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SKY Brasil

SKY Brasil
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryTelecommunication
PredecessorDirecTV Brasil
FoundedNovember 11, 1996; 28 years ago (1996-11-11)
FounderRoberto Marinho
Sky
Headquarters
Santana de Parnaíba, São Paulo
,
Brazil
ProductsPay television
4G LTE
ParentVrio
Websitewww.sky.com.br

SKY Brasil is a company, owned by Vrio, which operates a subscription television service in Brazil. It produces TV content, and owns several TV channels.

History

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SKY Mexico was founded on 25 July 1996, a joint venture between British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), News Corporation, Liberty Media and Grupo Televisa and was later launched on 15 December 1996. At the same time it was being set up in Brazil, where it involved BSkyB, News Corporation, Liberty Media and Organizações Globo. By May 2000, the company had extended throughout the rest of Latin America, launching in Central America, Argentina and Colombia but during Argentina's economic crisis, on 10 July 2002, with over 52,000 subscribers, Sky Argentina ceased all operations.[1]

Negotiations to carry the over-the-air signal of TV Globo were stalled due to pressure from affiliates and concerns from rights issues.[2] In February 1997 it was announced that Fox Kids would launch in Brazil exclusively on the operator in March 1997. On February 4 that year, the Spanish-language feed was launched on the operator in Spanish-speaking markets. Cable companies would only add the channel in April due to dependence on decoders.[3] The channel eventually launched on the operator on April 8; the week before, Bloomberg and CNN en Español were added.[4] On April 16, Sky announced the start of PPV sports broadcasts, with subscribers receiving ten matches of the Brazilian Football League.[5] That same month, Sky reportedly surpassed 30,000 subscribers, less than half of DirecTV's 70,000.[6]

In July 1997, Sky was studying the possibility of direct sales via telemarketing, as well as the usage of Pace decoders which were supplied to Gradiente, Sky's technical partner.[7] Later that month it was announced that Gradiente's installers would used and 20,000 decoders were to be installed in an initial phase.[8]

Sky uplinked its first Globo affiliates, all of them owned-and-operated stations, in November 1997: TV Globo Rio, TV Globo São Paulo and TV Globo Minas. The entrance of these stations was a test to see if Globo contributed to its presence bringing gains to the provider, as well as possible cost-benefit relations for other non-O&O affiliates to join the service in key cities.[9] These were added on December 5, 1997 in Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte, with no date set for the São Paulo metropolitan area.[10]

Sky was growing faster than DirecTV in terms of subscribers in March 1998, but the overall number of subscribers was still slightly lower.[11] In July 1998, TV Globo São Paulo and RBS TV Porto Alegre were uplinked. There were chances for affiliates in São Paulo's inland to be added, but at the time, this wasn't confirmed yet.[12] Globo São Paulo wasn't added to the system until August 21, 1998. Out of the O&Os, only Recife and Brasília weren't present yet.[13] The entrance of Globo's stations in the system didn't cause a massive increase in the cities that had an affiliate available, implying that Sky was gaining more subscribers outside these cities.[14]

Animal Planet was added on June 25, 1999.[15] Playboy TV was added on July 15, breaking its exclusivity contract with DirecTV.[16] MTV Brasil followed on August 19, on the date of that year's edition of Video Music Brasil.[17] On October 22, Sony and Warner Channel were added. The HBOLAG exclusivity contract with DirecTV only affected the company's premium channels.[18]

On February 15, 2000, it was announced that Sky would hold a five-year DTH exclusivity contract to carry PSN.[19] It started carrying TV Bahia in Salvador as the fifth Globo affiliate in the system on June 23, 2000.[20]

During the course of the decade, most Sky operations in Latin America were rebranded to DirecTV, with the exception of the Mexican and Brazilian operations, that in 2005 absorbed the DirecTV keeping the Sky name.[21]

In May 2009, Sky Brazil launched its first ten HDTV channels in 1080i resolution (with the exception of ESPN HD (today ESPN+), which broadcasts in 720p). Currently, Sky Brazil has 57 channels in HDTV in total (note: Sex Zone HD is optional).[22]

In 2016, Sky Brazil has reached more than 5.3 million subscribers, ranking as second in number of subscribers in Brazil.[23]

In 2022, Grupo Globo divested their 7% stake in SKY Brasil, making Vrio their full 100% owner.[24]

Services

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Sky Argentina cesa operaciones el 10 de julio". Archived from the original on 30 July 2012.
  2. ^ "Sinal da Globo no Sky está complicado". Tela Viva. 21 November 1996. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  3. ^ "Fox Kids começa no Sky e depois entra no cabo". Tela Viva. 6 February 1997. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  4. ^ "Line-up do Sky". Tela Viva. 9 April 1997. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  5. ^ "Futebol no PPV do Sky". Tela Viva. 16 April 1997. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  6. ^ "Sky chega a 30 mil assinantes". Tela Viva. 30 April 1997. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Sky pode optar pela venda direta". Tela Viva. 2 July 1997. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  8. ^ "Sky vai usar mesmos instaladores da Gradiente". Tela Viva. 23 July 1997. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  9. ^ "Sinal da Globo na Sky". Tela Viva. 13 November 1997. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  10. ^ "Sinal da Globo entra dia 5 na Sky". Tela Viva. 4 December 1997. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  11. ^ "Operadora cresce mais que a DirecTV". Tela Viva. 9 June 1998. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  12. ^ "Sky terá sinal da Globo em SP e RS". Tela Viva. 16 July 1998. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  13. ^ "Sky começa a transmitir Globo para Grande São Paulo". Tela Viva. 19 August 1998. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  14. ^ "Sky vende mais onde não oferece sinal da Globo". Tela Viva. 7 April 1999. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  15. ^ "Animal Planet entra no sistema Net/Sky". Tela Viva. 16 June 1999. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  16. ^ "Playboy TV entra no Sky". Tela Viva. 14 July 1999. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  17. ^ "MTV ingressa no line-up do Sky". Tela Viva. 12 August 1999. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  18. ^ "Sony e Warner entram no line-up do Sky". Tela Viva. 20 October 1999. Retrieved 22 October 2024.
  19. ^ "Canal PSN será distribuído pela Sky e Net Brasil". Tela Viva. 15 February 2000. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  20. ^ "Sky começa a transmitir TV Globo na Bahia". Tela Viva. 23 June 2000. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  21. ^ México, Medios. "Octubre de 2004: DirecTV se va de México". Medios México. Retrieved 4 July 2023.
  22. ^ "SKY - HDTV é isso!". Archived from the original on 10 September 2012.
  23. ^ Lucotti, Francisco (26 May 2016). "Pay-TV subscribers in Brazil fell 0.8% during 1Q 2016". Nextv News. Retrieved 10 February 2020.
  24. ^ "Discretamente, Globo se desfaz de participação na Sky após 26 anos". Notícias da TV (in Portuguese). 26 March 2022.
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