Ultra HD is promised before the end of the year as Sky drops the Sky Movies name in favour of Sky Cinema.
The new brand will go live in the UK and Ireland on 8 July. It’s already used in Germany and Austria, and in Italy. Further announcements are planned in those markets in the coming months.
Sky is promising a new movie premiere each day, a greater library of on demand titles, and “better HD picture and sound quality”. HD will be offered as standard to all Sky Cinema customers on the Sky and Virgin Media platforms, while Sky Q customers will get their first taste of Ultra HD before the end of the year.
Ian Lewis, Director of Sky Cinema, Europe said: “With Sky Cinema we are giving customers an even closer to the cinema experience with enhanced picture and sound quality. However, we know the heart of the service is great movies. Customers want a breadth of the latest quality films to enjoy with the flexibility to watch whenever they want and on whatever device they choose.”
To improve the HD, Sky is using a new internal master format that provides a third more pixels and four times the number of colour shades of the current HD offered. This means sharper and more vibrant pictures for a better viewing experience. As well as improved picture, selected movies on demand will also have sound closer to cinema. The sound range has been increased in part by taking the audio track straight from the studios. It means louder bangs and quieter whispers with no need for customer to make any adjustments to their TV.
Other functionality includes the use of the Restart feature, allowing subscribers to watch scheduled films from the beginning.
Upcoming titles, receiving their pay-TV premiere, include Spectre (8 July), Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (9 July), Steve Jobs (18 September), Bridge of Spies (30 September) and The Danish Girl (23rd October) will all premiere in the first few months alone. The Jungle Book, Zootopia and Captain America: Civil War are set to headline this Christmas.
