[1][2][3] In January 1977, the World Administrative Radio Conference assigned each country five high-powered direct broadcast by satellite channels for domestic use.

[5] In 1982, after being awarded two of the channels, the BBC proposed its own satellite service,[6][7] but the government imposed two conditions on it: During Autumn 1983, the cost of Unisat was found to be greatly underestimated and the new Home Secretary announced the three remaining channels would be given to the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to allow the private sector to compete against the BBC in satellite broadcasting.

[11] On 2 April 1986, the IBA convinced the Home Secretary to revive the DBS project but under different conditions, broadly based on a report drawn up by John Jackson, by inviting the private-sector companies to apply for a new television franchise via satellite to provide a commercial service on the IBA's three DBS channels (of the five in total allocated to the United Kingdom).

[15] On 8 June 1988, rival tycoon Rupert Murdoch – having failed to gain regulatory approval for his satellite service to become part of the BSB consortium – announced that his pan-European television station Sky Channel, would be relaunched as a four-channel, United Kingdom-based service called Sky Television, using the Astra system and broadcast in PAL with analogue sound.

Lazard Brothers, the Pearson subsidiary responsible for BSB's first fundraising memorandum, reportedly regarded Astra as technology-led rather than programming-led and, therefore, an unlikely threat.

BSB revised its line-up to include separate channels for films, sports, pop music, general entertainment and current affairs.

There were five satellite channels for the general public with a sixth part-time service on subscription for business users, as BSB Datavision was a subsidiary of the company which offered encrypted television sets and data reception through domestic receivers.

Sky had launched its multichannel service from studios at an industrial estate in Isleworth, with a 10-year lease on SES transponders for an estimated £50 million without backup.

BSB on the other hand, would operate from more expensive headquarters at Marco Polo House in Battersea, with construction and launch of its own satellites costing an estimated £200 million as the second of which was a backup.

When BSB finally went on air in March 1990 (13 months after Sky), the company's technical problems were resolved and its programming was critically acclaimed.

[1][2][3] Following the merger, BSkyB moved quickly to rationalise the combined channels it now owned: BSB's shareholders and Murdoch's News International made huge profits on their investments, the 50:50 merged venture having an effective quasi-monopoly on British satellite pay-television.

From a United Kingdom perspective, British Satellite Broadcasting's existence prevented 100% of these profits being made by News International, reducing Murdoch's ability to influence government policy.

In the United Kingdom, the Independent Broadcasting Authority developed a variant, D-MAC, which had marginal audio channel improvements, and insisted on its use by the satellite service to be licensed by itself.

In the rest of Europe, satellite television manufacturers standardised on another variant, D2-MAC, which used less bandwidth and was compatible with the extensive existing European cable systems.

The IBA was rendered helpless and Murdoch voluntarily agreed to adhere to those Broadcasting Standards Commission rules relating to non-economic matters, such as the technology used.

Ironically the past-deadline encryption system in the D-MAC silicon chip technology was one primary reason for BSB having to merge with Sky, and hence the Far Eastern television manufacturers had largely unfettered access to the market when MAC was wound down in favour of PAL.

Marco Polo House (originally stylised as "Marcopolo") was a large marble-effect, glass-clad office building at 346 Queenstown Road, facing Battersea Park in the London Borough of Wandsworth.