The new Sky Arts – I wanted to explain exactly what we’re doing, and why.
We’re all set to relaunch the brand new Sky Arts tomorrow at 10am – and while those Status Quo lyrics may have captured the general feeling over here at Sky Arts at the moment, hopefully what we’re doing is anything but the status quo. I wanted to explain exactly what we’re doing , and why.
After seven years of being the only dedicated arts channels in the UK and Ireland, we’re mirroring that proposition on demand, with the launch of Sky Arts On Demand a dedicated section offering our customersover 1,000 hours of arts content. If you’re a classical music fan you’ll get collections of the best classical concerts, opera or ballet, if you’re a Heavy Metal aficionado it’ll be so much easier to get to content to bang your head to at the press of a button. We’ll also commission and acquire exclusively for on demand – for example, we’ll be launching a unique new feature, Galleries On Demand, which will see us partner with galleries to offer up a masterpiece painting a day to download to act as a smart TV backdrop in customer homes. The best of the arts, in your homes, at any time? It’s the ethos of Sky Arts, and it’s one of the reasons I love this idea so much.
I’ve had some truly brilliant jobs in my long TV career, but none that I’ve enjoyed more than being director of Sky Arts. I hope, in the coming weeks, you’ll see why.
You can get to this vast library of arts, music and culture through the Sky Arts channel tile in on demand, or through our new red button service which will take you straight there. This is a major development for us – and it reflects the way our customers watch TV. If you’ve seen our recent promos – with the likes of Lenny Henry, Kim Cattrall, Jane Horrocks and Johnny Vegas talking about their cultural loves and hates – you’ll know that we understand that not all of the arts appeals to everyone. That’s why we wanted to make it as easy as possible for customers to find the content that they’re passionate about.
As well as this, we’re combining Sky Arts 1 and 2 to create one single, superchannel, which means that we can move it higher up the EPG to position 121. What it absolutely doesn’t mean is that we’ll stop showing Sky Arts 2 content – it just means you can find the best of both channels on the new, improved Sky Arts and on Sky Arts On Demand, and ultimately, we can put even more investment (an extra 10% in fact) into showcasing the best of the arts.
As if that wasn’t enough, we’re also kicking off our most ambitious programming line-up to date with the phenomenal Guitar Star tomorrow evening – a nationwide competition to find the UK’s best guitarist. Hosted by Edith Bowman and featuring some of the best talent in the classical, acoustic, rock and jazz guitar world – including Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, and classical guitarist Miloš Karadaglic – the show is truly representative of what we’re trying to do here at Sky Arts. It’s entertaining, and credible, and shows brilliant people doing brilliant things – and just like Portrait Artist of the Year (which returns later this year as Landscape Artist); it’s a real favourite of mine.
Also tomorrow night we’ve got the fabulous Birthday, starring Stephen Mangan as a pregnant man. Yes, you read that correctly. Adapted from a Royal Court production by Joe Penhall, and directed by Roger Michell ofNotting Hill fame, it is a rollercoaster watch – you’ll be crying with both laughter and sadness by the end of it.
Later on this week, we’ve got the TV debut for the enfant terribles of the British art world, The Chapman Brothers, who have made a brilliantly surreal drama for us starring Rhys Ifans and Sophie Kennedy-Clark. I can guarantee you’ll never have seen anything like The Marriage of Reason & Squalor on TV.
And that’s just the half of it. In the next few months, we’ve also got a brand new sex season where we learn Edith Bowman’s Top Ten Songs to Have Sex To, The Ballet Boyz imagining of the Kama Sutra and a sumptuous documentary on Anais Nin; a physical comedy strand with Kim Cattrall, Frank Skinner and Vic Reeves; and a new strand, Hot Tickets which will offer customers front row seats to the nation’s best arts performances, including the best in ballet, theatre and classical concerts. We’ll also have Lenny Henry on the blues, a host of festival coverage and of course, The South Bank Show, featuring George R R Martin, Paul Greengrass and Laura Mvula,alongside the return of The South Bank Sky Arts Awards this Wednesday.
I’ve had some truly brilliant jobs in my long TV career, but none that I’ve enjoyed more than being director of Sky Arts. I hope, in the coming weeks, you’ll see why.
