Introducing Sky Cinema.

What is Sky Cinema?

As of 8th July 2016 Sky Cinema replaces the existing Sky Movies service for Sky Customers in the UK and Ireland.

You’ll still be able to enjoy all the existing Sky Movies content you had previously as well as some extra content and some cool improvements.

What’s New?

• The first thing you’ll notice about Sky Cinema is the new name, after about 27 years it’s time for a change. You’ll start seeing the new name appearing across adverts, channels and Sky apps.
• There will now be a new movie premier every single day, that’s a 75% increase over Sky Movies.
• Sky will now be using an improved master format capable of storing the master files at a higher resolution, this will result in an improved HD picture across Sky Cinema channels and Sky Cinema OnDemand. (For those who like it technical, Sky will now store masters in 1920X1080 as oppose to 1440x1080 removing the need to rescale the content before delivery. The new format also supports 4 times the number of colour shades.)
• For Sky Cinema movies downloaded from OnDemand, Sky will no longer be applying Loudness Normalisation. This means that the original artistic intent of the soundtrack will be maintained delivering sound as the director intended.
• Even more films will be available OnDemand, enjoy around 1200 films available to download instantly, an increase of 20%.
• There will also be more pop up movie channels, so if you’re a fan of the 007 or Harry Potter channels you can look forward to at least one popup channel every month. Sky Cinema kicks off the pop up channels with Sky Cinema Tom Cruise.
• Sky Cinema will feature more original programming such as interviews, documentaries and coverage of movie events.
• Enjoy some of the best stories from around the world in the dedicated “World Cinema” slot every Wednesday from 10PM.

What will the Sky Cinema channels be called?

Not much is changing on the channel name front. Sky Showcase and Showcase HD are the only channels which will be renamed permanently, to Sky Hits and Sky Hits HD respectively. All other channels will continue to maintain their genre names, but will be known as Sky Cinema channels instead of Sky Movies channels.

Sky Greats/Sky Greats HD will become Sky Cinemas first popup channel Tom Cruise/TomCruiseHD.

• Sky Showcase (303/330) renames to Sky Hits: Sky Cinema presents the biggest and the best movies – the hits you missed and the blockbusters you want to watch again.
• Sky Showcase HD (330/303) renames to Sky Hits HD: Sky Cinema presents the biggest and the best movies – the hits you missed and the blockbusters you want to watch again.
• Sky Premiere/Sky PremiereHD (301/314): Get a brand new movie every day plus access all areas with exclusive shows, on-set interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.
• Sky Prem+ 1 (302): Brand new movies every day plus access all areas with exclusive shows, on-set interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.
• Sky Greats/Sky Greats HD (304/331): Relive the powerful and influential golden age of Hollywood – timeless storytelling, unforgettable hits and movie legends.
• Sky Disney/Sky Disney HD (305/332): Get lost in a world of magical adventures, enchanted fairytales, loveable characters and infectious soundtracks.
• Sky Family/Sky Family HD (306/333): Watch the memorable movies together – they’re filled with fantasy plots, heroic characters and incredible animations.
• Sky Action/Sky Action HD (307/334): Full-throttle, high-octane, non-stop explosive action, adventure and adrenaline, so hold on tight.
• Sky Comedy/Sky Comedy HD (308/335): Turn up the fun as eccentric characters take the lead to deliver mayhem and misadventures with lots and lots of laughs.
• Sky Thriller/Sky Thriller HD (309/336): Gripping, exciting, surprising twists and turns, tense plots, riveting stories and mysterious characters.
• Sky DramaRom/Sky DraRomHD (310/337): Get caught up in the intrigue, absorbed in the plots and involved in the relationships.
• Sky ScFi/Horror/Sky ScFi/HorHD (311/339): Fear cinema’s scariest characters or imagine an alternate world with creative and thought-provoking stories.
• Sky Select/Sky Select HD (312/340): Sky Cinema presents a carefully curated selection of the greatest indies and timeless classics, and is the home of World Cinema.
• Sky Greats (304/311) renames to Tom Cruise: Sky Cinema dedicates an entire channel to one of Hollywood's biggest super stars. Sky Cinema Tom Cruise. Upgrade at sky.com/addmovies or via interactive now
• Sky Greats HD (311/304) renames to TomCruiseHD: Sky Cinema dedicates an entire channel to one of Hollywood's biggest super stars. Sky Cinema Tom Cruise. To view Sky Movies in stunning HD please visit sky.com/HD

Will I have to pay extra?

No, if you’re an existing Sky Movies subscriber there will be no change in the price you pay. Your bill will simply change to say “Sky Cinema” instead of “Sky Movies”.

Do I need to do anything?

No, if you currently subscribe to Sky Movies you will automatically be a subscriber to Sky Cinema from 8th July.

Will the improvements be seen on all content straight away?

Not necessarily, for the improved picture Sky requires the movie studios to redeliver all their masters to enable Sky to re- ingest them into the OnDemand system and create new copies to replace the existing assets.

Once again for the improved audio this requires new copies of the movie to be created within the OnDemand system to replace the existing asset. And with around 1200 movies available OnDemand not everything might benefit from the improvements straight away.

How can I tell which movies include the improved HD and Audio?

I’m afraid there is no symbol or text in the EPG to identify this, but the latest Sky Cinema premiers will benefit from these improvements.

My Sky Homepage still says Sky Movies, am I benefitting from the improvements?

You might notice when you go to the Sky+HD/Sky Q homepage or other areas of the EPG it still says Sky Movies, don’t worry its perfectly normal.

If you have a Sky Q box this name is hard-coded into certain parts of Sky Q Boxes software and requires a software update in order to change, this change will happen at a later date.

If you have a Sky+HD box this name is also hard coded into certain parts of the boxes software. But if your Sky+HD box is connected to the internet, it is possible for the box to pick up the new name on the homepage without a software update providing Sky change something at their end. If your Sky+HD box isn’t connected to the internet, then the name on the homepage will not change until a software update, which will happen at a later date.

Regardless of whether your Sky box still says Sky Movies or has changed to say Sky Cinema, you will still be able to benefit from all the Cinema improvements from 8th July. This is because the improvements are as a result to changes to Sky’s back end and not require a change to how your box functions.