Sky1

Infobox TV channel
name = Sky1
logosize = 200px
logofile = Sky1 logo (2008).png logoalt =
launch = Summer 1982
picture format = 576i (SDTV 16:9, 4:3),
1080i (HDTV)
share = 0.9%
share as of = July 2008
share source = [http://www.barb.co.uk/viewingsummary/monthreports.cfm?report=monthgmulti&requesttimeout=500&
]
owner = BSkyB
country = UK
broadcast area = UK, Republic of Ireland
language = English
former names = The Satellite Channel (1982-1983),
Satellite Television Limited (1983-1984),
Sky Channel (1984- 1989),
Sky One (1989-1996) & (1997-2008),
Sky 1 (1996-1997),
Sky1 (2008-Present)
sister names = Sky2,
Sky3
web = [http://www.sky.com/sky1 www.sky.com/sky1]
terr avail = Not Available
sat serv 1 = Sky Digital
sat chan 1 = Channel 106
sat serv 2 = Sky+ HD
sat chan 2 = Channel 170
cable serv 1 = UPC Ireland
cable chan 1 = Channel 114
cable serv 2 = WightCable
cable chan 2 = Channel 7/111
adsl serv 1 = Tiscali TV
adsl chan 1 = Channel 353

Sky1 is a British Sky Broadcasting entertainment channel in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. The channel first launched in 1982 as "Satellite Television", and is the fourth-oldest TV channel in the UK, behind BBC One (1 October 1936), ITV (22 September 1955) and BBC Two (20 April 1964). (Channel 4 began later on in 1982.)

History

ky Channel

Sky1 started in 1982 as "Satellite Television Ltd", set up by Brian Hayes, formerly controller of Thames Television. The channel was bought by Rupert Murdoch in 1984 and renamed Sky Channel. The channel produced a number of home grown programmes, including "Sky Trax" which covered European music and children's programmes like Fun Factory and The DJ Kat Show. In 1989, the channel moved to the Astra satellite when Murdoch created the Sky Television Network. At the same time, prime-time broadcasts to European cable operators ended, being replaced by Eurosport.

British Sky Broadcasting Network

Initially the channel's programming remained much the same, except for a few international travel documentaries. On 30 July 1989 the channel was renamed Sky One and began broadcasting to UK and Ireland only. But it was not until 1990-1 that it began to acquire more recent programming, an early success being "Moonlighting", which the BBC had previously screened but not repeated. Sky One also picked up some programming (and more importantly, advertisers) from its merger with BSB's "Galaxy". On 1 September 1993 Sky One was encrypted as part of the Sky Multichannels subscription package, and could no longer be viewed outside the UK and Ireland without exporting a box, or receiving it over cable.

A companion channel, Sky 2, launched on 1 September 1996 but was not a success and closed after just one year, on 31 August 1997.

In 2000, a dedicated feed of Sky One for the Republic of Ireland was launched. For most of this Irish feeds existence, the only difference between it and the UK feed has been differing commercials and programme promotions. However, from 9 January 2006, Sky One Ireland has simulcast the 18:30 bulletin of Sky News Ireland in place of the programme shown on the UK feed. However, the logic - or more specifically, the need - of the Sky News feed on Sky One Ireland, has been questioned, as all services in Ireland which carry Sky One, also carry Sky News (which has the same bulletin at the same time). Sky News Ireland has since been cut from the scheduling of both Sky One and Sky News.

In 2002, Sky One again gained a sister channel, Sky One Mix, which was intended as a "catch-up" channel, screening repeats of key Sky One programmes later in the same week. The channel was subsequently renamed Sky Mix. Before again being renamed to Sky Two on 31 October 2005 when a second sister channel, Sky Three, launched. [ cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4392764.stm | title = Sky launches new Freeview channel | date = 2005-10-31 | accessdate = 2007-07-31 | publisher = BBC News]

In June 2003, the channel started broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen. [ cite web | url = http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/a11015/sky-confirms-expansion-of-widescreen-broadcasting.html | title = Sky confirms expansion of widescreen broadcasting | date = 2003-05-02 | accessdate = 2007-08-02 | publisher = Digital Spy | author = Alan Jay] However, all trailers and commercials were in 4:3 until November 2005 Fact|date=February 2007 because they were played off the same servers for all Sky channels, many of which were not broadcast in widescreen.

Sky1 (along with Sky 2 and Sky 3) is now fully broadcast in native widescreen, with the exception of programmes that are only available in the 4:3 picture format (such as "The Simpsons" or "Futurama").

Sky1 Relaunch (31.08.08)

'Sky One' was relaunched as 'Sky1' on the 31st August 2008. The Single 'Do It Well' by Jennifer Lopez was used for the relaunch of the channel and is still being used for promos showing upcoming highlights and new series.

Sky1 HD

To coincide with launch of Sky HD, Sky One HD began broadcasting in May 2006. The channel is a simulcast of Sky1 and screens high-definition versions of some of the channel's programming, which include Lost, Bones, and later episodes of Malcolm in the Middle. Programmes that are not available in HD are "upscaled". Sky have stated that they intend to increase the amount of HD content they show, and hope that by the end of 2008, two thirds of all prime time shows, and 90% of their own original commissions, will be in HD. [ cite web | url = http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/a58126/sky-promises-more-hd-programming.html | title = Sky promises more HD programming | date = 2007-05-22 | publisher = Digital Spy | author = Neil Wilkes] There was also a new Sky1 HD logo which was introduced along with the rebrand on 31 August, 2008 and this can be seen on the right.

Virgin Media dispute

On March 1, 2007, at 00:00 GMT, Sky's basic channels, which included Sky1, Sky2, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Travel and Sky Travel Extra were removed from the Virgin Media cable television services after a dispute between Virgin Media and BSkyB. This was due to the expiry of their previous carriage agreement and the companies' inability to reach a new deal. [ cite web | url = http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/a43319/sky-one-sky-news-pulled-from-virgin.html | title = Sky One, Sky News pulled from Virgin | date = 2007-03-01 | publisher = Digital Spy | author = James Welsh] [ cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6405549.stm | title = BSkyB channels taken off Virgin | date = 2007-03-01 | publisher = BBC News] . Virgin issued legal proceedings against Sky over the dispute in April 2007.

The Virgin Media predecessor Telewest was involved in a similar situation in late 2004 when negotiations for renewed carriage of the Nickelodeon channels broke down. Telewest was unwilling to pay extra to keep the channels and preferred to simply drop them, other Viacom owned channels remained such as MTV and Paramount Comedy. The reaction to this by customers was fairly large and many left the provider to rival Sky, others were retained as Telewest offered them a free upgrade to the Disney Channel for periods of between 1 and 3 months, others were reportedly offered upgrades to Sky Movies packages in a desperate attempt to keep them from leaving. The Nickelodeon channels returned to the Telewest platform on February 12, 2005 following successful renegotiations in Nickelodeon's favour.

At the beginning of March 2008 the two companies were reported to have resumed discussions over the dispute. Virgin chief executive Neil Berkett was reported as saying they had "continued interest in securing Sky basics back on our platform". The resumed talks had followed shortly after both Virgin and BSkyB had launched appeals against a recent Competition Appeal Tribunal ruling on BSkyB's 17.9% stake in ITV plc. [ cite web | url = http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/mar/02/virginmedia?gusrc=rss&feed=media| title = Virgin in talks to resolve dispute over Sky channels | date = 2008-03-02 | publisher = The Guardian | author = James Robinson] [ cite web | url = http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/digitaltv/a90679/talks-resume-over-sky-carriage-dispute.html| title = 'Talks resume' over Sky carriage dispute | date = 2008-03-03 | publisher = Digital Spy | author = Dave West]

Programming

US programmes

The channel relies heavily on screenings of US television programmes, with many coming from Murdoch's Fox Network. "The Simpsons" has been a regular Sky1 fixture since the early days. As many as five episodes of The Simpsons are broadcast each evening, with any new episodes generally being shown on Sunday. Sky1 has exclusive rights in the UK to show the most recent series of The Simpsons. Another early and long running fixture was "Married With Children", which ran all through the 1990s, but in the early 2000s the show suddenly disappeared from its regular schedule and has not been screened on any Sky channel, since. Sky1 was also the original home to the UK's first run showings of episodes of ER and Friends, giving Sky1 some of the highest ratings for any satellite channel. In 2000, 2.8 million viewers watched an episode of Friends, the highest rated show on any satellite channel. However when Channel 4 launched their own digital sister channel E4 they outbid Sky1 for exclusive first run rights to both shows. However, Sky1 still held the repeat rights for the early seasons of both shows for several years.

Sky1 previously broadcast WWE (Previously WWF) Programing, before moving it all to Sky Sports 3. Sky1 currently broadcasts WWE Experience, a one-hour roundup of Raw, SmackDown! and ECW programming.

Programmes that have had their UK premiere screenings on Sky1 have included
* "The X-Files"
* "Stargate SG-1"
* "Futurama"
* "Family Guy"
* "Dilbert"
* "Malcolm in the Middle"
* "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
* "24" (from Season 3)
* "Stargate Atlantis"
* "Nip/Tuck"
* "Las Vegas"
* "Battlestar Galactica"
* "Rescue Me"
* "Deadwood"
* "Father of the Pride"
* "Bones"
* "Eureka" (renamed "A Town Called Eureka" in the UK)
* "LOST" (seasons 3-6)
* "Prison Break" (from season 3)
* "Fringe"Sky also acquired rights to premiere screenings of the "Star Trek" franchise, beginning with Season 4 of "".

Programmes commissioned by Sky1

Sky has commissioned a number of UK-made programmes such as "Dream Team", a drama series based on a fictional football team; "The Strangerers" (a science fiction sitcom that was dropped after one series and never repeated); Al Murray's sitcom "Time Gentlemen Please"; and "Baddiel's Syndrome". "Hex" another sci-fi show has proved popular, but was axed in April 2006 and "Mile High" also proved quite popular but it only lasted from 2003-2005. Sky One commissioned Terry Pratchett's Hogfather for Christmas 2006 proving to be their most successful programme ever. Sky also co-produces "The 4400" sci-fi TV show and co-financed the first season of "Battlestar Galactica".

It also screens many "reality" shows such as "Cruise with Stelios", "Road Wars", "Shock Treatment", "World's Deadliest Gangs", "World of Pain", "Road Raja", "Ibiza Uncovered", "Cirque de Celebrité" and the most recent series '. It also recently has received success with entertainment science shows ' and spin-offs, "" and "Brainiac's Test Tube Baby" and also Mission Implausible. Less successful shows include "Harry Enfield's Brand Spanking New Show".

Sky One have also commissioned a number of game shows including Blockbusters. The most recent game show is from Mark Burnett, "Are You Smarter Than a 10-Year Old", based on a United States format. On January 30, 2008 Sky One announced plans to bring back the UK 1990s game show "Gladiators". [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jan/30/bskyb.television] Later this year Sky1 will air The BOX Awards 2008.

Censorship

Sky is often criticised for imposing more censorship than people feel is necessary on its programming Fact|date=February 2007. Examples include editing episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" [ cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1763615.stm | title = Buffy fans slay Sky One | date = 2002-01-16 | publisher = BBC News] for violence and the depictions of dangerous actions that can easily be imitated and banning episodes of "South Park" due to strong violent and/or sexual overtones, but the most notable is arguably the broadcaster's treatment of "The Simpsons", which would frequently be edited for the tamest of sexual and drug references, as well as swear words; even "crap" was routinely removed at one point. Also they tend to cut out lines (also happens on Sky3) that include the word "bastard" in Futurama.

This editing style was also imposed on "Family Guy" when it premiered in the United Kingdom and was so excessive (due to Sky's decision to show it at inappropriate times such as 5pm - before The Simpsons), that many thought the programme was no longer enjoyable, as that particular show features a large amount of racy and politically incorrect jokes, and the BBFC rate the show at age 15.

Many episodes of "The Simpsons" that were edited by Sky were eventually shown uncut on BBC Two. As of February 2 2000, Sky relaxed their policies and restored many lines that had been previously removed.

Voice-over

Current Xfm DJ Claire Sturgess has been a "voice" of Sky1 since 1998, and was the sole announcer from 2001 until 2005. As one of Sky1's only two announcers, her voice-overs are pre-recorded once a week and played out by an automated system. Dave Kelly is the male voice-over who does live links.

References

External links

* [http://www.sky.com/sky1 Sky1] at sky.com
* [http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/skytv/skychannel.html Sky Channel presentation] at TVARK
* [http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/skytv/skyone.html Sky 1 presentation] at TVARK