Sky Multichannels

Sky Multichannels was a package of analogue television channels offered by BSkyB on the Astra satellites at 19.2° east. from 1993 - 2001, which started off with 15 channels before expanding to over 40.

The service started on 1 September 1993 based on the idea from the then chief executive officer, Sam Chisholm and Rupert Murdoch, of converting the company business strategy to an entirely fee-based concept. The new package included four channels formerly available free-to-air, broadcasting on Astra's satellites, as well as introducing new channels. The service continued until the closure of BSkyB's analogue service on 27 September 2001, due to the launch and expansion of the Sky Digital platform. Some of the channels did broadcast either in the clear or soft encrypted (whereby a Videocrypt decoder was required to decode, but without a subscription card) prior to their addition to the Sky Multichannels package.

Within two months of the launch, Sky gained 400,000 new subscribers, with the majority taking at least one premium channel, which helped BSkyB reach 3.5 million households by mid-1994.

Some channels were not launched on 1 September 1993, but were added later; including QVC which launched on 1 October 1993, and VH1 which launched on 1 October 1994. When VH1 Germany launched in 1995, VideoCrypt decoders would blank out the channel to UK viewers and prevent them from watching the German channel free.Nick at Nite, although part of the original Multichannels plan, did not launch.Sky Soap and Sky Travel also launched on 3 October 1994 as part of the package. The launch of Astra 1D allowed Sky to expand the multichannels package further, including the launch of Sky's pay-per-view Box Office channels in January 1997.

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