Sky Movies (1989-1997)

Background

Sky Movies was originally launched as part of the Sky Television package on 5 February 1989, alongside a relaunched Sky Channel (later Sky One), Sky News and Eurosport. A year following the channel's launch, the channel became encrypted, and was the first pay television channel of it's kind in the United Kingdom. The channel gained two sister networks - fellow British Satellite Broadcasting rival The Movie Channel which became part of Sky following the BSB merger, and Sky Movies Gold, which replaced The Comedy Channel in 1992.

Throughout 1990-1992, the network was referred to as Sky Movies Plus when select sports (mainly WWF wrestling pay-per-view events) were added until the launch of Sky Sports in April 1992.

The channels remained as is until November 1997, when Sky Movies and The Movie Channel were rebranded as Sky Movies Screen 1/2 while Sky Movies Gold remained the same.

1st ID (5 February-April 1989)

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ID: Same as the standard Sky Channel ident at the time, except the large orange word "{{color|orange|MOVIES{{" zooms down below the logo.

Technique: CGI done by Pacific Data Images on an SGI 4D/25.

Music/Sounds: Initially, the same synth theme (composed by Frank Gari) the Sky Television variant used, but eventually got its own music track of a funky sounder.

2nd ID (April 1989-31 August 1993)

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ID: We rotate through a neon structure that lights up to form the Sky Movies logo. The structure is lit up in various bright colours.

Trivia: The ident's theme and format are similar to that of an NBC ident used at the time.

Later Variants:

• Following the merger of British Satellite Broadcasting and Sky Television to form BSkyB on 2 November 1990, the ident was slightly updated. This time, the footage slightly zooms out to reveal a black background with the text "BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING" on the bottom. A later revision zoomed the logo further with a shadow effect below.

Technique:' CGI by Harry Marks of Marks Communications.

Music/Sounds: The same funky-sounding track from the previous ident.

3rd ID (1 September 1993-1995)

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ID: The Sky logo forms as with the other channels. However, once the logo forms, a green box appears behind the sky logo, and the word "MOVIES" in a tall, narrow font appears below as a clapperboard stripe appears on the bottom. Duplicates of "Sky Movies" and orange swirls appear in the purple background once the logo forms.

Technique: CGI. This was done by Novocom/GRFX.

Music/Sounds: A portion of the 1993 Sky Symphony. The announcer says "From the Sky satellite network, this is Sky Movies".

4th ID (1995-1996)

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ID: The standard Sky ID package used at the time. The Sky stripe is magenta with a clapperboard on the bottom that animates, and the silk background is a light yellow/orange with a film reel canister behind it.

Technique:' CGI done by Novocom.

Music/Sounds: A portion of the 1995 Sky Symphony, with a very serious tone. A clapperboard sound plays after the logo forms. The announcer says "This is Sky Movies, part of the Sky Television/Satellite network".

5th ID (1996-November 1997)

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ID: The standard Sky ID package used at the time. The background is orange, while the Sky stripe is dark orange/brown.

Technique: CGI by Novocom.

Music/Sounds: A sample from Peter Siedlaczek's "Orchestral Colors". The announcer says "This is Sky Movies."

Sky Movies (1989-1997)

Sky Movies Screen 1/2 ►