Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Estate. Should the relevant party take office, the Shadow Secretary would be a likely candidate to become Culture Secretary. The post became necessary when John Major created the Department of National Heritage in 1992. When the Coalition Government took office, they merged the office of Culture Secretary with that of Minister for the Olympics (Jeremy Hunt had shadowed both roles in Opposition). Labour retained as its Olympics spokesperson Tessa Jowell, who had been Olympics Minister from the inception of the office. Because it never merged the responsibilities, it has retained the name "Culture, Olympics and Sport" (as has indeed the
National Geographic Channel (UK and Ireland) commercial and advertising sales. The partnership builds and operates National Geographic channels and services across Europe. It is headquartered in London. In December 2006, News Corporation purchased 25 percent of the Society's stake in the company. This meant that BSkyB owned half company, while the National Geographic Society and News Corp held 25 percent share each. In December 2007, BSkyB sold its stake in the partnership to the Fox Entertainment Group, through its Fox Networks Group subsidiary. National Geographic Channel HD is available in the UK and Ireland. It launched on 22 May 2006 on Sky channel 543. The channel