Background
In 1977 the World Administrative Radio Conference assigned each country five high-powered channels for direct broadcast by satellite (DBS) for domestic use. in 1982 after being awarded two of the channels the BBC proposed its own satellite service, but by 1983 started talking with the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), subsequently, BBC joined a joint-venture with Granada, Virgin, and Thorn-EMI (dubbed the "Club of 21") to try and start up a joint satellite service but failed in 1985 with the BBC saying the costs were prohibitive, because the government insisted that the BBC should pay for the costs of constructing and launching a dedicated satellite.
The IBA decided to then moved the project into the private sector by inviting companies to apply for a new television franchise via satellite, to provide a commercial service on three of the five DBS in April 1986. One of the conditions imposed on applicants by the IBA was that they use a new, untried transmission standard, D-MAC. This standard was part of the European Community’s attempt to promote a high-definition television (HDTV) standard being developed by Philips and other European companies, HD-MAC. HD-MAC was still at the laboratory stage and was incompatible with previous standards: HD-MAC transmissions could not be received by existing television sets, which were based on PAL or SECAM standards in Europe. The IBA received five serious bids for the high-powered DBS channels;
- British Satellite Broadcasting consortium by Granada Television, Pearson, Virgin Group, ITN, Anglia Television and Amstrad.
- Rupert Murdoch's News International
- Carlton Communications
- Saatchi and Saatchi
- Robert Holmes à Court's Bell Group
Read more about this topic: British Satellite Broadcasting
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