By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)
TUESDAY saw BSkyB perhaps undertake its biggest overhaul in television viewing since it launched the digital satellite era back in 1998. It reshuffled its general entertainment division, following the takeover of the Virgin Media Television Group last summer. It saw the launch of a new channel and new beginnings for old favourites but will viewers notice many changes. The answer is not a simple one but the offerings from these channels should help make their minds up.
The centrepiece of these changes is a brand new channel, Sky Atlantic. Sky has since the beginning of their life in 1989, been the leader in specialising in US shows, so the launch of a channel based on this gender was a certain no-brainer, it had to happen someday. It will focus mainly on US dramas, mostly from the HBO library and repeats of classic ones. The channel’s big hits are expected to come from the smash-hit new shows Boardwalk Empire and Blue Bloods. The classics are expected to feature the likes of 24, Battlestar Galatica and the entire Star Trek collection, acquired from Virgin. Another big-hitter to be on Atlantic is Mad Men, poached from BBC4. Sky Atlantic will only be available on the Sky Digital platform.
A classic television channel meanwhile has been given a rebrand; Living officially joins the Sky family and becomes Sky Living. Having in recent years moved away from lifestyle programmes in its original origins and become more of a hard-hitting female channel, there is expected to be not much chance at the station with shows like Next Top Model, both UK and US versions, Bedlam and Criminal Minds expected to remain. Shows from Sky’s archive that fit the channel’s target audience will also be moved here whilst the channel’s big coup is expected to come later on in the year with the arrival of well-known, and nowadays controversial, figure. Katie Price (a.k.a. Jordan) is moving over from ITV to continue her recent foray into making television programmes.
On the old favourites, there will also be a few tweaks but nothing major. Sky1 will continue its showings of The Simpsons, House, Got To Dance, A League Of Their Own and much more whilst continuing to develop new original content and will also introduce a selection of shows from the former Bravo channel, which closed at the start of the year. Sky2 will have no changes at all, remaining as a catch-up service to Sky1 whilst Sky3 continues to offer programmes targeted for Freeview viewers. However, they will change its name to PickTV next month, which many will say is extremely stupid.
Finally Challenge also becomes part of Sky now and joins the Freeview platform, replacing the now defunct Channel One (formerly Virgin1). It means for the first time, viewers will be able to watch classic episodes of their favourite gameshows like Gladiators, Catchphrase, The Crystal Maze and Takeshi’s Castle without having to pay a subscription. Sky have yet to confirm if any changes will be ahead for the station like the possibility of adding the Sky prefix to the channel’s name or introducing any of Sky’s former and current gameshows to the channel.
Perhaps though the most intriguing move in this overhaul is the heavily marketed, ‘HD Swap’. Viewers who have a Sky+ HD box will see their HD channels swap places in the EPG with their SD counterparts (e.g. Sky 1 HD will be on Channel 106 now on Sky+ HD, compared to remaining at 170 on SD boxes). It is designed by Sky to get its customers to use more of their HD services.
There is no doubt that these changes will enhance the viewer’s choice and quite possibly change the way they perceive about Sky’s programme offering. Tuesday’s events at Sky will perhaps rank as one of its biggest days in the corporation’s 22 year history.
