Sky remakes movie packages

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BSkyB's movie channels are to be reorganised into genres including comedy, drama, indie and "modern greats", the latest in a string of revamps for the film offerings.
Currently called Sky Movies 1 to 10 and Sky Cinema 1 and 2, they will also be split into two separate subscription packages along genre lines for the first time, with comedy, family classics and modern greats in one, action/thriller, sci-fi/horror, independent and drama in the other.

Sophie Turner Laing, the deputy managing director of Sky Networks, said the changes would enable viewers to enjoy "even greater control over the films they want to watch".

Sky has also announced more details of its PC on-demand service, Sky Anytime, which is transferring to television.

Sky Anytime allows web users to watch films, Sky One programmes such as Lost and more than 1,000 Sky Sports clips.

The latest revamp comes a day after US cable channel HBO announced it was launching in the UK for the first time with a subscription video-on-demand offering featuring The Sopranos, Six Feet Under and Entourage.

Last week, the newly-rebranded NTL, Virgin Media, announced a cable channel called Virgin Central offering on-demand content including a library of films and TV shows.

A version of Sky Anytime will be accessible on TV from March. Sky's new movie channels will relaunch on April 4.

Previously called Sky By Broadband, Sky Anytime is currently only available on PC and mobile and had more than one million downloads in its first year.

The broadcaster said Sky Anytime would feature a "selection of blockbuster titles and hidden gems made available through a dedicated section of the Sky Electronic Programme Guide".

"The titles available will be updated on a regular basis and pushed via the broadcast network to the hard drives of Sky HD set-top boxes and more recent Sky+ boxes, for viewing on demand".

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