Comcast’s Sky Group is relaunching its flagship channel Sky One more than four years after putting it out to pasture.
In a press release last week, Sky Group said the two channels that replaced Sky One when it closed in 2021 — Sky Showcase and Sky Mix — will be consolidated into the new Sky One offering, which debuts on February 24.
The new Sky One will offer “Saturday Night Live UK” when it debuts later this year, as well as series like “Rob & Romesh vs…,” and Peacock’s “Ted” and “The Paper.”
“Our goal is to make it easier than ever for Sky TV customers to find and enjoy the shows they love,” said Carli Kerr, the Managing Director and General of Sky TV. “Building on the iconic heritage of Sky One, the channel will be a one-of-a-kind destination that’s big, bold and bursting with energy.”
Sky promised that customers of its satellite and streaming television services won’t lose access to any content — Sky Showcase and Sky Mix shows will be available on Sky One, and all shows previously offered on the two channels will also be available through Sky’s catch-up services.
Sky One will be available on Channel 106 from February 24 on Sky Q, Sky Stream and Sky Glass. To make room for Sky One, other channels like Sky Documentaries, Sky Sci-Fi, Sky Crime, Sky Arts, Sky Nature and Challenge will move to new channel positions on the three platforms.
Sky One originally launched in the early 1980s as one of Europe’s first pan-continental satellite TV channels. Known as Sky Channel, it eventually concentrated its efforts on the United Kingdom and Ireland following the launch of the Sky Television Network, which was available on the domestic satellite TV service of the same name.
The channel rebranded to Sky One in 1989 after its three sister networks — Sky News, Sky Movies and Eurosport — launched that same year. Sky One offered a mixture of domestic shows and American imports, mainly from Fox, which shared common ownership with the service at the time. In addition to its availability on Sky’s satellite and streaming services, a version of Sky One was available to cable subscribers in the United Kingdom before the channel closed in 2021.
Comcast acquired Sky Group in 2018.
