Sky Movies has announced it will launch a dedicated James Bond channel in October called Sky Movies 007 HD. The channel will show all 22 Bond films from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studios, as well as the two independently-made films which feature the character – Never Say Never Again (1983) and Casino Royale (1967). All of the films will be shown in high definition and without commercials.
Having acquired the whole back catalogue of the famous MI6 spy from ITV in April, Sky’s timing is set to coincide with the release new Bond film, Skyfall which hits UK cinemas on October 26th. They are cleverly using this and the fact that is the 50th anniversary of the franchise as the opportune moment to launch the new channel, which will run throughout October and November.
Sky have expressed their excitement at the launch, with Ian Lewis, director of Sky Movies, saying: “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.”
The channel will be able to be viewed on-demand via Sky Anytime+ and on the move with their app and website Sky Go. Skyfall will also be made available on Sky Movies in 2013.
MEC Opinion: James Bond is the longest continually-running film series in history and continues to be extremely popular. The latest film Skyfall, which is out in October this year, once again stars Daniel Craig in the lead role and will mark the 50th anniversary of the Bond film. The excitement ahead of this film is already gathering pace and this new channel will only increase the anticipation as the countdown to its release continues.
Skyfall is expected to be a massive box office smash so it will be interesting to see what effect, if any, this channel has on the number of people viewing the film at the cinema. Sky obviously views this as an excellent opportunity to utilise its new James Bond inventory and time will tell if television audiences agree.
