Book Review – Mathew Horsman’s Sky High
Sky High charts the emergence and subsequent progress of arguably the UK’s most radical and revolutionary broadcaster, BSkyB. From losses of £14 million a week in 1990 to pre-tax profits of £300 million in 1997 (£10 a second), Horsman reveals an intriguing “cast of characters” and delves into the intricate wheeling and dealing involved in the phenomenal growth of the satellite broadcaster.
Using material from interviews with chief executive Sam Chisholm, deputy MD David Chance and Rupert Murdoch, Horsman creates a “behind-the-scenes” feel to his account which is therefore unprecedented for its accuracy, detail and originality.
The story begins in the eighties, with Murdoch eyeing a media industry where commercial instincts were “sorely under-developed.” Despite time with LWT he was still seeking the opening he wanted to the UK media market and saw satellite as the only viable option, especially in a market as unregulated and untapped as the UK’s.
The main story of the book then deals with the rough ride initially encountered by Sky as it competed with BSB, the subsequent merger (with rumours of a conspiracy theory behind the ease with which the merger went through), the tense brinkmanship behind the winning of the football and movie contracts which drove the success of the company and then the conflicts and rivalries which contributed to Sam Chisholm’s departure last year.
While the detail of the deals and number of big names involved will be of particular interest to people in the business, it is the personalities behind the whole story which really make the book a good read.
Sam Chisholm, in particular, is a man you might not necessarily wish to meet but the stories of his ferocious personality are thoroughly entertaining. After a successful career at Channel Nine in Australia he joined BSkyB with a reputation for brashness, a colourful vocabulary, a quick temper and highly effective negotiating skills. Chisholm himself said that his negotiating skills are “80 per cent intuition and 20 per cent perspiration.”
He was also ruthless and “applied punishment for every error he uncovered.” When Sue Barker was lent to the BBC from Sky Sports and then persuaded to stay there full time, Horsman writes: “Chisholm rang [the BBC’s head of sports] and warned: ‘You don’t cross me in this town. Everybody is afraid of me, and of what I will do.'” He warned that the BBC would never be able to win the Formula One rights which were then under negotiation, (he was a close friend of Bernie Ecclestone, the head of Formula One). The rights, of course, went to ITV.
The really intriguing parts of the book deal with the relationship between Chisholm and Murdoch. Horsman paints a picture of Murdoch as someone who at first treated Chisholm like a son while the chief executive was turning BSkyB into a profitable company but then turned against him as the satellite broadcaster became a runaway success story. A source in the book says: “Murdoch hated Sky, he hated its success. He went out of his way to talk the company down. He hated the fact that BSkyB was more successful than News Corporation; he just couldn’t stand it.”
Horsman also reveals how it was widely believed that Murdoch himself leaked an ITC letter to the FT which said that BSkyB would have to leave the BDB consortium on competition grounds. It was this news which started the share price slump which affected the company so badly last year.
Sky High suggests it was the arrival of Murdoch’s daughter, Elizabeth, which was the final straw for Chisholm. He apparently felt threatened by her appointment as a general manager and colleagues would be “raked over the coals” by Chisholm for speaking to her. Rupert Murdoch says in the book: “Elisabeth thought that Sam would teach her everything but he didn’t. He tried to cut her out.”
Despite the intricate and often ‘dry’ details of the deal-making which went on, the colourful characters described provide immense entertainment and enough drama and intrigue worthy of a bumper edition of Dallas.
Sky High, Mathew Horsman, Orion Business Books, £18.99 (hardback)