SKY Italia
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| Type | Subsidiary of News Corp |
|---|---|
| Founded | July 31, 2003 |
| Headquarters | Rome, Italy,  |
| Area served | Italy |
| Key people | James Murdoch (Chairman) Tom Mockridge (CEO) |
| Industry | Telecommunication |
| Products | Direct broadcast satellite |
| Website | sky.it |
SKY Italia is an Italian digital satellite television platform owned by News Corporation launched on 31 July 2003. It is similar in many ways to BSkyB's Sky Digital in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and like that network it is a major sports broadcaster.
Pay TV services on SKY Italia are encrypted in NDS Videoguard. The provided Videoguard decoders are identical to the Digibox used in the UK. PACE, Amstrad and Thomson, all Digibox licencsors, produce SKY Italia boxes (SKYBOX) identical to their Digibox offerings, albeit with different branding and the potential removal of the second card slot and UHF modulator. In addition, other providers such as Italtel and Access Media produce SKY Italia boxes but not Digiboxes.
On the 22 November 2005 SKY Italia introduced MySKY - based on a new digital receiver with HDD recording capabilities and surround sound output (not previously available on the normal decoder). This service is provided at an extra charge. The service is functionally identical to the BSkyB Sky+. Subsequently, an HD (High Definition) receiver and an HD+ (High Definition with HDD recorder) receiver were added.
SKY Italia offers four packages of channels: the base-level 'Mondo', and the optional 'Cinema', 'Sport' and 'Calcio' enhancements. Mondo, comprises some 30 entertainment, music, children's, culture, international channels, free-to-air news services and some sports channels. The Cinema package contains 9 all-movies channels. The Sport package contains SKY Sport 1, 2, 3, Extra, 16:9, Eurosport, Eurosport 2 and Yacht&Sail. The Calcio package comprises 14 channels covering football, the most popular sport in Italy. In addition the 'Prima Fila' service offers pay-per-view movies, sports events and adult content.
On some channels, (excluding the terrestrials) foreign-sourced content is broadcast either with an option to choose between Italian and original language soundtracks, or with Italian subtitles.
SKY Italia uses the Hot Bird 7A/8 satellite at 13.0°E.
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Launch dates
- March 2003: Stream TV and TELE+ are authorized to merge into SKY Italia.
- July 2003: SKY Italia starts to broadcast.
- August 2003: SKY TG24 starts its programming.
- November 2005: is introduced MySKY, the first PVR decoder.
- May 2006: SKY Italia launch the HDTV service.
- October 1, 2007: Discovery Channel moves to channel 401, in order to be the first choice for the Culture EPG area.
- November 26, 2007: SKY TG24 becomes available also on channel 100, replacing SKY Inside.
- April 8, 2008: NASN becomes available on Sport package.
- April 30, 2008: Nat Geo Music has been moved on channel 710 and become part of Music package; GXT has been moved on channel 146 to become part of Entertainment package; Cultoon has been moved on channel 148 and become part of Entertainment package.
- May 1, 2008: Cultoon has to rebrand into Cooltoon.
- May 27, 2008: MySky HD is introduced, the first High-Definition PVR decoder.
- June 1, 2008: Studio Universal closes down on SKY's EPG 320, replaced by The MGM Channel
- July 24, 2008: Eurosport HD has been launched on SKY's EPG 209, broadcasting all the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
- August 30, 2008: Sky Sport 24 launched on SKY's EPG 200.
- October 2008: SKY Italia obtains broadcasting rights for 2012 & 2016 Olympics. Because of this, CIO doesn't accept in November the offer of EBU (where RAI was involved).
- December 2008: New arrangement for the Sky Cinema channels.
- March 2009: Reshuffle of the Entertainment EPG area.
Channels
See also
External links
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