Sky1

Sky1 is the flagship BSkyB satellite entertainment channel available in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

The channel launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, and is the oldest non-terrestrial TV channel in the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom the channel is available on digital satellite via Sky on channel 106 as well as through digital cable via Virgin Media and as well as through IPTV via Sky Go and TalkTalk Plus TV. In Ireland the channel is available on Sky on channel 106, UPC Ireland on channel 114 and Magnet Networks.

Sky1 listings include some very popular broadcasts—many imported from North America—including 24, Touch, The X-Files, Stargate (SG-1, Atlantis and Universe), Caprica, Battlestar Galactica, Bones, Lost, Fringe, Prison Break, House, The Simpsons, Glee, Lie to Me.

Sky Channel
Sky1 started on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television Ltd, and was Europe's first ever cable and satellite channel, originally broadcasting from the Orbital Test Satellite aimed to cable operators all over Europe; At first the station struggled financially, due to disappointing ratings in the countries in which it was officially available, which in turn led to insufficient advertising revenue and increasing difficulty in covering the high transmission costs.

On 27 June 1983, the shareholders of Satellite Television agreed a £5 million offer to give News International 65% of the company. Murdoch extended the broadcast hours and the number of countries the station broadcast to including UK. On 16 January 1984 the channel was renamed Sky Channel.

Sky Channel incorporated a large number of American imports in its schedules, while also increased the quantity produced of home grown programmes, including a number of new music programmes with Gary Davies, Tony Blackburn, Linda de Mol, Pat Sharp, David "Kid" Jensen, and Anthea Turner presenting programmes such as Euro Top 40, and UK Top 50 Chart. New children's programmes like Fun Factory and The DJ Kat Show, many of which came not only from Sky's own studios in London (having already abandoned the Molinare facilities by then), but also included programmes produced in the Netherlands by John de Mol's production company.

On 8 June 1988, Murdoch announced his plans to expand Sky's service to four channels, thus creating the Sky Television network. On 5 February 1989, the Sky Television Network (Sky Channel, Sky News, Sky Movies and Eurosport) was launched, At the same time, prime-time broadcasts to European cable operators ended, being replaced by Eurosport, a joint venture between Sky and the European Broadcasting Union, and aimed at a pan-European audience (like Sky Channel had up to then). Initially, a new raft of show were created, for the channel including "Jameson Tonight", New Sale of the Century, New Price Is Right, Frank Bough's World and Sky By Day, Sky TV's variation on ITV's more popular This Morning, hosted by ex-BBC Radio 1 DJ Tony Blackburn (who had moved to commercial radio by then) and ex-Magpie presenter Jenny Hanley. The show had a mix of entertainment, gossip, fashion, etc. The Channel continued with the same children's programmes, soaps, and US action series, WWF Wrestling. On 31 July 1989, the channel was renamed Sky One and confined its broadcasting to Britain and Ireland only.

In 1990 Sky One begin to acquire more recent programming, an early success being Moonlighting, which the BBC had previously screened but not repeated. Sky One also picked new programming such as The Simpsons, 21 Jump Street and the last series of Falcon Crest, and following its merger with BSB's Galaxy Parker Lewis Can't Lose.

Sky Multichannels
After many years in the clear, on 1 September 1993 Sky One was encrypted as part of the new Sky Multichannels subscription package, and could no longer be viewed outside British isle without exporting a box, or receiving it over cable (although it had already been encrypted for a while since its original launch and first went in the clear in around 1987). The channel also commissioned a number of home grown programmes while also expanding its Australian television series to include E Street and Paradise Beach. It continued to be the most-watched satellite channel in the UK and Ireland, a position it held for most of the 1990s, with many first-run US imports such as The Simpsons (which traditionally has been the channel's main selling-point, remaining a satellite exclusive until it finally made its terrestrial television appearance on BBC2 in 1996), Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld, ER and The X-Files, as well as some older programmes such as the various Star Trek series, Hill Street Blues, M*A*S*H*, and Lucille Ball's various comedy series.

The success of the channel lead to the launch on 1 September 1996 of a companion channel, Sky 2; however, it was not a success and was closed down on 31 August 1997, one day short of a year after it launched. In contrast to the Sky2 that was later relaunched, this channel featured even more first-run programmes, and it broadcast only at night, between 7 pm and 6 am.

Digital era
In 2000, a dedicated feed of Sky One for Ireland was launched. For most of this Irish feed's existence, the only difference between it and the United Kingdom feed has been differing commercials and programme promotions. In June 2003, the channel started broadcasting in 16:9 widescreen. However, all TV commercials were broadcast in 4:3 until November 2005, because they were played off the same servers for all Sky channels, many of which were not broadcast in widescreen.

On 21 September 2004, Sky One Mix was subsequently renamed Sky Mix. On 31 October 2005, Sky Mix was renamed as Sky Two with the launch of a second sister channel Sky Three.

On 25 August 2012, it was announced by Stuart Murphy, director of Sky entertainment channels, that a one hour timeshift of Sky1 and Sky Atlantic would launch in the Autumn of 2012, with the former launching on 12 November 2012. The timeshift channel offers most of Sky1's programming, however The Simpsons is not broadcast as BSkyB is prohibited from doing so under the current terms of their licensing agreement with Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution. An on-screen message instead appears redirecting viewers to Sky1.

Sky1 HD
To coincide with launch of Sky HD, Sky1 HD began broadcasting on 22 May 2006. The channel is a simulcast of Sky1 and screens high-definition versions of some of the channel's programming, which include Lost, Bones, 24, Fringe, Prison Break, House, and most recently new episodes of The Simpsons. Programmes that are not available in HD are upscaled (although Sky1 does show the original widescreen film from Malcolm in the Middle, unlike most US broadcasts, since the series was originally filmed on Panavision widesceen film but cropped to full-screen by most broadcasters. This airing of the original film preserves the shows appearance without stretching or upscaling, although some scenes were compromised for widescreen and had to be upscaled).

Sky have stated that they intend to increase the amount of HD content they show, and hoped that by the end of 2008, two-thirds of all prime time shows, and 90% of their own original commissions, would be in HD. A new Sky1 HD logo was introduced along with the rebrand on 31 August 2008.

On 1 October 2010, Sky1 HD launched on Virgin Media channel 122, with Sky2 moving to channel 123 and Sky3 (now Pick) moving to channel 180 on 22 September 2010, to make way for the new channel.

Virgin Media dispute
On 1 March 2007, at midnight, Sky's basic channels, which included Sky1, Sky2, Sky News, Sky Sports News, Sky Travel and Sky Travel Extra were removed from the Virgin Media cable television services after a dispute between Virgin Media and BSkyB. This was due to the expiry of their previous carriage agreement and the companies' inability to reach a new deal. Virgin issued legal proceedings against Sky over the dispute in April 2007.

The Virgin Media predecessor Telewest was involved in a similar situation in late 2004 when negotiations for renewed carriage of the Nickelodeon channels broke down. Telewest was unwilling to pay extra to keep the channels and preferred to simply drop them. Other Viacom owned channels remained such as MTV and Paramount Comedy 1. The reaction to this by customers was fairly large and many left the provider to rival Sky, others were retained as Telewest offered them a free upgrade to the Disney Channel for periods of between one and three months, others were reportedly offered upgrades to Sky Movies packages in a desperate attempt to keep them from leaving. The Nickelodeon channels returned to the Telewest platform on 12 February 2005 following successful renegotiations in Nickelodeon's favour.

At the beginning of March 2008 the two companies were reported to have resumed discussions over the dispute. Virgin chief executive Neil Berkett was reported as saying they had "continued interest in securing Sky basics back on our platform". The resumed talks had followed shortly after both Virgin and BSkyB had launched appeals against a recent Competition Appeal Tribunal ruling on BSkyB's 17.9% stake in ITV plc.

On 4 November 2008, a carriage deal between BSkyB and Virgin Media channels was reached and BSkyB's channels were available on Virgin's cable service from 13 November 2008. The Sky basic channels were spread across each tier of Virgin's cable TV service: Sky3 and Sky News were made available in the lowest M tier; Sky Sports News joined the M+ tier; Sky1 and Sky2 were made available in the L tier; and Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 2, Sky Real Lives and Sky Real Lives 2 joined the XL tier.

US programmes
Sky1 relies heavily on screenings of American television programmes, with many coming from Murdoch's Fox Network. The Simpsons has been airing on Sky1 since both of its early years, making the series not only the longest-running programme on Sky1 but also the longest-running primetime animated series to date. As many as five episodes of The Simpsons are broadcast each evening, with any new episodes generally being shown on Thursday. Sky1 has exclusive rights in the UK to show the most recent series of The Simpsons. Another early and long running fixture was Married... with Children, which ran all through the 1990s, but in the early 2000s the show suddenly disappeared from its regular schedule and has not been screened on any Sky channel since.

Sky1 was also the original home to the UK's first run showings of episodes of ER and Friends, for seasons 4–6 of both shows (Channel 4 had shown Seasons 1–3 first), giving Sky1 some of the highest ratings for any satellite channel. In 2000, 2.8 million viewers watched an episode of Friends, the highest rated show on any satellite channel. However when Channel 4 launched their own digital sister channel E4 they outbid Sky1 for exclusive first run rights to both shows. However, Sky1 still held the repeat rights for the early seasons of both shows for several years.

Sky1 previously broadcast WWE programming, before moving it all to Sky Sports 3. Sky1 currently broadcasts The WWE Experience and WWE Superstars.

Sky1 occasionally screens older 20th Century Fox films such as Die Hard as part of its evening schedule, although they are shown with ad breaks, unlike films on premium film channels.

Programmes that received their UK premiere screenings on Sky1 include:

Current
 * Caprica
 * Fringe
 * Futurama
 * Glee (series 3-)
 * Glenn Martin, DDS
 * House (series 5 onwards)
 * Lie to Me
 * Modern Family
 * NCIS: Los Angeles
 * Nip/Tuck (series 1–3)
 * Prison Break (series 3 & 4)
 * Revolution
 * Spartacus: (Gods of the Arena, Vengeance and War of the Damned)
 * Stargate Atlantis
 * Stargate SG-1
 * Stargate Universe
 * The Simpsons
 * The Glee Project
 * The Middle
 * Touch
 * WWE Experience
 * WWE Superstars

Former
 * 24 (series 3 – 8 + Redemption)
 * Battlestar Galactica
 * Bones
 * Buffy the Vampire Slayer
 * Cold Case
 * Dilbert
 * A Town Called Eureka
 * Family Guy
 * Father of the Pride
 * Hex
 * Las Vegas
 * Lost (series 3–6)
 * Malcolm in the Middle
 * Rescue Me
 * Terra Nova
 * The X-Files
 * WWE Smackdown
 * South Park
 * King of the Hill

Programmes commissioned by Sky1
Sky has commissioned many of Homegrown programmers, since it first started broadcasting back in 1984, it wasn't until 1989 when content went beyond music and children reprogramming. During the early years new game shows including few series of Blockbusters and Spellbound, and long with Price is right and sale of the century. Original Drama Dream Team, a drama series based on a fictional football team; The Strangerers (a science fiction sitcom that was dropped after one series and never repeated); Al Murray's sitcom Time Gentlemen Please; and Baddiel's Syndrome. Hex, another sci-fi show, had proved popular but was cancelled in April 2006 and Mile High also proved quite popular but it only lasted from 2003–2005. Sky One commissioned Terry Pratchett's Hogfather for Christmas 2006 proving to be their most successful programme ever. Following the success of The Hogfather Sky brought out in 2008 an adaptation of The Colour of Magic and its second half The Light Fantastic, and in 2010 Terry Pratchett's Going Postal, the 33rd book in The Discworld series. Sky also co-produces The 4400 and co-financed the first season of Battlestar Galactica.

It also screens many "reality" shows such as Cruise with Stelios, Road Wars, Shock Treatment, World's Deadliest Gangs, Pineapple Dance Studios, World of Pain, Road Raja, Ibiza Uncovered, Cirque de Celebrité and the most recent series Hairspray: The School Musical. It also recently has received success with entertainment science shows Brainiac: Science Abuse and spin-offs, Brainiac: History Abuse and Brainiac's Test Tube Baby and also Mission Implausible. Less successful shows include Harry Enfield's Brand Spanking New Show.

Sky1 have also commissioned a number of game shows including Blockbusters. The most recent game show is from Mark Burnett, Are You Smarter Than a 10-Year Old, based on a United States format. On 30 January 2008, Sky One announced plans to bring back the UK 1990s game show Gladiators which was subsequently cancelled in 2009.

In 2010, Sky1 also commissioned several new comedies including A League of Their Own, An Idiot Abroad, Little Crackers, Wall of Fame, Trollied, Mount Pleasant, Spy, The Cafe, Stella, Starlings, Parents, Moone Boy, John Bishop's Only Joking, That Hidden Camera Family, The Moaning of Life, Yonderland, The Kumars and Duck Quacks Don't Echo.

Continuity announcers
Current NME Radio DJ Claire Sturgess has been a "voice" of Sky1 since 1998, and was the sole announcer from 2001 until 2005. As one of Sky1's four announcers, her voice-overs are pre-recorded once a week and played out by an automated system.

Live continuity announcements air each evening. In 2009 they were voiced by announcers Dave Kelly, Faye Bamford and Philippa Collins. In 2010 three new continuity announcers were hired, Katie Morton, Katie Hudson and Paul Daniels, replacing all the previous announcers. In 2011, two new part-time announcers were hired. During the day pre-recorded announcements air, promoting shows from all the different Sky channels.

Logos and idents
On 9 December 2002, Sky One launched their new logo along with new idents. Sky One again gained a sister channel, Sky One Mix, which was intended as a "catch-up" channel, screening repeats of key Sky One programmes later in the same week.

'Sky One' was rebranded back to 'Sky1' on 31 August 2008 at 6:00 pm, with presentational elements featuring blue gem shards as 'solids' to fit the element theme also used by Sky2 and Sky3 (which use 'liquids' and 'particles' respectively in their presentational elements). At launch there were four idents: "Bones", "Whack", "Twister" and "Boxes".

On 1 February 2011, Sky unveiled new presentation for most of its channels, including Sky 1. The idea behind the idents is reflecting everyday life, the sequences are filmed in typical meeting places with people coming together having fun, whilst making up part of the scene is giant mirror-finished '1' icon. Gradually in 2012, the mirror-finished '1' idents were withdrawn replaced by simple programme specific idents for Got to Dance, Mad Dogs, Stella, Ashley Banjo's Secret Street Crew, The Cafe, Modern Family, Spy, Starlings, Glee, Spartacus Blood and Sand, A League of Their Own, Trollied, and Revolution. A generic ident featuring the blue solid shards from the 2008 look was added to the ident roster on 16 March 2013.