2016
9 December
Sky announces that its independent directors have agreed an offer price of £10.75 per share in cash from 21st Century Fox
May
James Murdoch replaces Nicholas Ferguson as Sky chairman
2014
July
BSkyB buys 21st Century Fox’s 57.4% stake in Sky Deutchland and 100% of Sky Italia for about £4.4bn. It also buys out the other shareholders in Sky Deutchland to take full control of the broadcaster. The deal adds nearly 10 million subscribers in Germany and Italy to the company’s 11.5m existing customers in the UK and Ireland. BSkyB rebrands as Sky
2013
June
Murdoch’s BSkyB stake moves to newly created TV and film company 21st Century Fox, which is spun out of News Corporation into a separately listed public company. His newspapers, including the Sun, Times and Sunday Times, become part of a second company, News Corp
2012
April
James Murdoch steps down as BSkyB chairman, but remains on the board
2011
July
News Corporation abandons Sky takeover on the day all three main UK political parties are due to call on it to drop the deal in a Commons vote, as public outrage over the News of the World phone-hacking scandal grows
2010
June
BskyB and News Corporation agree to talks about Murdoch’s company buying the 61% of the broadcaster it does not already own. In the same month, it announces that annual pre-tax profits topped £1bn for the first time
2007
December
James Murdoch is promoted to chairman and chief executive of BSkyB parent company News Corporation. Jeremy Darroch replaces him as BSkyB chief executive
2006
July
Sky Broadband launches, taking on telecoms competitors including BT
2003
November
Murdoch sees off a potential shareholder revolt to instal his son James as BSkyB chief executive
1998
October
BSkyB launches Sky Digital, offering hundreds of channels and more interactivity
1994
November
BSkyB becomes a publicly listed company, floating on the London and New York stock exchanges, raising £900m by offering 20% of the stock to investors. Murdoch’s holding reduced to 39%.
1992
August
BSkyB launches live coverage of the first season of Premier League football, revolutionising UK TV sport and boosting the company’s subscriber numbers
1990
November
After a costly battle for subscribers with rival BSB, Murdoch engineers a 50/50 merger creating BSkyB, with Sky executives taking most senior jobs in the new company
1989
5 February
Rupert Murdoch launches analogue satellite broadcaster Sky Television, offering nine channels including Sky News
