Sky Movies
| Sky Cinema | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | 5 February 1989 |
| Owned by | Sky plc |
| Audience share | 0.13% (Action & Adventure) 0.08% (Comedy) 0.08% (Crime & Thriller) 0.21% (Disney) 0.06% (Drama & Romance) 0.16% (Family) 0.11% (Greats) 0.11% (Hits) 0.16% (Premiere) 0.03% (Premiere +1) 0.07% (Sci-Fi & Horror) 0.03% (Select) (September 2015, BARB) |
| Replaced | The Power Station on the BSB service |
| Sister channel(s) |
Challenge, Pick, Real Lives, Sky 1, Sky 2, Sky Arts, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky News, Sky Sports, Sky Sports F1, Sky Sports News HQ |
| Website | www.sky.com/skycinema |
|
Availability
|
|
| Satellite | |
| Sky | Channels 301–312 (SD/HD) Channels 314, 330–337, 339, 340 (SD) On Demand |
| Cable | |
| Virgin Media (UK) | Channels 401, 403–412 (HD) Channels 402, 431, 433–442 On Demand |
| Virgin Media (Ireland) | Channels 301–309, 318, 320, 321 Channels 331–341 (HD) |
| IPTV | |
| TalkTalk TV | Channels 501–511 (SD) On Demand |
| BT | Channels 501–511 (SD) On Demand |
| Streaming media | |
| Sky Go | Watch live (UK & Ireland only) |
| Virgin TV Anywhere | Watch live (UK only) |
| Now TV | Watch live (UK only) |
Sky Cinema (formerly Sky Movies) is the collective name for the premium subscription television film channels operated in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland by Sky plc. The UK and Ireland channels have over 5 million subscribers, via satellite, cable and IPTV. In addition to the television channels, it has an interactive 'red button' service, a website (sky.com/movies) and in 2005 launched a 3G mobile service via Vodafone.
In 2016, Sky plc rebranded its television film channel operations under one single Sky Cinema branding: on 8 July 2016, the channels in the UK and Ireland were rebranded from Sky Movies to Sky Cinema; on 22 September in Germany and Austria, the Sky Cinema brand (originally used for the flagship channel) was extended to other channels in the group formerly known as Sky Film; the Italian Sky Cinema channels followed suit on 5 November by adopting the brand packages introduced in the UK and Ireland earlier.
Sky Movies was originally a single film channel offered as part of Sky's original 4-channel package on the Astra 1A satellite on 5 February 1989. The first film shown on the channel was Dirty Dancing. Prior to its launch, Sky Movies signed first-run deals with 20th Century Fox, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Domestic Pay TV, Cable and Network Features, Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Orion Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution Co.
After one year of broadcasting free-to-air, in February 1990 it became the first Sky channel to scramble its signal, using a card-encryption system called VideoCrypt which rendered the picture totally obscured to anyone attempting to view it without a decoder and smart card.
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