Sky Movies to launch dedicated James Bond channel
Published Aug 7 2012, 09:52 BST | By Andrew Laughlin
Sky Movies is to launch a new channel dedicated to James Bond later this year.Launching in October in both standard and high definition, Sky Movies 007 will make use of Sky's recent deal with MGM to show the entire collection of James Bond movies.
© MGM
In April, the satellite broadcaster secured rights to all 22 official Bond titles from EON Productions, from Dr No in 1962 to the last Bond film, Quantum of Solace, starring Daniel Craig.
It had poached the rights from ITV, and the deal included to two non-EON produced titles - the 1967 Casino Royale spoof Bond film and Never Say Never Again.
Sky initially indicated that the films would be shown on Sky Movies Showcase, but it has now decided to create a new channel dedicated to the iconic British spy.
All 22 Bond films will be shown on Sky Movies 007, in SD and HD, and without any adverts. This mirrors Sky's recent strategy with Sky Sports F1, the firm's first channel dedicated to just one sport that followed a blockbuster rights deal to Formula One.
Copyright: Daniel Deme/WENN.com
Jill Masterson's golden body from Goldfinger in 1964.
Sky Movies customers will also be able to access the Bond movies on-demand via the Sky Anytime+ service, along with on the Sky Go multiplatform service and NOW TV, Sky's brand new internet-delivered TV platform.
Ian Lewis, the director of Sky Movies, said: "The Bond movies are a very special franchise and we want to ensure that our customers will be able to experience it in a way they've never been able to before, and so we're going to create a dedicated channel Sky Movies 007 HD devoted entirely to James Bond showing the entire catalogue of films and loads of extra material.
"We're delighted that our customers will have the best Bond movie-watching experience ever with Sky Movies - uninterrupted, in HD, on demand and on the go."
Sky Movies 007 will launch on October 5, timed to coincide with the 50th anniversary celebrations of the release of the first Bond movie, Dr No, on the same day in October 1962.
The 23rd film in the franchise, Skyfall, will be available to rent through the Sky Store and shown on Sky Movies in 2013. Watch the trailer below:
Ha this channel is a joke lets see sky are well known for showing far too many repeats especially with the film channels so wot do they do they launch a james bond channel ha 22 james bond films tht will be shown over and over and over again thts pathetic get real sky...
October 6th 2012 at 12:49pm
Omg just saw the trailer for this channel let me see they'll show 22 JB films then they'll show them again and again much like the F1 channel just too many repeats get real sky....
September 5th 2012 at 7:36pm
there aint enough bond films to keep a channel going 24/7 and will just repeat films ova and ova and ova why not just add them into other sky movie channels already established.
August 8th 2012 at 2:02pm(+1 like)
A Sky channel free to air is something they could easily afford to do. Don't bank on it though. We have Sky news on Freeview, but for how much longer. Then there was Sky Sports news, including the excellent Soccer Saturday. That channel is now hidden behind a paywall. No doubt Sky supremo Jeremy Darroch would say to do so was sound business.
I'd call it spiteful.
August 8th 2012 at 12:27pm
I assume that you have to be a Sky Movies subscriber to watch this channel? If so, it is a complete waste of money. The Bond movies are cheap enough to buy these days, so I agree with a couple of the other comments on here, it will be a wasted channel. Perhaps Sky should reconsider and introduce a channel dedicated to the older movies and TV series from the 1950s and 1960s which should be free to air considering Sky's profit margin is increasing rapidly. It is about time Sky gave something back to its customers instead of ripping them off all the time.
August 8th 2012 at 7:55am