo, in a long rectangle, rotates to face the screen while zooming out. Yellow "curtains" part, presenting the word "one", in a bold, italic font.

Variants: There were many, depending on the topic (e.g: Sports, Sports 2, Movies, Movie Channel, Movies Gold, Soap, News, Travel)

Technique: CGI done by Novocom.

Music/Sounds: A soothing tune, followed by a majestic 7 note horn fanfare. Also customized, depending on the topic. An announcer says, "This is Sky (One, Soap, Travel, News, Sports, Movies), part of the Sky Satellite Network."

Availability: Same as before.

6th Logo (1996-1997)

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Logo: We see the SKY logo from before, from an upper-right angle. It rotates to face us with a flash, and the number "1" (or the number "2") fades in. Four comets streak behind the logo and the background swirls and twirls wildly. Sometimes, the rectangle that the logo is in is horizontal instead of vertical.

Variants:

• During Christmas 1996, each of the Sky channels shared a universal look, which featured the logo, coming out of a TV, then out of a house with a family playing in the snow and then becomes a snow globe saying "Merry Christmas from Sky 1996" with Sky's "Egg" logo used at the time, with a candle lighting it up. Each channel featured a different variant:
  • Sky 1 and Sky 2: Homer Simpson appears with the family, seeming to be covered in snow by the daughter.
  • Sky Movies/The Movie Channel/Sky Movies Gold: The daughter holds a movie clapperboard.
  • Sky Sports 1, 2 and 3: The Family are playing football.
  • Sky Soap/Travel/News: The Family are dancing/celebrating.
• Other variants that depend on the topic also existed.

Technique: CGI by Novocom.

Music/Sounds: A jazzy tune. Also customized, depending on the topic. An announcer says, "This is Sky (One, Soap, Travel, News, Sports 1, Sports 2, Sports 3, Scottish, Movies)". The Movies variant uses samples from Peter Siedlaczek's Orchestral Colors.

Availability: Same as before.

7th Logo (1997-1998)

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Logo: TBA.

Variants: TBA.

Technique: TBA.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Extinct.

8th Logo (1998-January 6, 2002)

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Logo: TBA.

Technique: TBA.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Extinct.

9th Logo (January 7, 2002-September 20, 2004)

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Logo: TBA.

Technique: TBA.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Extinct.

10th Logo (2004)

Standard Logos

Variants

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Logo: TBA.

Technique: TBA.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Extinct.

11th Logo (September 21, 2004-February 14, 2008)

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Logo: TBA.

Technique: TBA.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Extinct.

12th Logo (February 15-August 31, 2008)

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Logo: TBA.

Technique: TBA.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Extinct.

13th Logo (August 31, 2008-February 1, 2011)

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Logo: There are 6 (and maybe more) different logos in use for the Sky trio since its rebrand in August. Each channel uses a different theme for its logo: 1 has blue crystals, 2 has green slime and 3 has pink sparkles. Aside from 3 basic versions, there is a Lost and a Bones themed ident, as well as one which was made for Christmas 2008.

Technique: Varies on each version of the logo.

Music/Sounds: Each logo has its own unique jingle.

Availability: Extinct.

14th Logo (February 1, 2011-July 8, 2016)

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Logo: Over live action footage, a CGI 1, 2 or 3 is featured. The channel logo fades in towards the end. In later years, Sky 1 started to use their own unique variants instead of the standard ones, promoting shows like Arrow, The Muppets, Stella and You, Me and the Apocalypse, to name a few.

Technique: All of them are more or less live action, though the logo is rendered in CGI. The Arrow variant, for example, has the titular hero shoot the Sky 1 logo with an arrow, causing it to shatter into many pieces, the logo reforming a few moments later. The Muppets variant features the logo appearing as Miss Piggy walks into view, covering her face to her annoyance. She walks off the screen, and reappears a moment later, this time standing directly in front of the logo.

Music/Sounds: As with the previous logo, all of them feature their own unique jingle and/or sounds.

Availability: Now extinct. The logos might be preserved on sites like Youtube or TV-Ark.

15th Logo (April 19, 2016-October 8, 2017)

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Logo: TBA.

Technique: TBA.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Extinct.

16th Logo (October 9, 2017-September 1, 2021)

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Logo: TBA.

Technique: TBA.

Music/Sounds: TBA.

Availability: Extinct.

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Sky One