Sky is to merge its Arts channels in June, which will result in the closure of Sky Arts 2.
The new combined Sky Arts channel will get a dedicated section in the Sky On Demand menu and move to 121 on the Sky EPG. To celebrate the launch of the new channel on June 9, Sky will kick things off with a sex-themed season.
This will include the Erotic Adventures of Anais Nin, a drama starring Lucy Cohu as the eponymous author, a performance based on the Kama Sutra by all-male dance company BalleyBoyz and Songs To Have Sex To, a documentary presented by Edith Bowman.
A comedy-themed season featuring Kim Cattrall, Kevin Eldon, Vic Reeves and Johhny Vegas will arrive in the autumn, following Idris Elba’s original drama King for a Term. Sky Arts will also continue to broadcast music documentaries and will return Latitude this year, serving up sets from Noel Gallagher, Portishead and Alt J.
Director of Sky Arts, Phil Edgar-Jones, said: “At Sky we believe the arts are for everyone. We know that a lot of our content appeals to genre enthusiasts and the feedback from our customers tells us that they want to find the stuff they love in one place.
“With that in mind, we have looked at our offering to make sure customers can more easily find the content they are passionate about. With our new on demand service alongside what we think is the strongest line-up of programmes yet, we think the new look Sky Arts will genuinely offer something for everyone.”
News of Sky Arts moving up in the EPG and getting its own section in Sky’s On Demand library follows news of Sky 3D’s closure.
While the broadcast channel will dissapear from customer’s programme guides this summer, 3D enthusiasts will still be able to watch movie premieres from Sky, provided they hook their set-top box up to the Internet and enable Sky On Demand.
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