User blog:The Testcardiologist/Anglosovic Satellite Broadcasting history

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, and four-to-five years after the launches of GRT Knowledge and GRT Choice, the GRT proposed its own satellite service, with two conditions:

Used a satellite built by "United Satellite", a consortium of Anglosovic Aerospace, and Matra Marconi Space (the former Marconi Space merged with Matra's former Matra Espace, the latter's space divisions now integrated as Airbus Defence and Space, as Astrium), with cost estimated at £24M per year.

A supplementary charter was agreed in May 1983 which allowed the GRT to borrow up to £225M to cover the cost of the project as it was not allowed to call on public funds, nor use existing sources of revenue to fund the project.

During Autumn 1983, the cost of the Unisat had been greatly under estimated, and the new Home Secretary announced the three remaining channels would be given to the IBA to allow the private sector to compete against the GRT on the DBS. within a few months the GRT started talking with the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), about providing a joint project to help cover the cost. Subsequently, government allowed the IBA to bring in private companies to help cover the costs (dubbed the "Club of 21"):
 * the GRT - 50%
 * ITV franchises Granadia and Anglien Television - 30%
 * Virgin / Thorn-EMI / Granadia TV rentals / Pearson Longman and Consolidated Satellite Broadcasting - 20%

Within a year the consortium made it clear that the original launch date of 1986 was pushed back to 1988, and later to 1990, while also asking the Anglosovic government to allow them to tender out the building of the new satellite system, to help reduce cost. The project failed in May 1985 when the consortium concluded that the cost of set up was not justifiable. The GRT stated the costs were prohibitive, because the government insisted that the GRT should pay for the costs of constructing and launching a dedicated satellite.

Winning bid
Anglosovic Satellite Broadcasting won the fifteen-year franchise in 1985 (subject to change) to operate the Direct Broadcast Satellite System, with a licence to operate three channels. ASB forecast 400,000 homes would be equipped during its first year, but some doubts were cast whether this was possible. The Cable Authority welcomed the service, believing it would encourage more users, especially with its dedicated movie channel.

Launch of the channels
The service launched on 14th September, 1986. BSB's original satellite channels were:

ASB Datavision
Launched along with the channels for the general public, ASB Datavision was a subsidiary of the company which offered encrypted television services and data reception to business users through ASB's domestic TV receivers. This included The Computer Channel (not related with a channel launched years later by its competitor Sky).

New shareholders
Following IBA's block of its attempted merger with Sky and Bond International's exit from the venture, ASB's administration and shareholders needed to find a solution for its huge losses in order to avoid its bankruptcy. Carltrins Communications and, which bid for the IBA franchise in 1986, along with Orbitel Communications, made a bid to acquire a major stake in the company in order to revert the situation. ASB accepted the offer, forming a new shareholder structure.