What are Comcast's plans for Sky?

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  • Sky are launching two "new" channels: Sky Crime next month and Sky Comedy next February, but how new will they be? Could they simply be rebrands of Sky 2 and Real Lives?


    Now that Comcast owns Sky and together with their existing portfolio of NBC/Universal channels, could other changes be on the way? They own a awful lot of channels now. Some of the shows on Universal will transfer to Sky Crime, so could this channel get axed in the future and will Comcast change other channels perhaps to ensure consistent branding across their entire portfolio of channels? Perhaps Syfy may become Sky Fi??

    From the VM changes thread:

    Universal and VH-1 UK on the way out in January according to RXTVlog. Their source is BT.

    https://www.rxtvlog.com/2019/12/universal-vh-1-uk-axe.html

    Got a answer to my earlier query (highlighted above) Universal is going.

    Some of the main shows on Universal are owned by ViacomCBS such as the NCIS and CSI franchises, so perhaps these shows will transfer over to one of the channels that they own, ultimately leaving each media company with its own content on its own channels.

  • Sky Crime isn't for fictional content, it's meant to be a "Real Crime" channel. Any Universal shows that they decide to keep will most likely be on Sky Witness. Chicago Med and Law & Order SVU now premiere on it.

  • So that's The Good Doctor & Greys Anatomy, Chicago Med & The Resident, presumably, transferring from Universal as the Medical Dramas, alongside the Fire / Ambulance service Dramas Chicago Fire, Station 19 & 911. I guess there could be a problem finding appropriate slots for all of that on Sky Witness...

    I guess that explains why NBC let New Amsterdam go to Amazon. :D

    Edited once, last by jj20x (December 24, 2019 at 12:46 AM).

  • Really we should stick all this here:

    The Streaming Wars. Will it kill off the broadcasters?


    But, my opinion is that this is a foretaste for what's to come.

    The streamers will become the primary destination to watch tv in the future, they pretty much are now and a sprinkling of tv channels will be left. So, if people want to watch multiple episodes of NCIS, they will be able to on the streamer when it comes to the UK and finally our channels, the ones that survive, can have a more varied schedule again.

  • I always think that is predicting future trends based on the current state of technology. Compare it with a prediction of CD sales for 2019 based on declining sales of vinyl in the 80s. I mean, who knew???

  • True jj, but when the bulk of our pay tv eco system has essentially been a way for companies to archive their top shows, which is fine, but when several different channels like Fox, CBS Justice, Universal, Sky One, 5USA and Ch5 are all showing NCIS or their offshoots, we're not really being given a genuine choice.

  • NCIS is an easy sell because of its high viewing figures in the USA. It is being played out to different markets based on viewer demographics but the amount of repeats is overkill. That's always going to happen though because of the vast number of episodes made over so many years and offshoots.

  • So that's The Good Doctor, Greys Anatomy, Chicago Med & The Resident. presumably, transferring from Universal as the Medical Dramas, alongside the Fire / Ambulance service Dramas Chicago Fire, Station 19 & 911. I guess there could be a problem finding appropriate slots for all of that on Sky Witness...

    I guess that explains why NBC let New Amsterdam go to Amazon. :D

    The Good Doctor, Station 19 and 911 have always been on Sky Witness. Grey's Anatomy has been on it (and predecessor Living) for a very long time.

    And New Amsterdam is now also on More4.

    I'm guessing Private Eyes will end up on 5USA as it has secondary UK rights currently.

  • CSI and Law & Order will be less dominant as time goes by as, other than SVU, they are no longer being made. Although the Chicago franchises are related to Law & Order. There's no chance of containing these within one channel. More exposure brings in more advertising revenue and every channel wants a bite of the cherry...

  • Something new? They can't even bring back something old without linking it into the franchises, as we have seen with the Magnum / Hawaii Five-O / NCIS LA crossovers.

  • The Good Doctor, Station 19 and 911 have always been on Sky Witness. Grey's Anatomy has been on it (and predecessor Living) for a very long time.

    And New Amsterdam is now also on More4.

    I'm guessing Private Eyes will end up on 5USA as it has secondary UK rights currently.

    My point was that the genre is already well catered for with that content on Sky Witness and, now that is being joined by the likes of Chicago Med & The Resident from Universal, it will be difficult to accommodate them all in appropriate time slots. Bearing in mind the other content on Sky Witness, the fact that all of these generally start in the winter season and there's only a certain number of peak hour slots. But yes, obviously those were already on Sky Witness.

    Yes, season 1 of New Amsterdam is now showing on More 4, but was first show on Amazon at the beginning of last year. It's a Universal production, so Sky Witness would be the obvious location for it. I doubt there will be any peak hour slots left for it.

    Private Eyes could be a suitable candidate for Sky Comedy. The scheduling on Universal didn't do it any favours.

    BTW I've rephrased the original post slightly and added italics to, hopefully, highlight the shows actually being transferred from Universal.

  • Sky and NBCUniversal will launch a new global news channel this summer, which will be based in London.

    No launch date yet for the channel, but the article does go on to say that Euronews will remain, which NBC owns a share of. Looks like Comcast wants to be a major world player in news.

    I must say, I rather like the NBC Peacock logo being used.

    Will anyone watch this when it comes?

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