Memories of getting Sky in

[IANdrewDiceClay]

In the Star Trek thread, johnnyboy slapped me in the face with a clip of the very first thing I ever watched on Sky. I wasn't even big into Star Trek, but I think I spent the whole episode just going "fucking hell, Sky". Can anyone else remember when they first got Sky? It was in the mid-90s and there was more German and Radio Channels than actual English speaking stations. Sometimes getting the Sky cut off was a blessing because you could still watch wrestling on DSF and the new episodes of Rosanne subtitled. No wonder they got rid of the German channels. They were great.

 

Best things about Sky were the Cartoon Network, which was amazing. Dexter's Laboratory, Two Stupid Dogs, The Flintstones and all kinds were on anytime you switched it on. MTV was still half decent. All flashing neon 3D logos and presenters in whacky shirts telling us about Ace of Bases UK tour. When I think of MTV even now I think of Mmm Mmm Mmm by Crash Test Dummies, Love is Strong by Rolling Stones and Caffeine Bomb by The Wildhearts. That's all they used to play back then. Or U2. You had the WWF obviously, which was the main reason I needed Sky in at the time. The upside of getting Sky was so strong at the time. Premier League football, big boxing fights not on Box Office and a load of WWF.

 

Give me your memories, then. Favourite shows, favourite channels, 10 minute preview memories, that grey fizz you'd usually get halfway through a show, getting Sky cut off every other month etc.

[PowerButchi]

We were "pioneers" as we got it in 1989. There was next to fuck all on unless you like fucking god awful American Mini Series. My mum did, so that was alright. I think I spent it mainly watching the shitload of wrestling that was on, ALF, Combat!, The Man of Atlantis, The Simpsons and Punky Brewster. There was some real shit on Sky One. Chegger's Star Search, The All New Price is Right (WITH BOB WARMAN!!!!) and the game show Wife of the Week with Christopher Biggins (!) where women would take part in competitions like cleaning and ironing in order to win a rolling pin.

 

My dad liked it for the softcore porn. There was a shitload of music videos on Sky one as well to complement the wonderful Ray Cokes on MTV Europe. MTV Europe was a million miles better than any incarnation of MTV I've seen since.

[extacy of farts]

Quite easily one of the happiest days of my life when we got Sky fitted. Being able to watch The Simpsons was such a novelty back then, plus all the live football aswell, had never seen a live Premier League game before so was amazed by that for quite some time but for me the biggest thing was being able to watch Dream Team...my mate watched it all the time and told me about it so i got hooked into watching that.

 

Then we move onto the wrestling...I miss sitting in my lounge watching Raw on a Friday night, it was incredible especially as this was way before i started looking at spoilers and it went live obviously. You talk about Cartoon Network, for me it was either Trouble, with Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Hang time and so much other stuff. Watching Sky just isn't the same anymore, despite the experience being alot better with HD and more channels etc.

[JNLister]

We moved to Stevenage in 1989 and the council had a deal with the local cable company where they chipped in a subsidy so you could get cable for five years for a one-off payment of

[The King Of Swing]

We got Sky just before the 1990 Royal Rumble aired over here (I think it may have been the last WWF PPV to air on Sky One) which was the first ever wrestling show I watched so if we never got Sky it's possible I would never have gotten into pro wrestling.

 

Good times.

[SpursRiot2012]

We had...Cable & Wireless

[Arch Stanton]

It was a big deal indeed, so exciting for me as a young lad. Must have been about 1996 in our house. Most of my mates had it by then, so I think I'd probably been mithering my mum and dad for it. We only really got it for the football of course. It's mental thinking back to it now and remembering what sort of stuff you'd get on it compared to the millions of channels you get today. You had two music channels, MTV and VH1. Nickelodeon. The legendary German channels. Men and Motors.

 

I was devastated when they forced an upgrade from Satellite to digital some years later and all the German channels disappeared. I once spent about two hours sat with the remote seaching through the menus trying to find a way to get them back.

[Thunderplex]

Tutti Frutti.

 

I think I win.

[PowerButchi]

Cin Cin.

 

LANDERPUNKT

 

Super super Europe, super super lovers. Super super Europe, we love you... Super Europe!

 

Great theme tune. I was also a fan of the porny videos on Lifestyle Video Jukebox. Like this NSFW number by Twinkle.

[wandshogun09]

Bringing back a lot of memories. The day our dish got fitted we were all fighting over the remote, my Dad was the worst by far for that.

 

I also remember watching loads of Simpsons episodes, and a shitload of Cartoon Network. Johnny Bravo was a favourite of mine back then, Flintstones, Two Stupid Dogs, Fat Dog, Dexter's Lab, Cow & Chicken. My sisters usually wanted MTV on all day.

 

We must have got Sky somewhere close to late 1995 because I remember my Dad discovering DSF one night and an early episode of Nitro was on there, and it was during the whole Ric Flair vs Arn Anderson fallout. After years of wishing we got WCW PPVs on TV here, I can't explain the joy that overcame me to see Halloween Havoc '95 advertised for DSF the following Samstag. And then followed by some blonde juggling her tits about much to my Dad's shock. My Mom told him to turn it over and he did the old "I can't find the remote" line and very, very, very slowly began searching for it.

 

Watching the big Tyson fights and Eubank's last few fights on there is a vivid memory from my childhood as well. And my Dad cancelling Sky Sports some months, usually leading to me and my brother trying to negotiate with him to keep the channel on another month so we could watch SummerSlam or whatever.

 

Sky was a god-send if you got a day off school pretending you were ill as well. MTV and the Flintstones beat Kilroy and Supermarket Sweep any day.

[iamthedoctor]

It was my Fathers Birthday in June so the family decided that we was getting Sky for him as a birthday present in May 1989. Alough from memory I recall only one channel but I do remember them advertising Planet of the Apes, ALF, Family Ties and The Love Boat.

 

Apart from the wrestling I would say the only thing I have that I kept was the odd episode of the DJ Kat show if anyone remembers it. They did a updated version of Sale of the Century but no idea who hosted it.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

Watching the big Tyson fights and Eubank's last few fights on there is a vivid memory from my childhood as well.

Was it just our house or was the Bruno and McCall fight up there with Euro 96 in terms the nation uniting for our boy? I just remember when Bruno won a massive sense of happiness from not only myself but my Mam and Dad and brother. It was like a real version of Bulldog winning the IC title at Wembley. "He's done it" we all cried. Boxing really lost me as a major fan when the big fights went to Box Office. We got the Tyson vs Bruno fight and not many after that.

[The Total Package]

Ah yes, good times. I think I got Sky sometime in the mid 90s. LOL at the 10minute previews, so I wasn't the only one who did that then. The German channels were indeed great, you could watch PPV's for free on them sometimes. I remember watching a lot of big boxing fights on there. There was also this channel called RTL I think, if I remember it right. I swear, after 9pm or so they would show nothing but Emmanuelle movies, I'd sit there and watch them all till early hours. They seemed to do it every week, I realize now most of my fetish/fantasies come from those movies. I also managed to find some German channels that would show uncensored porn.

 

Another great memory is watching YO! MTV Raps, what a show that was, always on so late though, that sometimes I would just leave a VHS recording it, to watch the next day. I still might have some in the shed or somewhere. I remember looking forward to the big movie premieres on Saturday, even though they would repeat it so many times the following week, you'd get sick of seeing it on.

 

The kids TV was great, the amount of show's I would have missed out on, that would have been awful. Too much to list, but pretty much everything on Nick and CN, and don't forget Fox Kids.

 

I haven't missed Sky since getting rid of it years ago, I guess you don't really need it to watch what you want these days, as everything is a mere click away, legally or not.

[Daaaaaad!]

We never got ANY form of Sky in and the closest I ever got was when Sky Sports News used to be on Freeview channel 83.

 

I hate you all

[gmoney]

Cin Cin.

 

LANDERPUNKT

 

Super super Europe, super super lovers. Super super Europe, we love you... Super Europe!

 

Great theme tune. I was also a fan of the porny videos on Lifestyle Video Jukebox. Like this NSFW number by Twinkle.

 

What was the French song you posted ages ago? The video looked like it had a budget and there was a long bit without music where there were tits. It was catchy as fuck as I (half) remember.