Sky Movies is a group of subscription television movie channels in New Zealandoperated by Sky. Sky Movies was started in 1990 as one of the original channels on the Sky UHF Service. Sky Movies has progressed from the original channel in 1990 to six separate movie channels screening special interest movies, today. All Sky Movies channels are simulcasted in high definition.
History
The original Sky Movies channel was started in 1990 when Sky Television first launched originally only playing movies from noon until around 2.00am daily. Sky Movies commenced 24-hour programming in early 1992, initially on weekends and during public holidays, then expanded to 24-hour, seven-day-a-week programming during 1997. In 1993, Sky Television sold the channel to HBO Asia. It became known as HBO but later reverted to its former name Sky Movies, after HBO Asia re-sold the channel to Sky Television. NICAM stereo broadcasting was available on the UHF channel until around 1998 when Sky launched their digital service. All current Sky Movie channels broadcast in at least stereo sound. A second movie channel Sky Movie Max was released in 1998 after Sky launched their digital satellite service. All future Sky Movie channels that were launched were available on the Sky Digital platform only, the original movie channel was the only channel to ever broadcast on the now discontinued UHF analogue service. Sky Movies Max broadcast in widescreen 16:9 format from 2002 onwards. Sky Movies also broadcast in widescreen 16:9 format on Sky Digital from 1 January 2005 onwards however continued to broadcast in 4:3 on the UHF service. Sky Movies was renamed to Sky Movies 1 in 2004 and Sky Movies Max was renamed to Sky Movies 2. Sky Movies 1 reverted to the Sky Movies name in 2007 following the launch of Sky Movies Greats. The same time, Sky Movies 2 became a time shift channel, screening the same movies as Sky Movies just 2 hours behind. Sky Movies 2 remained a time shift channel until 2013. In 2008 Sky launched the HD service called My Sky HDi, as a result some Sky Movie channels became available in High Definition. To receive Sky Movies channels in HD the Sky subscriber is required to upgrade his or her Sky decoder to a My Sky HDi decoder, the subscriber must also pay a monthly fee for an HD access ticket which allows the subscriber to receive selected Sky channels in High Definition. All Sky Movies channels are currently broadcast in HD. On 1 November 2013 Sky rebranded their movie channel line-up with new logos. The original Sky Movies channel became Sky Movies Premiere and Sky Movies 2 became Sky Movies Extra, an additional channel Sky Movies Action was also introduced. On 7 May 2015 Sky and the Walt Disney Company announced the launch of Sky Movies Disney, dedicated to Disney family movies launching 1 July 2015.
Sky Movie Channels
Sky Movies Premiere
Sky Movies Premiere is Sky's original movie channel in New Zealand. Sky Movies Premiere plays a schedule of movies back to back 24 hours a day. This schedule is updated each month. New movies are added weekly with the Blockbuster Premiere on Sunday nights and the Thursday Premiere on Thursday nights. The range of movies includes bona fide blockbusters, comedies, action titles, dramas, thrillers, science-fiction, horrors, westerns, romances, festival cinema and family features.
Sky Movies Extra
Sky Movies Extra is Sky's second movie channel. Sky Movies Extra screens drama, romance and thriller movies. Sky Movies Extra started when Sky launched their digital service originally known as Sky Movie Max. The name was changed around 2004 to Sky Movies 2. The channel has always broadcast in Widescreen with the original Sky Movies channel originally maintaining a standard 4:3 format to give viewers a choice of viewing a movie in widescreen or standard format. From 2007 until 2013 Sky Movies 2 was a time shift channel screening the same movies as the original Sky Movies channel but 2 hours delayed. Sky Movies 2 became Sky Movies Extra in November 2013 and began running its own schedule.
Sky Movies Action
Sky Movies Action is a channel that was introduced in 2013. The channel screens action films.
Sky Movies Greats
Sky Movies Greats screens a collection of modern classic movies. The channel first launched in 2007 as a third Sky Movies channel.
Sky Movies Classics plays classic films from the 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s. The channel first launched on 1 June 2013 replacing the MGM Channel which began on 3 June 2001. The channel screens an array of films from the MGM library and movies from other studios too.
Sky Movies Vintage
Sky Movies Vintage launched on 1 December 2018 replacing the Turner Classic Movies channel. The channel plays classic movies from the golden age of Hollywood. Movies screened are from the 1940s to mid 1970s.
Sky Movies Family launched as a 24/7 channel on 1 November 2019. The channel plays family orientated films. Previously, the channel was a pop-up channel only broadcasting during the school holidays.
Sky Movies Pop-Up
Additional Sky Movies Pop-Up channels are frequently broadcast for a certain period with certain themes. Some that have been broadcast in the past include Clint Eastwood, Star Wars, Christmas & Harry Potter Pop-Up channels.
Former Channels
Sky Movies Disney
Sky Movies Disney launched on 1 July 2015. The channel aired a mix of classic and premiere animated and live-action family films 24 hours a day. The channel closed on 31 October 2019.
