As broadcasters turn to streaming, Sky satellite viewers will lose four more channels, with classic movie channel TCM also closing down on other platforms.
First to be removed from Sky Q and Sky+HD is eSports channel Ginx eSports TV on Sky channel 425 this Thursday, 29th June. Sky and ITV both invested in the channel back in 2016, when broadcasters became increasingly interested in the potential of eSports. But the future is online:
Although Ginx eSports TV will close on satellite, the channel continues exclusively through Sky Glass and Sky Stream.
Sky has also announced the closure of Nollywood movie channel ROK, currently on Sky satellite channel 329, also on Thursday 29th June. In the past year, ROK became available as a free streaming service on Freeview channel 280 and it’s not clear if this will remain.
The Canal+ backed channel hasn’t commented on the impending changes. As a free-to-air channel, it’s the only channel to close this fortnight that isn’t part of a Sky subscription package.
On 6th July, TCM (officially “TCM Movies”) and timeshift channel TCM+1 will close in the UK and Ireland, on all platforms, not just Sky satellite.
▶️ TCM closure trailer
In a short video to viewers, TCM announced that “stories, no matter how great, have an ending” and that the channel was “riding off into the sunset.”
The move comes 20 years after the classic movie channel was moved behind a paywall, thwarting efforts at the time to make the channel available on Freeview. TCM first arrived in the UK and Ireland in 1999, replacing TNT – ironically a brand that’s coming back to the UK from next month as BT Sport becomes TNT Sports.
Ad
Quest to screen movie content
But TCM’s owners, Warner Bros Discovery, have confirmed that Quest will continue to show some of the movies previously shown on TCM. Quest is available on all major TV platforms and available to live stream via Discovery+. Discovery+ is currently available at no extra cost to Sky Q, Sky Glass and Sky Stream customers.
Marc Thornham
[Video Credit: WBD]