Our content

Millions of customers choose Sky because they love the quality entertainment we provide. We understand the importance of great TV and we invest over £1.4 billion a year in our channels to make sure our customers get what they want.

When Sky launched in 1989, the number of television channels in the UK doubled from four to eight. Since that time, the multi-channel universe has expanded to include hundreds of channels, endorsing our belief that viewers would respond to more choice.

Even in such a highly dynamic marketplace, Sky’s family of channels continues to set the pace. Whether it is Sky Sports’ commitment to the highest standards in sports broadcasting, Sky News’ reputation for breaking news, the best in entertainment from Sky1, or the unparalleled Sky Arts, Sky maintains a unique position in UK broadcasting.

As part of our leadership in high definition television, an ever-growing proportion of Sky’s commissioned programming in entertainment, arts and sport is now broadcast in HD, as are many of our acquired programmes in entertainment and movies.

In addition to our broad portfolio of wholly-owned channel brands – Sky Sports, Sky Movies, Sky Box Office, Sky News, Sky 1, 2 & 3, Sky Arts and Sky Real Lives – Sky is also a shareholder in a number of joint venture channels. These include The History Channel, The Biography Channel, Nickelodeon, Paramount Comedy, National Geographic Channel and Attheraces.

From our own home-grown drama and documentaries to the latest US hits, you’ll find it on Sky1 and Sky1 HD. Available exclusively to pay-TV customers, Sky1 continues to be the most popular digital entertainment channel in Sky TV homes.

Sky1 mixes blockbuster acquisitions – such as 24, Lost, The Simpsons and Prison Break – with breakthrough commissions such as Ross Kemp on Gangs, Gladiators, Are You Smarter Than A 10 Year Old? and our drama adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s The Colour of Magic. In 2008, Sky1 won the title of Entertainment Channel of the Year at the Broadcast Digital Channel Awards, receiving acclaim for its “noisy, cut-through programming”. Supported by its sister channels Sky2 and Sky3, Sky1 is part of a family of channels offering a diverse mix of entertainment for our customers.

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Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Arts 1 HD and Sky Arts 2 HD are the only channels in the UK and Ireland dedicated to the arts, showing more arts-related programmes each week than the five terrestrial channels show in a month. Sky Arts 1 shows the very best of contemporary arts and culture programming, from Art Rocks and Suggs Italian Job to the Book Show. From The Bolshoi Ballet to Vanessa Mae’s classical top ten, Sky Arts 2 shows the best of classical arts such as opera, classical music, fine art and dance programming. Sky Arts 1 HD and Sky Arts 2 HD showcase the best of both channels with the picture and sound quality of high definition technology.

As one of the UK’s largest arts sponsors, Sky Arts has supported English National Opera as Season Sponsor since 2003 and is National Tour sponsor of English National Ballet. Sky Arts is also broadcast sponsor of the Guardian Hay Festival, offering daily exclusive coverage from the UK’s pre-eminent literary festival. Sky Arts also links up with arts organisations across the country in on-screen and online partnerships, giving viewers a unique glimpse of the artistic process leading up to a performance. Next year’s partnerships will include the internationally-acclaimed choir, The Sixteen, and The Courtauld Institute’s permanent collection.

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Sky Movies is the complete movie service, showing a huge choice of movies from the latest Hollywood blockbusters to cult classics. Through our agreements with the major studios right through to the leading independents, Sky Movies offers customers over 500 different movies a week including at least five new premieres, including most of the biggest movies before any other TV channel.

We are committed to providing our customers with the best possible viewing experience. To make it easier for customers to find their way around the huge choice of films, we group movies into different genre channels including Sci-Fi & Horror, Comedy, Drama and Family.

We don’t show any advertisements during our films – unlike other
UK film channels – and we PIN-protect pre-watershed. We show all content, where available, in Dolby 5.1 We were the first UK broadcaster to launch dedicated HD movie channels and, through Sky⁺, Sky Anytime TV and Sky Player, customers can choose when and how to enjoy the movie that they want to watch.

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Launched in 1989 as Europe’s first rolling 24-hour news channel, Sky News has changed the face of TV news in the UK. Wherever and whenever important stories break, Sky News is there – always providing comprehensive and accurate coverage.

Our award-winning coverage can be accessed on TV, through the web, on mobile phones, on big screens at train stations and on radio, so it’s always possible to keep up to date when on the move. With a superb track record for breaking the big stories first, we remain the channel of choice for newsrooms and other organisations which need fast and accurate coverage of major news stories.

Our success and the sustained quality of our coverage continues to be recognised by viewers and our industry. For the sixth time in seven years, Sky News was named News Channel of the Year by the Royal Television Society in 2008. In addition, our Asia correspondent, Alex Crawford, received the accolade of TV Journalist of the Year.

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Launched in 2007, Sky Real Lives is the only TV channel in the UK to tell the extraordinary stories of ordinary people, 24 hours a day. From the emotional journeys of conjoined twins Ladan and Laleh Bijani to the Extraordinary Weight Series, it offers poignant, emotive and fascinating programmes connecting
viewers with remarkable everyday people.

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Sky Sports has dramatically expanded the quantity, quality, depth and variety of top-class live sport on TV. This year, Sky Sports will broadcast more than 40,000 hours of sports across five core channels and three HD channels.

In the 2008-09 season, we will show over 450 live football matches, including 92 live matches from the Barclays Premier League and up to 14 live matches every week during the UEFA Champions League. Our customers can see every ball of England’s cricket Tests and One-Day Internationals, as well as a host of other sports including rugby, golf and tennis.

We don’t limit ourselves by events and mainstream sports. We covered every race of yachting’s last America’s Cup, show matches from Netball’s Super League, a weekly fishing programme, speedway, darts, poker and equestrianism. In addition to broadcasting sport at all levels, including women’s football and schools athletics, our investments help to fund development from the elite to the grass roots.

Sky Sports has had a major impact on how sport is covered on TV, pioneering new techniques such as interactivity, stump microphones, steady-cam and super-slo-mo which are now industry standard. Through our experts and support programmes, we’ve brought a new level of commentary and analysis, enhancing understanding and enjoyment.

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