Sky Box Office (UK & Ireland)

Infobox TV channel
name = Sky Box Office
logosize = 200px
logofile = SKYBOXOFFICE.png logoalt = Sky Box Office Logo
launch = 16 March 1996
share =
share as of =
share source =
owner = BSkyB
web = [http://www.sky.com/boxoffice www.sky.com/boxoffice]
terr avail = Not Available
sat serv 1 = Sky Digital
sat chan 1 = Channels 700 - 752
cable avail = Not Available|

Sky Box Office is the name of BSkyB's Pay Per View (PPV) system. It shows movies and occasionally sporting events. As of 2005, it has 52 'screens', Sky having recently closed 8 additional screens to save bandwidth for their HDTV services.

History

Sky Box Office launched on 16 March 1996 on Sky Analogue. At the time it carried mainly sporting events, such as major boxing fights. The first of these was Frank Bruno's WBC World Heavyweight Championship defence against Mike Tyson. Initially events were ordered by telephone, either on the day of broadcast for £14.95 or in advance at a reduced price of £9.99. Ordering an event charged the viewer and then the subscriber's VideoCrypt viewing card would be activated over the air, enabling the viewing of the broadcast. The charge would be levied unless the viewer cancelled prior to broadcast, or returned the viewing card as proof that the event hadn't been watched.

4 dedicated Sky Box Office channels were launched on 1 December 1997 on Sky Analogue. At this time multiple showings of selected movies, shown in advance of their broadcast on Sky's existing subscription movie channels, were added. Initial movies included "The Long Kiss Goodnight" and "Courage Under Fire". However, at least one hour pre-ordering was required, and for most movies one purchase at £2.99 only bought one viewing.

With the move to Sky Digital in 1998, where the Sky Digibox provided a data return path, events and movies - the latter now copy protected - could be bought minutes before or even during the event either by telephone or through an on-screen menu and PIN system.

Content

Although at launch it showed mainly sporting events, since the launch of Sky Digital, movies along with concerts have become the predominant content. However, Box Office's limited movie choices and relatively high prices have increasingly left it suffering in comparison to online DVD rental systems. Films are currently first shown on Sky Box Office between two and three months after release on DVD. It is likely that this 'window' will come down further, in line with US modelsFact|date=February 2007.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Since 1997, the channel has also shown World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) (formerly World Wrestling Federation) events. From 1997 to 2003 it showed UK only WWF PPV events. However, when the deal with Channel 4 to show 4 WWE events ("Royal Rumble", "Backlash", "Fully Loaded", and "Armageddon") broke down in 2002, Sky picked up the 4 events and showed them on Sky Box Office, with a charge of £14.95. This angered many fans as previously these events had been shown on Sky Sports. Others, however, were glad the events were back on Sky, despite the cost, because they believed Sky's coverage was superior to Channel 4. Sky showed the events live and uncut, whereas Channel 4 showed the 2000 Royal Rumble live with adverts inserted, consequently losing footage. Other events were shown on a 50 minute delay in order to insert adverts without losing footage. Backlash 2000 was edited, despite the fact it broadcast at 1.50am. After viewer complaints about this editing, Channel 4 showed the remaining events unedited. However, they were still shown on a delay. As of 2006, eight WWE events are shown on the channel. The other eight WWE PPV's are shown on Sky Sports. The price is still £14.95 even for "WrestleMania", despite the fact that in the USA the WWE charges $54.95, which is the equivalent of £28.

External links

* [http://www.sky.com/boxoffice Sky Movies - Box Office] at sky.com