Pirates, Prophets And Pioneers: Business and Politics Along the Technological Frontier (Random House business books) by Deborah Spar

Author:Deborah Spar [Spar, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473535657
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2015-05-30T21:00:00+00:00

Sky, of course, took a wholly different tack, painting itself as the underdog and attacking BSB as part of Britain’s cosy and anti-competitive environment. Sky’s service, according to Murdoch, would be the start of television’s new age. ‘We are seeing the dawn of an age of freedom for viewing and freedom for advertising,’ he insisted. ‘Broadcasting in this country has for too long been the preserve of the old Establishment that has been elitist in its thinking and in its approach to programming.’fn20

As the shape of their impending battle became clear, both sides rushed directly into conflict. BSB pulled rank and the levers of power within its reach; Murdoch used his newspapers to tout Sky and dismiss any prospects for BSB’s success. Both sides also raced to Hollywood, where they quickly ignited a bidding war for film rights. Finally, both BSB and Sky launched massive marketing efforts, trying to convince Britain’s untutored viewers that satellite television was worth paying for; and that their satellite service was superior. It was classic and massive push advertising, attempting to create demand for a service which most potential customers had only recently heard of and never missed. To jumpstart its efforts, Sky even resorted for a while to old-fashioned door-to-door sales. It literally sent a thousand sales representatives into people’s homes, pitching them on Sky and arranging for rapid installation of the necessary equipment. To sweeten the deal even further, Sky heavily subsidised the purchase price of the dish and offered new subscribers free maintenance of their system.fn21

In the end, Sky won. It lured a respectable base of subscribers; wrestled the most attractive movie deals; and launched its four-channel service in February of 1989. BSB meanwhile, fell further and further behind, eating into its capital as it tried desperately to iron out technical problems with the untested D-MAC format. When BSB finally did launch, in April of 1990, Sky already had the market essentially sewn up. Those who were eager to try this ‘new’ television had jumped in with Sky, lured by its offerings and cheap receivers, and were reluctant to switch providers. Those who hadn’t were mostly content, it appears, to watch the BBC and Britain’s other free programmes.

Furious at Sky’s position, BSB waged a public and political battle. In a highly visible campaign, BSB management charged that Sky had circumvented British regulation only through ‘technological wizardry’, using its perch above Luxembourg to exempt its programming from British regulation. They also lobbied endlessly for new legislation that would extend Britain’s existing prohibitions on newspaper and television cross-ownership into the field of satellite as well. At the core of their campaign was a deeply held belief that Murdoch and Sky had somehow, repeatedly, broken the rules; that they had taken the market that British regulators had so carefully carved out and run roughshod over it. In the process, Britain’s concerns for preserving its own brand of television were under attack from Murdoch’s lowbrow ‘American’ fare – and BSB had lost a reported £1.25 billion.

As events unfolded, Sky continued to triumph, both in the market and along the corridors of power.

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