Sky Television plc operated a four-channel satellite television service. Launched by Rupert Murdoch's News International on 5 February 1989, Sky had grown out of Satellite Television UK (SATV), launched in 1982 and bought by News International in 1983 and renamed Sky Channel in 1984. Sky Television and rival British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) were both suffering massive losses and entered into a 50:50 financial merger in November 1990 to form British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB).