Screensport on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Screensport was a
pan-European
Pan-European can refer to:
* Pan-European identity
* Pan-European corridors
** Pan-European Corridor X
** Pan-European Corridor Xa
* Pan European Game Information
* Pan-European Institute
* Pan-European nationalism
* Pan-European Oil Pipeline
...
cable and satellite sports television network that was on air from 1984 until 1993 before merging with
Eurosport
Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, ...
.
History
1984–1986: Early years
Screensport was founded in 1981 by Bob Kennedy — who had started up
BBC Radio Leicester
BBC Radio Leicester is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at St Nicholas Place in Leicester.
According to RAJAR, the station ...
,
Sky Channel (operators of the UK's first
satellite television
Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...
network which later became known as
Sky One) and several independent commercial radio stations, backers included the American networks
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
and
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
. A programming deal with
Trans World International
IMG, originally known as the International Management Group, is a global sports, events and talent management company headquartered in New York City. It has been owned by Endeavor since 2013. Trans World International (TWI) is an event and pro ...
allowed access to events taking place around the world.
The channel began broadcasting on 29 March 1984, with Media Communications controlled the studios and transmission facilities in
Knutsford
Knutsford () is a market town in the borough of Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England. Knutsford is south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and 12.5 miles (20 km) south-east of Warrington. The population at the 2011 Census was ...
, while its administration office was based in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. Apart from American sports, the station aired regular and weekly British sports including
speedways and
stock cars
Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...
. Screensport aired only recorded programming until 31 August of that year,
["RCA buys share in Screen Sport", The Stage and Television Today, 6 September 1984, Issue 5395, p. 13] when they showed live greyhound racing from
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...
– including the
St Leger
The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a ...
. By late 1984,
WHSmith Television Group had purchased a 15% stake in the company,
RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
also acquired a 10% share in the business, within other investors included
Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company founded in 1886. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The business is split into two divisions, UK and International. UK operations are c ...
and the pension fund of the
National Coal Board
The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...
.
Former
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
executive
Aubrey Singer
Aubrey Edward Singer CBE (21 January 1927 – 26 May 2007) was a British broadcasting executive who spent most of his career at the BBC. He has been described as "''the greatest director general that the BBC never had''".
Singer was born in Bra ...
was a prominent board member.
On 28 August 1985, the station started to expand its broadcasting area to include the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
and
Sweden, introducing new programmes and sports including ice speedway, Dutch ice hockey and motor sport. Coverage of English football began in the same year, screening the Area and National finals from the
Freight Rover Trophy, a competition for lower division clubs. In addition, the channel both sponsored and broadcast the
Football League Super Cup
The Football League Super Cup (known for sponsorship reasons as the ScreenSport Super Cup) was a one-off football club competition held in England in the 1985–86 season. It was organised by the Football League and was intended as a form of fina ...
in the 1985–86 season. The competition was designed to compensate clubs who were banned from European competition due to the
Heysel Stadium disaster
The Heysel Stadium disaster ( it, Strage dell'Heysel ; german: link=no, Katastrophe von Heysel ; french: Drame du Heysel ; nl, Heizeldrama ) was a crowd disaster that occurred on 29 May 1985 when mostly Juventus fans escaping from a breach by L ...
, but it was scrapped after the first edition.
1987–1992: WHSmith era
On 1 December 1986, the
WHSmith Television Group took over the operation and management of the network when Bob Kennedy and
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
pulled out.
["Shadow cast over cable TV". Jonathan Miller, Media Correspondent. ''The Times'', 1 December 1986; p. 3.] By the end of that year, the station had lost £700,000 and no longer broadcast in Sweden, which resulted in a loss of 100,000 customers.
On 9 April 1987, as the channel had acquired rights to cover some major events, Screensport broadcast live coverage of the
US Masters golf from
Augusta, and many other
PGA Tour
The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...
events.
Grand Slam tennis
The Grand Slam in tennis is the achievement of winning all four major championships in one discipline in a calendar year, also referred to as the "Calendar-year Grand Slam" or "Calendar Slam". In doubles, a team may accomplish the Grand Slam pl ...
was also covered in the shape of the
US Open.
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
ice hockey,
NBA and
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...
racing were common items on the schedule during this period. During the 1987–88 football season, Screensport was the only source of weekly extended English
Football League highlights for viewers in the United Kingdom. The channel signed a deal with
Thames Television
Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992.
Thames Television broa ...
, who were the Football League's agent for international distribution, to transmit 34 recorded matches via cable and satellite. Thames produced its programme, called the ''Big League Soccer''.
On 7 December 1988,
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
increased its stake in the channel from 3.5% to 25.5% after purchasing shares from WHSmith for £4.4 million. By then, Screensport had increased its sports content, allowing the channel to broadcast for 18.5 hours each day within the schedule included
ice hockey
Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...
,
skiing
Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow. Variations of purpose include basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee ( ...
,
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
,
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
, and
yachting
Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called ''yachts'' for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word '' jacht'' ("hunt"). With sailboats, ...
. By 1989, Screensport adopted the sub-title ''The European Sports Network'', while the WHSmith Television Group later renamed itself as WHSTV.
The channel also began broadcasting on the
Astra 1A
Astra 1A was the first satellite launched and operated by SES (Société Européenne des Satellites), launched in December 1988. During its early days, it was often referred to as the Astra Satellite, as SES only operated one satellite origina ...
satellite in February of that year, following a move of its operations from the
north of England to central
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, after taking full control of Molinare later that year on 17 May, which helped to operate as one channel under four different names:
* ''Screensport'' (
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
)
* ''TV Sport'' (
French)
* ''Sportkanal'' (
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
)
* ''Sportnet'' (
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
)
On 15 May 1991, Screensport filed with the
Commission of the European Communities
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
, alleging that the joint purchasing scheme for sporting events by
Eurosport
Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels— Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, ...
's former owners,
Sky Television and the
European Broadcasting Union, violated the competition (
antitrust) law rules of the
Treaty of Rome. After provisions were made for non-member access to the programming, the Commission granted the EBU in a five-year conditional exemption from the requirements of the competition rules. On 28 February 1992, Screensport forged an alliance with
ITV Sport
ITV Sport is a sport producer for ITV. It was formed following the merger between Granada Sport and Central Sport.[Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...](_blank)
.
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...
and the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
were the eventual winners of the contract.