The Power Station

Background

The Power Station was originally launched by British Satellite Broadcasting in March 1990, alongside BSB's other networks (Galaxy, The Sports Channel, The Movie Channel and Now/The Computer Channel), functioning as BSB's music network. Following the merger of BSB and Sky Television to form BSkyB, the channel remained until it was replaced by Sky Movies on the Marcopolo satellite in April 1991.

Logo (29 March 1990-8 April 1991)

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Visuals: There is a rounded windmill of sorts, which starts spinning as pieces of metal with all sorts of shapes begin to form something, some of them have lights. The pieces nearby begin to fall onto the object, which then grows a tree on a model globe, where more metal forms into the squarial logo with a thunderbolt on the bottom. The squarial itself is printed with a large "P" on it, with a small "S" on the rounded section of the "P". After the logo is complete, smoke and pyrotechnics appear all around it, as the text "THE POWER STATION" in white appears near the left, with the BSB logo appearing more to the right.

Variants:

• Beginning on 2 November 1990, after the merger of BSB and Sky, the text on the bottom of the logo was replaced with "BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING" to reflect the new owners.
• A version exists where pink text reading "CEASE TRANSMISSION 4am MONDAY APRIL 8th" appears during the ident. Then a countdown with the text "FROM 6am MONDAY APRIL 8th" plays. After that, the Sky Movies variant of the 1989 Sky Channel logo plays. It then shrinks and the text "STARTS MONDAY MORNING 6 AM" fades in with "Cable viewers should contact their local operators" underneath. This was to signify the end of The Power Station, and as said, it was replaced by Sky Movies 2 hours later. This variant played just seconds before the closure. It was probably seen before that though.

Technique: Live-action filmed in stop-motion, directed by Daniel Barber at Lambie-Nairn.

Audio: A rhythmic synth electronica track. After the BSB-Sky merger, a male announcer would say "You are watching The Power Station, part of the British Sky Broadcasting Network".

Audio Variants:

• A version with missing sounds exists.
• The ending variant has a pop tune, with a female announcer saying "We'd like to remind viewers that The Power Station will power down at 4am on Monday morning, the 8th of April. From 6am on Monday the 8th, it will be replaced by Sky Movies. If you're already a subscriber to The Movie Channel, you'll receive Sky Movies free of charge until the end of April, when this channel becomes a subscription service only. Sky Movies starts on this channel 6am on Monday morning."