Sky Portfolio Changes

[WillPS]

And that's relevant, how, exactly? Doesn't matter if it was FTA or not, the point is that ITV4 and Men & Motors co-existed, therefore the former didn't replace the latter.

My point is that in that particular case the other part of the statement applies...

a good subset of the pay channels included went straight to FTA (E4, Dave, Challenge, Sky Arts) or were replaced outright by FTA channels (ITV3/ITV4).

[Bennyboy84]

ITV3 yes, but not ITV4. It co-existed with Men & Motors for quite some time, unlike Plus which was unceremoniously yanked of air to make way for ITV3.

Wasn't Plus the one which went off air mid programme just before ITV3 showed up?

[channelbox]

ITV3 yes, but not ITV4. It co-existed with Men & Motors for quite some time, unlike Plus which was unceremoniously yanked of air to make way for ITV3.

Wasn't Plus the one which went off air mid programme just before ITV3 showed up?

Yes. It was during Pie in The Sky. ITV weren't able to secure a Sky EPG slot for ITV3 on it's launch day so bought the entirety of Plus (which used to be co-owned with Sky) and immediately closed it down.

ITV2 moved to it's spot on the Sky guide (118) and ITV3 launched that evening on Sky 119.

[bkman1990]

Are there any more plans for closures of Sky's SD channels to take place later this year?

[Ghost]

Looks like Hour of Power has been quietly dropped after almost 40 years, as they are now showing normal programmes on Showcase and Max, and the show’s Sky page has been removed.

[Roger Darthwell]

Looks like Hour of Power has been quietly dropped after almost 40 years, as they are now showing normal programmes on Showcase and Max, and the show’s Sky page has been removed.

A historic day, Rob once told me that this programme was on Sky since forever......

---

Just discovered that the Hour of Power is now on TBN UK
https://www.tbnuk.org/schedule/programme/hour-of-power
Maybe this is why Sky finally dropped it, but it's still the end of an era anyway

[Rdd]

The last vestige of pre-1989 Sky finally gone.

[London Lite]

TBN is a much more suitable channel for the show with a much more captive audience.

[JAS84]

Yeah, Hour of Power has been out of place for literally decades. Sky must be glad to be finally rid of it.

[ethanh05]

Yeah, Hour of Power has been out of place for literally decades. Sky must be glad to be finally rid of it.

Not really, it's one hour where no one watches regardless on a Sunday morning. Most of them probably forgot they were still showing it.

[nwtv2003]

First it was WWF/WWE, now Hour of Power, you could argue the only proper old school Sky show that’s left now is The Simpsons, but given it’s only on Sky Showcase, I can’t see it lasting there forever.

I never got the deal why Hour of Power remained on Sky for so long, more so after Comcast acquired the company.

Hour of Power’s status on Sky was probably up there with The 700 Club on the Freeform channel in the US.

For those who don’t know it has to be there in the schedule as it was a stipulation of any sale of Pat Robertson’s Family Channel that it must remain in the schedule. Even Freeform tell its viewers not to watch it.

https://youtu.be/CSxJW8qGzNc

[Neil Jones]

I never got the deal why Hour of Power remained on Sky for so long, more so after Comcast acquired the company.

Well as it was something Rupert Murdoch got involved in:

Every Sunday morning, just after dawn, The Hour of Power is broadcast all over Europe on Sky One for free, courtesy of Rupert Murdock . According to Schuller Snr, when the channel was first launched, Murdock phoned him and told him that he wanted the 6am slot on Sunday's to be given to "religious programmes," and he insisted that The Hour of Power would be that chosen broadcast. Schuller informed Murdock he couldn't afford the fee, so Murdock offered to pay the cost and has done so ever since. One doesn't have to wonder who ultimately benefits from this.

And yes they couldn't spell Murdoch's name right but I can't be bothered to scribble [sic] all over the quote so...

Re: Comcast, well as they bought Sky in 2018, and the programme in discussion has now been removed four years after that, that would suggest some sort of contract agreement being honoured that has now expired, and as Murdoch is no longer part of the operation having sold his shares to Comcast in 2018, he can't renew it on Sky's behalf and they've obviously decided to let it lapse.

[Brekkie]

First it was WWF/WWE, now Hour of Power, you could argue the only proper old school Sky show that’s left now is The Simpsons, but given it’s only on Sky Showcase, I can’t see it lasting there forever.

I never got the deal why Hour of Power remained on Sky for so long, more so after Comcast acquired the company.

Hour of Power’s status on Sky was probably up there with The 700 Club on the Freeform channel in the US.

For those who don’t know it has to be there in the schedule as it was a stipulation of any sale of Pat Robertson’s Family Channel that it must remain in the schedule. Even Freeform tell its viewers not to watch it.

https://youtu.be/CSxJW8qGzNc

Love those.   I know US Cable Channels have a much more linear history where a "new" generally takes over another channel to acquire the slot but you'd have thought ABC would have found a way around that to effectively close the legacy channel and launch a new channel without the baggage of that requirement.

[Kunst]

Popping this here, not worth a separate thread.

Has anyone noticed a significant drop in third party advertising across the Sky Channels portfolio and a consequential increase in own promos since mid October.

Can't say I've been watching much this year, but in previous years I've noticed a dip in 3rd party ads around October and then an increase in the latter half of November. Presumably companies reduce their ad spend now in order to be able to spend more closer to Christmas?

I've also noticed that, and it seems to me a their new policy: showing slightly less advertising than permitted, and more of their own promos.

In some cases timing is so constrained within a clock hour (especially when a content is long 44-45 mins long), they prefer probably to give priority to their own products

[Medianext.MX]

Sky Showcase is launching in Germany on August 4. The channel won't replace the local Sky One, like they did in the UK. It is part of a channel reorganisation which affects mostly their sports channels, aligning it with Sky Sports; that will happen tomorrow.

https://www.dwdl.de/nachrichten/88751/ne...utschland/