BSkyBs

BSkyBs, or British Sky Broadcasting Limited, was a British media and telecommunications company formed in 1990 by the merger of Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB). It operated the Sky satellite television platform in the United Kingdom and Ireland and later expanded into broadband and telephony services. As a pay-TV operator, it offered a range of channels, including Sky News, Sky Sports, Sky Movies, and Sky One, along with on-demand and interactive services.

Throughout the 2000s and early 2010s, BSkyBs was a central asset in News Corporation’s portfolio. In 2011, a planned bid by News Corporation to take full control of BSkyB was suspended in the wake of the UK phone-hacking scandal, and the move was subsequently abandoned. In 2014, as part of News Corporation’s corporate restructuring, BSkyB’s assets were reorganized under a new holding structure and the business was rebranded as Sky plc, with Sky continuing to operate the brand and services.

In 2018, Comcast completed its acquisition of Sky, integrating the Sky business into its international portfolio. The name BSkyBs is most often encountered in historical discussions of the company before its mid-2010s corporate restructuring; after that period, the business has been discussed under the Sky brand and its evolving corporate ownership.