This was before Foxtel. Sky Channel existed for a long time prior.
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Oh, i did not know that lol. So when did Sky channel start?
I suspect it is, wonder how much use it gets now thatâs broadband access is prevalent though
Wasnât Sky Channel originally held by Packer?
Sky Channel first aired in 1986
Alan Bond originally but I assume it changed hands.
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yes Alan Bond launched it. At the time he also owned Nine Perth and Brisbane but was to later add Sydney and Melbourne to his empire.
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Itâs on the Apple App Store listing for it, but the Apple TV version of it (âSky Racing Active on the App Store) - youâd need to scroll the preview graphics across to see it.
Iâd warn that this is probably dates to the point the app started, as the QLD feed/mock-up has UBET fixed odds branding - which puts the mock-up no later than 2018/early 2019, before Tabcorp started rebranding it. (Itâs a bit of a janky mock-up too as the âNSWâ feed is a little different, the slightly later version of the graphics as Tabcorp started focusing on fixed odds more.) But it gives you an idea of what they have/had in mind.
True - it shows the full-screen version of the runner list for the next race with the Sky look (but that dark blue Watchdog banner), then just goes full screen when the next race is due. Itâs just a cut-down version really.
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[re: Sky Business TV]
Although Iâd take it with a huge grain of salt, there are Wiki claims that (at least later on), it used the Sky international feed bandwidth - which wouldâve had a longer downtime period [as it didnât have to start until the races actually started in the early afternoon] and mightâve been more useful for the 9-11am Eastern period that, for instance, teachersâ unions would often stop work for (in reference to bacco007âs reference) without interfering with Inside Running (as their morning preview show was) and their other morning programming.
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so growing up, i lived above a pub (my parents were the licensees)
When we got the massive Sky C band dish installed we got the TVâs downstairs installed, but also got the main one upstairs (where we lived).
although it was mostly racing, at times we used to see all sorts of stuff - boxing of course, pro wrestling and various âliveâ events - business meetings, parades, marches and rallies. I swear i once saw some hardcore porn as well.
we just thought it was great to have more choices than ABC, 7, 9 & 10
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So if this is correct you could almost argue that pay tv has technically been in Australia since the 80s when you bring corporate pay tv into it.
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Pretty much, although Sky wasnât actually the first to air.
nb: although this is elaborating on it, this may be better in one of the history threads - donât mind if it gets moved! 
Two other competitors in the venue market - Club Superstation, owned by Robert Holmes a Court and aimed at NSW clubs in particular, and Sportsplay - also popped up along with Sky Channel in late 1986; the former beat Sky Channel on air by roughly a week. Sportsplay was owned mainly by Geoffrey Edelsten, who had bundled it up with his ownership of the Sydney Swans, as well as the West Sydney Westars NBL team (a partial forerunner to the Sydney Kings).
Sportsplay made a bid for the 1987 VFL rights (after Seven refused) - but after negotiating a share of the rights from Broadcom to show two games a week outside Melbourne, backed out when the VFL told them they couldnât go live into country Victoria on Saturdays, to placate the regional leagues (Canberra Times article via NLAâs Trove).
Both were gone by the end of 1987, Bond having taken over what little was left of both - including absorbing Club Superstationâs HQ in Sydney in mid-1987. Sportsplay was then mopped up by Bond not long after the Black Monday crash (Fin Review article at the time).
As a footnote: May 1989 article about the spectre of pay TV potentially threatening early Sky Channel mentioned how Bond reportedly split the rights for the 1987 Cricket World Cup final (which was out of what is now Kolkata), where the first innings was shown on free-to-air on Nine, but the England chase [which fell eight runs short of victory] was only available in venues on Sky Channel.
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Sky Channel programme guide from the week of June 16, 1989 from the Age Green Guide, in addition to selected races they had various other sports, plus music programming and adult entertainment (the latter was hugely popular with pub-goers back in the day).
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If there were ever any screenshots of this somewhere I would be shocked haha.
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Looks like the WA feeds are on satellite after all. Sky Sports Text 3 and 4 have been renamed.
(Scan courtesy digitalbitrate.com)
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Certainly the three-hour music video block (later branded eCLIPSe) remained a mainstay well into the 2000s, when the TAB still used to close at 11pm Eastern and didnât offer markets on overseas meetings. When the Foxtel service started and they started doing daily previews, they brought forward the opening to 8am (just with a text scratchings service until 9am)⌠but that wouldâve been pointless while it was still only going to pubs, most of whom wouldnât be open before about 11am if that.
But can certainly see how different it was in the days before the NSW TAB bought it [late 90s], and before the âwall-to-wall racing on Sky and radioâ push started happening as more than just the VIC TAB was privatised.
Sky Thoroughbred Central is covering a feature harness race at Menangle tonight. Former Seven presenter Ryan Phelan is one of the hosts.
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Call it Sky Racing+ with showcase coverage of major race meets
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Iâd probably blame HRNSWâs desperation to get on TV rather than any particular effort on Skyâs part, after their Melbourne counterparts did a deal with Racing.com to show their Grand Circuit events.
In previous years the extended coverage wouldâve been shafted off to the Active app in its entirety for their account holders (and maybe HRNSWâs web site), or possibly Sky 2 when it was still being charged for. In this case, it was only the second half of the card [the Mile itself at a little after 9] with the earlier races on Active.
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According to The Sunday Telegraphâs Phil Rothfield, Glenn Munsie (who had been a Sky presenter since 1999) was made redundant last week and marched straight out of the building, without being given the opportunity to see goodbye to viewers. He and wife Denise will soon embark on an overseas trip.
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