The man who headed Sky Television through its merger with British Satellite Broadcasting has died.
Sam Chisholm, who was also a former head of Australia’s Nine Network, was 78.
The New Zealander spent 15 years at Nine, where he was appointed chief executive in 1975, at the age of 35.
Chisholm became chief executive of Sky in 1989 at the launch of the then four-channel service. His period in charge came amidst heavy bidding for sports and movie rights with its more pedestrian rival that brought owners News Corp to the brink. Sky emerged as BSkyB with Chisholm’s brash management style leading the merged company.
He retired in 1997, but remained on the board for another two years.