Sky Cinema
Sky Movies is the collective name for the British subscription television movie channels operated by Sky Television, later British Sky Broadcasting.
Early history
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 hard-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.
Sky Movies was renamed Sky Movies Screen 1, then it became Sky Moviemax. The Movie Channel was renamed Sky Movies Screen 2, then it became Sky Premier. Sky Movies Gold was renamed Sky Cinema. But in 1998 new movie channels name to Sky Premier, Sky Moviemax and Sky Cinema.
Sky Movies in the digital era
The launch of Sky Digital in October 1998 was accompanied by a dramatic expansion of channels. Sky Moviemax 2 through 5, Sky Premier 2 through 4 and Sky Cinema 2 were all launched exclusively on digital satellite, along with Sky Premier Widescreen - at the time, the only channel devoted to showing widescreen movies, despite customer demand for more. The Sky Moviemax channels were subsequently renamed Sky Movies Max, the Sky Premier channels became Sky Movies Premier, and the Sky Cinema channels became Sky Movies Cinema.
Eventually in June 2002 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.
The most recent re-brand occured in November 2003, when the Sky Movies Max and Sky Movies Premier channels were all brought under one banner as Sky Movies 1 through 9.
Sky Movies is a premium film subscription service with around 5 million subscribers, that can be accessed via both satellite and cable in the UK.
It has an interactive 'red button' service, a website (skymovies.com) and recently launched a 3G Mobile service via Vodafone.
Sky Movies Channel Brands
September 10 1998 - saw a new look of new movie channels, Sky Premier, Sky Moviemax and Sky Cinema. July 1 2002 - saw a new look of another new movie channels, Sky Movies Premier, Sky Movies Max and Sky Movies Cinema. November 01 2003 - saw a another look of movie channels, Sky Movies 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and 9 and Sky Cinema 1 and 2. It is said to be the largest tv movie service in the world outside the US.
Advertising and promotion
All of the Sky movie channels have always carried commercials between movies, although the movies themselves are uninterrupted. 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. Certain strands and seasons are sponsored.
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.
Additionally, 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: Curse of the Wererabbit.
Presenters
On-air Presenters have included: Barry Norman, Clare Grogan, Richard Jobson, Rob Brydon & Jessica Whittaker
Voice-over talent has included:
- 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)