Sky to drop Bravo and Channel One (was Virgin 1)

[Saturday]

Saw this on a newsfeed today. Don't know the effective date.

BSkyB has axed Bravo and Channel One as part of a massive revamp of the broadcaster's channels.

Bravo, which is home to shows such as 'Spartacus: Blood And Sand' and 'Alex Reid: The Fight Of His Life', is being taken off air after 25 years, while the decision to close Channel One comes just weeks after it rebranded from Virgin1.

The broadcaster has axed the channels as part of a move to concentrate its efforts on the popular Living TV brand and gameshow channel Challenge TV.

Both channels will benefit from increased budgets and Challenge TV will also see its audience boosted as it moves to Freeview for the first time.

Speaking about the changes, Sophie Turner Laing, managing director of entertainment, news and broadcast operations at BSkyB, said: "Content is at the heart of Sky's strategy. Living is already one of the best pay-TV channels around and is obviously a great fit with our existing channels like Sky1.

"There is so much potential for further development and we intend to increase on-screen investment in Living by around a quarter as part of our expanded channel portfolio. This is a big part of our plans to bring customers great content from channel brands that really cut through."

Earlier this year it was reported that Katie Price had signed a multi-million pound deal to star in a series of programmes for Living.

In July it was also revealed that Sky had signed a £150m deal for exclusive UK rights to HBO shows including 'The Wire', 'Sex And The City' and 'True Blood'.

[swameht]

Damn....
Just have to find another way to view 'New Sons of Anarchy' and the follow on series of Spartacus, in the near future then.

They had some good viewing on those channels, which is more than can be said for 'ChallengeTV'

[Ian Thompson]

Damn....
Just have to find another way to view 'New Sons of Anarchy' and the follow on series of Spartacus, in the near future then.

They had some good viewing on those channels, which is more than can be said for 'ChallengeTV'

Hopefully Sparticus and New Sons of Anarchy might move to Sky 1 and be broadcast in HD!!
Ian.

[Deathstar]

I'm not exactly inconsolable or in desperate need of counselling at the loss of Bravo or Channel One but there would occasionally be something on them that I could watch but I certainly have never been tempted by Living or the other one and can't imagine that I will.

[AlexS]

"Earlier this year it was reported that Katie Price had signed a multi-million pound deal to star in a series of programmes for Living."
Somehow I can't see my zero percent interest in Living being increased by that fact !
I wish Sky would provide a special channel "mix" where you pay for the standard service but can then choose which individual channels to watch and pay for, whilst rejecting all the rest.
Over 90% of the TV on Sky is a waste of bandwidth in my opinion.

[paulcarrm9mx]

Channel one to go were no channel has GONE before.

bye bye star trek on both channels

[Undecided Adrian]

Star Trek was looking dodgy on Channel One when CBS started showning TOS then started with DS9 before Channel One had finished the current run.

I'd expect the others to move to CBS before long.

To be honest I am not surprised with this happening though.

[firehawk]

its good that we are getting rid of crap or repetative programmes on multiple channels however im still annoyed at the following:

Virgin1/Channel One have always shown the first 2/3 seasons of Home Improvement but never anything after that. Why? Will Sky buy the rights for all of the seasons and air it? If so - what channel?

[Alan b]

will Sky buy the rights for all of the seasons and air it? If so - what channel?

Nobody know what will happen. With regards to Bravo I guess there is the possibility that some of the shows might turn up on Sly One or perhaps a revamped Sky Two (instead of showing endless repeats).

[jedi matt]

Good that Bravo is going they never seem to get past season 2 of earth final conflict maybe it will move back to SYFY with the complete run & as for channel 1 it doe'nt as well as Bravo have an HD version so they could never show Enterprise which has HD versions in HD