Sky Deutschland is focusing its range of linear movie channels on Sky Cinema Premiere, Sky Cinema Classics, Sky Cinema Action, Sky Cinema Family and Sky Cinema Highlights from April 11, 2024.
Sky Cinema Fun HD, Sky Cinema Premieres +24 HD, Sky Cinema Thriller HD, Sky Cinema Best of HD and Sky Cinema Special HD will be closed, a Sky spokesperson confirmed to Broadband TV News. There will be no replacement channels for Sky customers, so the downsizing should mean cost savings for the pay-TV broadcaster because less capacity is needed for distribution.
In a press release, Sky justifies the move by stating that it wants to “meet a steadily growing on-demand usage and the simultaneous desire for customised curation” and has therefore “optimised and simplified” the structure of the Sky Cinema channels. “All previous film content will be broadcast in a concentrated form on five linear channels. This will give Sky Cinema a thematically sharpened channel profile so that viewers can find their favourite films even faster.”
Sky Q continues to combine linear and on-demand use with additional functions such as ‘restart’, which allows viewers to restart a film that is already running on a linear Sky Cinema channel.
The five new Sky Cinema channels can be subscribed to via the Cinema package. This also includes the Warner TV Channel and free access to the Paramount+ streaming service. Alternatively, the five channels and the film package can also be accessed on the streaming service WOW and with a series and movie subscription.
