Artsworld
Encyclopedia
Sky Arts and Sky Arts HD (formerly known as Artsworld) is the brand name for a group of art-oriented television channels offering 18 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music (such as opera performances and classical and jazz sessions). The channels are available via Sky, Virgin Media
and TalkTalk TV, included in most basic subscription packs, but started life as a premium service requiring an additional payment on top of the monthly Sky subscription.
. However, the channel suffered severe financial difficulty. In July 2002 it even staged its own farewell party, only to find emergency funding that very evening. In 2003, with a skeleton staff, it was facing closure. At this point, Sky
stepped in, taking an initial 50% stake. Sky subsequently bought out the remaining shareholders (including Isaacs) and in 2005 took full control, reducing the staff further, and dropping the channel's premium subscription fee shortly afterwards.
From 8 June 2007 Sky Arts introduced series called: "Friday Night Hijack". Artists were invited to schedule a night of television that reflects their tastes, interests and passions. Guests included legendary punk DJ Don Letts
, Don McCullin
, Saffron Burrows
, Anthony Horowitz
, Malcolm McLaren
, Phill Jupitus
, Germaine Greer
, George Melly
and Reggie Perrin writer David Nobbs
.
Picks included a Franz Ferdinand
documentary entitled Rock it to Rio, a concert performance by Damon Albarn
's new band The Good, The Bad and The Queen
as well as documentaries and films on Salvador Dalí
, Andy Warhol
, Rachel Whiteread
and Elvis Costello
. This weekly feature is now called SUNDAY NIGHT HIJACK.
's EPG slot (purchased by Sky) until the full launch of Sky Arts 2 on 20 October 2008. This channel features classical music, opera, dance and fine arts programming.
Following the launch of Sky Arts 2, Sky Arts HD showed a mix of programmes in high definition from both channels – generally Sky Arts 1 all day on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays and Sky Arts 2 until 7 pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, switching to Sky Arts 1 from 7 pm onwards on those days.
On 2 March 2009, Sky Arts HD was split into two channels. Sky Arts 1 HD then broadcast from 7pm-2am daily, and Sky Arts 2 HD from 8 am to 7 pm. The standard definition channels continued to broadcast a full schedule from 8 am – 2am. Sky Arts 1 HD also broadcast a further hour of HD-only programming called 'Aquariavision' intended to be recorded by Sky+ HD owners.
As of June 2009, both Sky Arts 1 and 2 HD broadcast full-time between 6am-2am.
From 1 March 2010, all Sky Arts channels are broadcasting 24 hours a day.
Sky Arts is currently made up of the following channels: Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 1 HD (a simulcast), Sky Arts 2, Sky Arts 2 HD (a simulcast) and an on and off-air brand re-fresh for the channels is scheduled for 16 August 2010.
satellite at the beginning of the Sky Television service back in 1989. Promotional material broadcast during the launch indicated the channel would appear later that year along with Disney Channel. Neither channel launched at the time, Disney due to disputes with Sky, whilst arts programming (such as an early broadcast of the opera 'Carmen') was instead broadcast on Sky One.
Following the merger of British Satellite Broadcasting
(BSB) and Sky Television plc
to form British Sky Broadcasting
in 1990, BSkyB replaced the BSB lifestyle channel Now with Sky Television's news channel Sky News
. However, contracts were still in place for some shows intended for the Now channel to be shown by BSkyB. BSkyB solved this by occasionally opting out of the regular Sky News service during weekends on the Marcopolo satellite (which was owned by BSB prior to the merger and which carried Now) and showing the programmes as part of a weekend service entitled 'Sky Arts'. The service was only seen by former BSB viewers, since Sky Arts did not interrupt Sky News on the existing Astra satellite service.
After all outstanding programmes had been broadcast, the full Sky News service was broadcast on both Marcopolo and Astra and Sky Arts ceased to broadcast. The Sky Arts name returned in 2007, after a 15-year break in transmission – one of the longest such breaks in British television history.
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
and TalkTalk TV, included in most basic subscription packs, but started life as a premium service requiring an additional payment on top of the monthly Sky subscription.
Artsworld
In its early days it was owned and managed by a private partnership (Artsworld Channels) including Sir Jeremy IsaacsJeremy Isaacs
Sir Jeremy Isaacs is a British television producer and executive, winner of many BAFTA awards and international Emmy Awards. He was also General Director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden .-Early life:...
. However, the channel suffered severe financial difficulty. In July 2002 it even staged its own farewell party, only to find emergency funding that very evening. In 2003, with a skeleton staff, it was facing closure. At this point, Sky
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
stepped in, taking an initial 50% stake. Sky subsequently bought out the remaining shareholders (including Isaacs) and in 2005 took full control, reducing the staff further, and dropping the channel's premium subscription fee shortly afterwards.
Sky Arts
On 1 March 2007, Artsworld became Sky Arts and Artsworld HD became Sky Arts HD. This resulted in all of BSkyB's wholly owned channels carrying the Sky name.From 8 June 2007 Sky Arts introduced series called: "Friday Night Hijack". Artists were invited to schedule a night of television that reflects their tastes, interests and passions. Guests included legendary punk DJ Don Letts
Don Letts
Don Letts is a British film director and musician. He is credited as the man who through his DJing at clubs like The Roxy brought together punk and reggae music.-Biography:...
, Don McCullin
Don McCullin
Donald McCullin, FRPS CBE is an internationally known British photojournalist, particularly recognized for his war photography and images of urban strife...
, Saffron Burrows
Saffron Burrows
Saffron Dominique Burrows is an English actress and former fashion model, who starred as Det. Serena Stevens on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lorraine Weller on Boston Legal.-Early life:...
, Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Craig Horowitz is an English novelist and screenwriter. He has written many children's novels, including The Power of Five, Alex Rider and The Diamond Brothers series and has written over fifty books. He has also written extensively for television, adapting many of Agatha Christie's...
, Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm McLaren
Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren was an English performer, impresario, self-publicist and manager of the Sex Pistols and the New York Dolls...
, Phill Jupitus
Phill Jupitus
Phillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improvised comedian, actor, performance poet, musician and podcaster....
, Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer
Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....
, George Melly
George Melly
Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.-Early life and career:He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Stowe...
and Reggie Perrin writer David Nobbs
David Nobbs
David Gordon Nobbs is an English comedy writer.Following an education at Marlborough College and Cambridge University, Nobbs wrote for many of Britain's comedy performers over the years, including Kenneth Williams, Frankie Howerd, Les Dawson and The Two Ronnies...
.
Picks included a Franz Ferdinand
Franz Ferdinand (band)
Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish post-punk revival band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band is composed of Alex Kapranos , Bob Hardy , Nick McCarthy , and Paul Thomson .The band first experienced chart success when their second single, "Take Me Out", reached #3 in...
documentary entitled Rock it to Rio, a concert performance by Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn
Damon Albarn is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who has been involved in many high profile projects, coming to prominence as the frontman and primary songwriter of Britpop band Blur...
's new band The Good, The Bad and The Queen
The Good, the Bad and the Queen
The Good, the Bad & the Queen is the album by an ostensibly unnamed British alternative rock supergroup also commonly referred to as The Good, The Bad & The Queen, and made up of Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Simon Tong and Tony Allen. The album was released in January 2007...
as well as documentaries and films on Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
, Rachel Whiteread
Rachel Whiteread
Rachel Whiteread, CBE is an English artist, best known for her sculptures, which typically take the form of casts. She won the annual Turner Prize in 1993—the first woman to win the prize....
and Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
. This weekly feature is now called SUNDAY NIGHT HIJACK.
Sky Arts 1
Sky Arts 1 (formerly known as Artsworld and Sky Arts), rebranded itself as Sky Arts 1, focusing on the more modern and independent side of Sky Arts' programming. Schedules include cutting-edge documentaries, cult films, and rock concerts.Sky Arts 2
Sky Arts +1 began broadcasting on 18 August 2008, filling the Performance ChannelPerformance Channel
Performance Channel was an arts and entertainment television channel that broadcast in the United Kingdom, on the Sky Digital platform. Performance Channel launched in 1985 and was an evening cable-only service for many years. The channel started broadcasting on Sky Digital in 1998 and its...
's EPG slot (purchased by Sky) until the full launch of Sky Arts 2 on 20 October 2008. This channel features classical music, opera, dance and fine arts programming.
Sky Arts HD
Artsworld HD was one of the launch channels on Sky HD in 2006. It was a high-definition simulcast of Artsworld, and later Sky Arts, showing HD programmes when available, and upscaling standard-definition programmes.Following the launch of Sky Arts 2, Sky Arts HD showed a mix of programmes in high definition from both channels – generally Sky Arts 1 all day on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays and Sky Arts 2 until 7 pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, switching to Sky Arts 1 from 7 pm onwards on those days.
On 2 March 2009, Sky Arts HD was split into two channels. Sky Arts 1 HD then broadcast from 7pm-2am daily, and Sky Arts 2 HD from 8 am to 7 pm. The standard definition channels continued to broadcast a full schedule from 8 am – 2am. Sky Arts 1 HD also broadcast a further hour of HD-only programming called 'Aquariavision' intended to be recorded by Sky+ HD owners.
As of June 2009, both Sky Arts 1 and 2 HD broadcast full-time between 6am-2am.
From 1 March 2010, all Sky Arts channels are broadcasting 24 hours a day.
Sky Arts is currently made up of the following channels: Sky Arts 1, Sky Arts 1 HD (a simulcast), Sky Arts 2, Sky Arts 2 HD (a simulcast) and an on and off-air brand re-fresh for the channels is scheduled for 16 August 2010.
Previous life
Originally Sky Arts was planned as a full channel on the Astra 1AAstra 1A
Astra 1A was the first satellite launched and operated by SES . During its early days, it was often referred to as the Astra Satellite, as SES only operated one satellite originally....
satellite at the beginning of the Sky Television service back in 1989. Promotional material broadcast during the launch indicated the channel would appear later that year along with Disney Channel. Neither channel launched at the time, Disney due to disputes with Sky, whilst arts programming (such as an early broadcast of the opera 'Carmen') was instead broadcast on Sky One.
Following the merger of British Satellite Broadcasting
British Satellite Broadcasting
British Satellite Broadcasting was a British television company which provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom...
(BSB) and Sky Television plc
Sky Television plc
Sky Television plc was a public limited company which operated its four-channel satellite television service, launched by Rupert Murdoch's News International on 5 February 1989...
to form British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc is a satellite broadcasting, broadband and telephony services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, with operations in the United Kingdom and the Ireland....
in 1990, BSkyB replaced the BSB lifestyle channel Now with Sky Television's news channel Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
. However, contracts were still in place for some shows intended for the Now channel to be shown by BSkyB. BSkyB solved this by occasionally opting out of the regular Sky News service during weekends on the Marcopolo satellite (which was owned by BSB prior to the merger and which carried Now) and showing the programmes as part of a weekend service entitled 'Sky Arts'. The service was only seen by former BSB viewers, since Sky Arts did not interrupt Sky News on the existing Astra satellite service.
After all outstanding programmes had been broadcast, the full Sky News service was broadcast on both Marcopolo and Astra and Sky Arts ceased to broadcast. The Sky Arts name returned in 2007, after a 15-year break in transmission – one of the longest such breaks in British television history.
External links
- Sky Arts
- Artsworld to drop subscription charge Digital Spy, 20 June 2005 – Report on Sky's takeover of the channel
- Sky Arts TV Ark – Examples of Sky Arts presentation from 1990 and 2007