Timeline of Sky Cinema facts for kids

Sky Cinema is a super popular TV service where you can watch tons of movies! It's been around for a long time, changing and growing to bring you the best films. This timeline will show you some of the most important moments in its history, from when it first started to how it became the movie giant it is today.

1980s: The Start of Sky Movies

1988: A New Idea for Movies

• 8 June – A media boss named Rupert Murdoch announced plans to start a new TV service. It would have four channels, and one of them would be just for movies! This was a big deal for how people would watch films at home.

1989: Sky Movies Begins!

• 5 February – Sky Television officially launched, and with it, Sky Movies began broadcasting at 6:00 PM. The very first movie they showed was called Project X.
• 3 June – Sky made a special deal with The Walt Disney Company to show their movies for five years. This was a huge step for Sky Movies, bringing lots of family-friendly films to viewers.

1990s: Growing and Changing

1990: Becoming a Pay Channel

• 5 February – Sky Movies became a "pay channel," meaning you had to pay to watch it. It was the first Sky channel to do this.
• 11 February – Sky Movies showed its first big live event: a boxing match between Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas.
• 25 March – Another TV service called BSB launched, and it also had a movie channel called The Movie Channel.
• 1 September – Sky Movies started broadcasting movies 24 hours a day! Before this, it used to show shopping programs in the mornings.
• 2 November – Sky TV and BSB joined forces to become one big company called British Sky Broadcasting, or BSkyB.

1991: More Movie Channels

• 8 April – Sky Movies started broadcasting on a new satellite, replacing another channel.
• 15 April – The Movie Channel also launched on a new satellite. Its first film was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
• 6 May – The Movie Channel also began broadcasting 24 hours a day, just like Sky Movies.

1992: New Movie Experiences

• 1 September – Sky Movies stopped showing things like boxing or wrestling. From now on, it would only show movies, as other channels like Sky Sports took over the non-movie content.
• 1 October – A new channel called Sky Movies Gold launched. It was part of the Sky Movies package and showed "classic movies." The first film on this new channel was Rocky II.

1993: Easier Movie Ratings

• 1 February – BSkyB introduced its own system for rating films, making it easier for viewers to understand what kind of movie they were watching and when it was suitable to watch.

1995: Sharing Channels

• 1 October – Sky Movies Gold started sharing its broadcast time with The Disney Channel. This meant Sky Movies Gold now broadcast from 10:00 PM to 6:00 AM.

1997: Rebranding and New Services

• 1 November – Sky Movies and The Movie Channel got new names. They became Sky Movies Screen 1 and Sky Movies Screen 2.
• 1 December – Sky Box Office launched. This service let people order movies to watch almost whenever they wanted, like a very early version of on-demand movies.

1998: Even More Channels!

• 10 September – The movie channels changed their names again! Sky Movies Screen 1 became Sky MovieMax, Sky Movies Screen 2 became Sky Premier, and Sky Movies Gold was renamed Sky Cinema.
• 1 October – Sky Digital launched, bringing even more channels. Sky Movies added seven new channels, and many more Sky Movies Box Office channels started broadcasting.
• 15 November – A rival digital TV service called ONdigital launched, and it also included two Sky Movies channels.

1999: Expanding the Lineup

• 1 October – Sky MovieMax 5 launched, adding another movie channel to the Sky lineup.

2000s: Digital Growth and HD=

2002: Channel Changes

• 1 May – The ITV Digital service stopped broadcasting, so the two Sky Movies channels on that service were no longer available.
• 1 July – Sky Movies had another big rebranding. The Sky Premier channels became Sky Movies Premier, Sky Moviemax channels became Sky Movies Max, and Sky Cinema channels became Sky Movies Cinema.

2003: Simplifying Channels

• June – The Sky Movies Premier Widescreen channel closed. Most films on the other channels were now shown in widescreen, which is a wider picture format.
• 1 November – The Sky Movies Premier and Sky Movies Max channels were grouped together as Sky Movies 1 through 9. Sky Movies Cinema 1 and 2 became Sky Cinema 1 and 2.

2006: High Definition Arrives

• 30 January – A tenth Sky Movies channel was launched! Also, Sky Movies started broadcasting two channels in High Definition (HD) for the first time, offering much clearer pictures.

2007: Channels by Genre

• 4 April – Sky Movies was completely revamped! Each channel was now focused on a specific type of movie, like comedy, action, or family films. They got new names like Sky Movies Premiere, Sky Movies Comedy, Sky Movies Family, and more.

2008: More HD Channels

• February – Sky Movies HD1 and HD2 were renamed Sky Movies Screen 1 and Screen 2.
• 20 March – A high-definition version of Sky Movies Premiere launched, so you could watch the newest movies in amazing quality.
• October – Many more Sky Movies channels, like Action/Thriller, Sci-Fi/Horror, and Family, also launched their own HD versions.

2009: Indie Films in HD

• 26 October – Sky Movies Indie HD launched, bringing independent films to viewers in high definition.

2010s: New Ways to Watch=

2010: Channel Updates and Virgin Media

• 26 March – Some Sky Movies channels were renamed again to better describe their content, like Sky Movies Action & Thriller becoming Sky Movies Action & Adventure.
• 2 August – The Sky Movies HD channels became available on the Virgin Media TV platform, meaning more people could watch movies in HD.
• 9 August – Sky Movies Classics HD launched, but only for Sky customers at first.

2011: Classics HD on Virgin Media

• 4 October – Sky Movies Classics HD also launched on Virgin Media, so more viewers could enjoy classic films in high definition.

2012: Now TV and Big Movie Deals

• 17 July – Sky launched Now TV. This new service allowed people to watch Sky TV without needing a long contract, making it easier for more people to access movies.
• 6 November – Sky Movies made an exclusive deal with Universal Pictures to show their films first, including new releases and older movies. This deal also allowed Universal films to be shown on Now TV. This followed a similar deal with Warner Bros.

2013: Disney Movies and More Changes

• 28 March – Sky Movies Disney launched, becoming a dedicated channel for Disney films. To make space for this new channel, Sky Movies Classics stopped broadcasting.

2016: Sky Movies Becomes Sky Cinema

• 8 July – In a big change, Sky Movies was rebranded and became simply Sky Cinema. This new name reflected its wider range of movies and services.

2017: Box Office Closes

• 4 January – Sky Cinema Box Office closed down. By this time, many movies were available on demand through other services.

2018: Original Films

• January – Sky announced a partnership to create Sky Cinema Original Films. This meant Sky would help make and distribute new movies, which would then be shown on Sky Cinema and in cinemas. The first film was Monster Family.

2020s: Modern Changes=

2020: Content Warnings and New Channels

• 22 June – Sky started adding content warnings to some older films. These warnings explained that the movies might contain "outdated attitudes, language, and cultural depictions" that could be offensive today.
• 23 July – Sky Cinema Animation launched, a new channel just for animated movies!
• 30 December – Sky Cinema Disney closed. It was temporarily replaced by a channel called Sky Cinema Five Star Movies.

2021: Premiere +1 Returns

• 6 January – Sky Cinema Premiere +1 returned to broadcasting. It became the permanent replacement for the closed Sky Cinema Disney channel.

2022: Saying Goodbye to Standard Definition

• 31 March – Sky stopped broadcasting some of its channels in standard definition (SD) for the first time. This meant channels like Comedy, Drama, and Thriller were only available in higher quality.

See also

• Timeline of Sky News
• Timeline of Sky One
• Timeline of Sky Sports