There is something satisfying and symmetrical about Manchester United being last in the Premier League after two games played. In 1992, the first season of the new league, the Red Devils were also last in the division – which then had 22 teams instead of 20 – after defeats against Sheffield United and Everton. But this Manchester United team, under the management of Alex Ferguson, won the first Premier League title. It would take a miracle of unprecedented magnitude for Erik ten Hag’s side to overtake Manchester rivals City in the 2022-23 season.
The rise of City, which languished in the Third Division of English football as United bagged an unprecedented treble (Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League) in 1999, is of course largely due to the silver. The huge, and smartly managed, investments made in the club by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment over the past decade have paid off. This investment would not have been made without the wealth, monetary and in terms of brand image, promised by the Premier League, which is the most watched sports league in the world.
Rupert Murdoch
These riches and this global reach would not have been possible, of course, without the power of television. It was the agreement concluded between Sky TV and the Luxembourg company SES Astra in 1988 which enabled Rupert Murdoch’s young company to obtain the first Premier League broadcasting rights.
« As a huge football fan myself, I’m proud that our ASTRA satellites have played an important role in bringing all the excitement of the EPL in crystal clear HD and UHD quality straight into viewers’ homes over the past few years. last 30 years.”
Steve Collar,  Managing Director,  SES
Officially founded on 1er March 1985, the Société Européenne de Satellites was the result of the tenacity of former Prime Minister Pierre Werner and the then President-in-Office Jacques Santer to ensure that Luxembourg became a key player in the future of broadcasting and contributed to further diversify its economy. The establishment of the company faced strong opposition from some local politicians and neighboring governments – the French, in particular, feared that Astra would become a vehicle for “American cultural imperialism”. Indeed, the French communications minister even threatened to send some kind of disruption signal to prevent Astra’s signals from being received by its customers.
But the Luxembourg government was determined and Santer, in particular, strongly supported the project. He created legislation to guarantee the financial risks of the project to the tune of around 90 million euros. In addition to the State, the Luxembourg Savings Bank also took shares in the company.
Yet when the company launched, in the words of then chief commercial officer Marcus Bicknell, it had “no money, no frequencies, no regulatory approval, no launch slot, no TV channels. , no customers, no reception equipment and no viewers. Otherwise, everything was perfect. »
That was to change with an agreement for American specialist company RCA Astro to build Astra 1A, which was Europe’s first medium-power satellite. The configuration of the new satellite gave it a pan-European footprint which greatly enhanced its commercial appeal.
Astra simply came up with the right thing at the right time
Marcus Bicknell,  Former Chief Commercial Officer,  SES
As Bicknell puts it in the excellent book High Above: The untold story of Astra, Europe’s first satellite company, by hosting 16 channels that could reach millions of homes at relatively low cost, « Astra simply offered the right thing at the right time… [qui] suddenly sounded the right alarm bell to these enterprising broadcasters ».
One such enterprising broadcaster was Rupert Murdoch, whose first major customer to sign on was Sky TV. In a recent article on the Premier League’s 30th anniversary, Barney Ronay, the Guardian’s sports editor, called the SES-Sky deal « a side benefit of UK membership of the EU ».
Revolutionary and innovative
And as SES CEO Steve Collar told Delano: “Innovative sports broadcasting from Sky UK, a valued customer of SES for four decades, has been integral to the rise of the EPL, which is became a national and then an international sensation, and which is today one of the most interesting and valuable sports properties in the world”.
But the launch of the satellite was itself a tricky business. Ariane had encountered problems with its rockets and was grounded in 1987. Finally, in a tense atmosphere after a failed attempt 24 hours earlier, Astra 1A was launched on an Ariane 4 rocket from Kourou in French Guiana on December 10, 1988. Pierre Werner, who will become Chairman of the Board of Directors of SES, and Crown Prince Henri attend the launch.
British electronics company Amstrad, run by Alan Sugar, was chosen to manufacture the aerials and set-top boxes, the price of which quickly came down, allowing more and more households to decide they could afford subscribe.
The rest, as they say, is history. And although the Premier League is so in the grip of broadcasters that it has, according to Ronay, ‘transformed for television’, it continues to reap the rewards of its global television reach, with broadcast revenue expected to reach £10 billion over the next three seasons.
« Sky has set the standards that others follow, » says Collar. « As a huge football fan myself, I’m proud that our ASTRA satellites have played an important role in bringing all the excitement of the EPL in crystal clear HD and UHD quality straight into viewers’ homes over the past few years. last 30 years.”
And SES continues to play a major role. As recently as February 2021, Sky UK extended its contract with SES for satellite capacity in a new deal adding over €90m to the secured order book. The two companies already had a contract for capacity until 2027.
« SES has been a valued partner of Sky for decades and this agreement represents the latest step in a long and successful relationship, » said Patrick Behar, Sky UK’s chief business officer at the time.
Luxembourg’s role in the launch of the English Premier League & Latest News Update
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