Fans of music from the 1960s through to the 1990s will have access to a new 24 hour classic hits channel on Sky from Tuesday 2nd August.
Classic Hits showcases all the big stars from across the decades, including Abba, David Bowie, Kylie, Madonna and Take That, with back-to-back music videos around the clock. The channel’s schedule consists of hour-long blocks of music from a particular decade.
Classic Hits will launch on Sky satellite channel 366. Its arrival on Sky follows its recent launch on Freeview.
From pop-up channel to permanent fixture
Originally launched as a temporary pop-up channel called ‘That’s Music’ on Freeview in April, the channel rebranded as ‘Classic Hits‘ at the end of June. On Freeview, the channel can currently only be seen overnights on channel 91. However, via Sky, the channel will be available full time.
On Sky, the channel will go head-to-head with the likes of Now 70s/80s/90s and the MTV 80s and 90s channels.
Classic Hits is operated by That’s TV, a broadcaster that started off life as a local TV operator. It has since launched a national version of its channel on Sky channel 187, Freesat 178 and Freeview 65. The main channel still includes music videos, but is increasingly branching out to include showbiz documentaries and classic TV shows. Its current schedule includes The Mrs Merton Show, Hale and Pace, Benny Hill and the Kenny Everett Video Show.
And it appears That’s TV also plans to launch additional services in the future. Ofcom has issued the broadcaster additional cable and satellite broadcast licences for services including “That’s Comedy” and “That’s Reality”.
Classic Hits is one of five channels that have been testing off the Sky guide prior to going live. The new music channel bucks a decade-long trend of music channels closing. But with younger audiences preferring to stream the latest hits, many of the remaining channels are increasingly focusing on older viewers.
Iain Hatton, features writer, RXTV