Sky's digital service was officially launched on 1 October 1998 under the name Sky Digital,

although small-scale tests were carried out before then. For the first time, BSkyB used the
newly-launched Astra 2A satellite, which has since come to broadcast exclusively to the United
Kingdom and Ireland. At this time the use of the Sky brand made an important distinction
between the new service and Sky's analogue services. Key selling points were the improvement
in picture and sound quality, increased number of channels and an interactive service branded
Open..... Sky competed with the ONdigital (later ITV Digital) terrestrial offering.

New Astra satellites joined the position in 2000 and 2001, and the number of channels available
to customers increased accordingly. This trend continued with the launch of Eurobird 1 in 2001.

Originally Sky launched with a set top box known as the Sky digibox, however, in more recent
years the Sky+ and Sky+ HD boxes have launched alongside the original box. Sky+ is a digital
video recorder with an internal hard drive which allows viewers to 'pause live television' (by
switching from a live feed to a paused real-time recording that can be restarted at any point) and
schedule programs to record in the future. Sky launched HDTV services in May 2006. The first
photos of a prototype Sky HD receiver began appearing in magazines in August 2005. All Sky+
HD receivers incorporate a version of Sky+ using a 300GB hard drive (of which 160GB is
available to the user) to accommodate the necessary extra data. The rest of the hard drive is now
used by Sky set top boxes to store up to 30 hours of Anytime TV from the previous week.

Additionally, some channels occasionally receive new numbering — However, in early 2006, the
majority of channels received new numbering, with some receiving single digit changes, whilst
others received new numbers entirely.

Slogans Sky have used for marketing include "What do you want to watch?", "Entertainment
your way" and the current slogan "Believe in Better".[1]

[edit] Technical information

Sky Minidish
Sky's standard definition broadcasts are in DVB-compliant MPEG-2, with the Sky Movies and
Sky Box Office channels including optional Dolby Digital soundtracks for recent films, although
these are only accessible with a Sky+ box. Sky+ HD material is broadcast using MPEG-4 and
most of the HD material uses the DVB-S2 standard. Interactive services and 7-day EPG use the
proprietary OpenTV system, with set-top boxes including modems for a return path. Sky News,
amongst other channels, provides a pseudo-video on demand interactive service by broadcasting
looping video streams.

Provided a universal Ku band LNB (9.75/10.600 GHz) is fitted at the end of the dish and pointed
at the correct satellite constellation, most digital receivers will receive the free to air channels.
Some broadcasts are free-to-air and unencrypted, some are encrypted but do not require a
monthly subscription (known as free-to-view), some are encrypted and require a monthly
subscription, and some are pay-per-view services. To view the encrypted content a VideoGuard
UK equipped receiver (all of which are dedicated to the Sky service, and cannot be used to
decrypt other services) needs to be used. Unofficial CAMs are now available to view the service,
although use of them breaks the user's contract with Sky and invalidates the user's rights to use
the card.

BSkyB has no veto over the presence of channels on their EPG, with open access being an
enforced part of their operating licence from Ofcom. Any channel which can get carriage on a
suitable beam of a satellite at 28° East is entitled to access to Sky's EPG for a fee, ranging from
£15-100,000. Third-party channels which opt for encryption receive discounts ranging from
reduced price to free EPG entries, free carriage on a Sky leased transponder, or actual payment
for being carried. However, even in this case, Sky does not carry any control over the channel's
content or carriage issues such as picture quality. Recent years have seen the launch of numerous
low-budget channels, including foreign and shopping channels, often with very poor technical
quality.

Sky recently stopped taking channel launch applications for its Electronic Programme Guide
(EPG). Ofcom has said that this will give existing channels an unfair advantage and may force
Sky to replace older set-top boxes for customers with the newer ones.

Due to either limited regional availability of certain channels, or conditions relating to their
must-carry status, Sky operate four regional variations of their EPG for domestic customers. The
four different EPGs transmitted are: Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales and
England/Scotland. The Northern Ireland EPG has the most listed channels, with the Republic of
Ireland having the least, the difference is major as the ITV channels, Five and BBC Radio are
missing. Much of the missing content for Irish viewers is available through 'Other Channels' but
Sky+ viewers cannot record from 'Other Channels'. These missing channels are a bone of
contention for Irish viewers, who are often forced to seek out grey market UK Sky cards if they
want the missing channels. Customers in Ireland pay 20% more and get an inferior service.[2]
Each viewing card or smartcard provided by Sky is programmed with the customer's postcode,
so when inserted into the user's set-top box it selects which EPG is used, as well as determining
which regional variation is allotted to the BBC One, BBC Two and ITV channels for users of the
England/Scotland EPG. All regional variations of BBC One and BBC Two are available to all
UK viewers on channels 971-992.