Sky Movies
From April 4, 2007, Sky Movies channels were revamped and genred. Sky Cinema 1 and 2 merged to become Sky Movies Classics.[1]. The names of the new channels became:
- Sky Movies Premiere
- Sky Movies Premiere +1
- Sky Movies Comedy
- Sky Movies Action & Thriller
- Sky Movies Family
- Sky Movies Drama
- Sky Movies Classics (formerly Sky Cinema)
- Sky Movies Sci-Fi & Horror
- Sky Movies Modern Greats
- Sky Movies Indie
- Sky Movies HD1
- Sky Movies HD2
Sky Movies also got a new logo, where the V is supposed to be from searchlights, similar to the searchlights used by Fox (which is also owned by Sky's parent company, Newscorp). The new idents for the channels were also based on the searchlight theme.
Sky later made Sky Movies HD1 and HD2 available to subscribers without HDTV equipment through two channels simulcasting the same content in SDTV format. These channels were known as Sky Movies SD1 and SD2. These channels were renamed Sky Movies Screen 1 and Screen 2 in February 2008. The HDTV channels were renamed Sky Movies Screen 1 HD and Screen 2 HD accordingly. [2]
As of March 20, 2008 an additional high definition movie channel called Sky Movies Premiere HD which is a high definition simulcast version of the current Sky Movies Premiere channel will be broadcast after many requests for the channel from Sky HD subscribers.
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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 ,Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Big Momma's House 2.
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.
Sky Movies is part of a "Rate Card" within the UK and BSkyB must supply other TV operators (such as Virgin Media) if they agree to pay a price set down by Sky.
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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.
In 1998, Elisabeth Murdoch (who was Sky's director of channels and services at the time) advocated Sky setting up a film funding and production unit (similar to BBC Films and Film4 Productions). The result was Sky Pictures, which existed in order to invest in both low-budget and mainstream British films. However, following a lack of success and the decision of Elisabeth Murdoch to leave Sky and set up her own production company, Shine, the unit was scaled back and closed in 2001.
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Pin Protection
Pin Protection of some films was brought in on 30th January 2006 to increase the sales of Sky+. An unattended recording of a film with Pin Protection will fail on all recorders except Sky+, including all video-cassette recorders.
Viewers are prompted for a PIN when trying to watch a programme rated 12 or 15 before 20.00, and when trying to watch a programme rated 18 before 22.00. This must be done live, so an unattended recording will fail, or with Sky+ the PIN will need to be entered when watching the recording.
To change or disable these parental control options on Sky+, go to 'Services' 'Parental Control', enter the four digit PIN code and select 'Other restrictions'. Here viewers have the option to enable/disable PIN prompts when trying to play back a programme before the watershed on Sky+. The cheaper Sky boxes will never have this option.
A Sky system has a 4 digit PIN code. The default Sky PIN code is the last four digits of the Sky viewing card. In surveys far more children are found to know how to change the PIN settings on Sky than parents. And many parents will give a 12 year old the PIN in order for them to watch a programme rated 12, few realising that also lets them watch programmes rated 18.
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Voice-overs
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References
- ^ skymovies.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-19.
- ^ "Name tweak for Sky Movies channels", December 24 2007.
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External links
- Sky Movies at sky.com
- Blog by some Sky Movies employees
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