Sky Movies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sky Movies | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 5th February 1989 |
| Owned by | BSkyB |
| Audience share | 2.5% (December 2006, [1]) |
| Website | www.skymovies.com |
| Availability | |
| Satellite | |
| Sky Digital | Channels 301 - 314 |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media | Channels 401-412 (Sky Movies 10 not available on NTL) |
| NTL Ireland | Channels 301 - 311 |
Sky Movies is the collective name for the British premium subscription television movie channels operated by Sky Television, later British Sky Broadcasting. It has around 5 million subscribers, via both satellite and cable in the UK and Ireland[2]. In addition to the television channels, it has an interactive 'red button' service, a website (skymovies.com) and recently launched a 3G Mobile service via Vodafone. Sky Movies is said to be the largest TV movie service in the world outside the United States[citation needed].
Contents |
[edit] History
[edit] The early years (1989 - 1998)
Sky Movies was originally a single movie channel offered as part of Sky's original 4-channel package in February 1989, but it was not until 1990 that it became the first Sky channel to scramble its signal, using a card-encryption system called VideoCrypt which rendered the picture totally incomprehensible to anyone attempting to view it without a decoder and smart card.
When Sky merged with rival British Satellite Broadcasting it acquired BSB's The Movie Channel, and with the launch of the second Astra satellite in 1991 The Movie Channel was relaunched as part of the Sky package. Later Sky added a "classic movies" channel, Sky Movies Gold.
A rebranding exercise saw Sky Movies renamed to Sky Movies Screen 1, and The Movie Channel was renamed Sky Movies Screen 2.
After a further rebranding on September 10, 1998 Sky Movies Screen 1 became Sky Premier, Sky Movies Screen 2, became Sky Moviemax, and 'Sky Movies Gold was renamed Sky Cinema.
[edit] Sky Movies in the digital era (1998 - 2007)
The launch of Sky Digital in October 1998 was accompanied by a dramatic expansion of channels. Sky Premier 2 through 4 , Sky Moviemax 2 through 5 and Sky Cinema 2, along with Sky Premier Widescreen - at the time, the only channel devoted to showing widescreen movies, were all launched exclusively on digital satellite.
Eventually in June 2003 Sky bowed to demands for more widescreen movies. The Sky Premier Widescreen channel was closed and the majority of films on the remaining channels were shown in widescreen.
July 1, 2002 saw yet another re-branding exercise. The Sky Premier channels were renamed Sky Movies Premier, the Sky Moviemax channels became Sky Movies Max, and the Sky Cinema channels became Sky Movies Cinema.
The most recent re-brand occurred on November 1, 2003, when the Sky Movies Premier and Sky Movies Max channels were all brought under one banner as Sky Movies 1 through 9. At the same time, Sky Movies Cinema 1 and 2 became Sky Cinema 1 and 2.
From January 30, 2006, Sky Movies 9 and the new Sky Movies 10 started broadcasting from 5pm to 3am. They are PIN-protected, meaning that for the first time 15 rated films will be able to be shown as early as 5pm. With the launch of SkyHD, the two channels are also available in a high definition format.
[edit] Sky Movies goes categorized (2007 - )
From April 4, the Sky Movies channels will become [3] as follows:
- Sky Movies 1 - Sky Movies Premiere
- Sky Movies 2 - Sky Movies Premiere +1
- Sky Movies 3 - Sky Movies Comedy
- Sky Movies 4 - Sky Movies Action & Thriller
- Sky Movies 5 - Sky Movies Family
- Sky Movies 6 - Sky Movies Drama
- Sky Movies 7 - Sky Movies Sci-Fi & Horror
- Sky Movies 8 - Sky Movies Classics
- Sky Movies 9 - Sky Movies Modern Greats
- Sky Movies 10 - Sky Movies Indie
- Sky Movies 9 HD - Sky Movies HD1
- Sky Movies 10 HD - Sky Movies HD2
Sky Cinema 1 & 2 will close.
[edit] Advertising and promotion
All of the Sky movie channels have always carried commercials between movies, although the movies themselves are uninterrupted. Additionally some strands and seasons are sponsored. All advertising for Sky Movies (traditional & interactive ads, sponsorship, online) are handled by Sky Media - the advertising sales part of BSkyB.
Sky Movies regularly sponsors the theatrical premieres of major film titles - such as Shrek 2, The Incredibles, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
A brief experiment with small on-screen logos in the early 1990s caused a storm of protest, and so movies are now shown logo-free although the channels use logos over feature programmes like movie Top Tens.
[edit] Original production
Sky Movies has a dedicated production team that produces over 100 hours of original film-related programming each year - including Sky Movies News (a half hour weekly film release round-up), and UK/US Top Tens. In addition, Sky's close relationships with the Film Studios means it regularly gets exclusive access on-set and to talent for one-off 'making-of's', talent-based programming etc.
[edit] Presenters
Comedian and film actor, Omid Djalili is currently the main on-air presenter for Sky Movies. He introduces the big Saturday Premiere - 'First Time Saturday' - each week.
Past On-air Presenters have included Barry Norman, Clare Grogan, Richard Jobson, Rob Brydon, and Jessica Whittaker.
[edit] Voice-overs
- Eddie Outwaite (February 1989 - September 1989)
- Charlie Neil (September 1989 - September 1990)
- Juliet Daniels (September 1989 - September 1994)
- Richard Madeley (September 1990 - September 1991)
- Leslie Crowther ( September 1991 - September 1992)
- Steven Roberts (September 1992 - September 1993)
- Eamonn Holmes (September 1993 - September 1994)
- Darren Tarbuck ( September 1994 - September 1995)
- Nigel Gallagher (September 1995 - September 1996)
- Gail Townsend (September 1996 - September 1997)
- Andy Sherriff (September 1997 - September 1998)
- Barnaby Hiles (September 1998 - June 2002)
- Sheiley Bailey (September 1998 - December 2001)
- Sarah-Jane Honeywell (September 1998 - June 2002)
- Justin Fletcher (September 1998 - June 2002)
- Trevor McDonald (December 2001 - June 2002)
- Danielle Nicholls (July 2002 - October 2003)
- Pauline Brownslaw (November 2003 onawards)
- Chris Jensen (January 2006 onawards)
