Media Forum: Is Sky One BSkyB's weakness?

As BSkyB considers new targets, is Sky One a cause for concern?

Someone must have been putting something in the sherry in Osterley over the past couple of weeks because BSkyB certainly had a feisty old festive season. Just before Christmas, it announced it had passed another milestone in subscriber growth, achieving its target - eight million by the end of 2005 - with days to spare.

Emboldened by this achievement, it promptly turned on the rival digital platform Freeview, saying it (Freeview, that is) was not fit to lead Britain into the digital TV future, describing it as 'an analogue platform with not very convincing go-faster stripes' and accusing the BBC of abusing its public service duties when it favoured Freeview in its digital promotions.

It still had time later in the day to complete its pounds 211 million takeover of easynet and create a new division, Sky Broadband, to house this and other web-based assets.

It was not finished yet, not by a long chalk. As the New Year dawned and with holiday overindulgence already a fading memory, it swung into action yet again with what may prove to be the most significant announcement of the lot - the appointment of Richard Woolfe as the head of Sky One.

This job has traditionally been the Bermuda Triangle of TV programming jobs; Sky One's performance has been at best patchy (it has been losing share for at least two years) and it has never found a distinctive positioning.

Woolfe, a veteran producer, may become a key figure as Sky contemplates its next target - ten million subscribers by 2010. Sky surely needs a broad-appeal, general entertainment flagship channel more than ever.