Jordan O'BrienSky Movies is rebranding to achieve consistency with the company’s other services elsewhere in Europe, with the company adopting the Sky Cinema brand. The satellite TV operator also confirmed that 4K content would be coming by the end of this year, but failed to give any specific dates.
Sky Cinema will bring along with it a brand new look, a much-needed update for the 27-year old channel. Sky’s head of content, Gary Davey, also confirmed that additional functionality will be brought to the channels, including the ability to restart movies from the beginning.
While Sky Movies is already the go-to place for new movies in the UK, often having releases long before Netflix and Amazon Instant Video, the company wants to ensure that it stays on top. To that end, Sky Cinema will have a brand new movie premiere every day, while it’s on-demand content library will grow. In total Sky says that viewers will be able to enjoy 20% more movies on demand than they do currently.
The rebrand is set to kick off on July 8 with Sky Cinema’s first new film set to be the James Bond epic, Spectre. The channel will continually evolve however, with the company promising more events and pop-up channels like Star Wars and Harry Potter in the future.
Sky Cinema will also boast an improved image and sound quality, even before 4K launches. Sky says that it has boosted both using a new internal master format which claims to bring a third more pixels and four times more shade than its current HD output.
While 4K was not on the agenda of Sky Cinema’s London launch, the company says that it will have more to share in the coming weeks.