Sky Movies 007 HD was a premium movie channel available in the UK and Ireland, run by BSkyB. It focused solely on James Bond movies and first aired on October 5, 2012, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Bond film, Dr. No (1962). Sky secured the rights to broadcast the Bond films and launched this channel to mark the occasion. Initially, the channel ran for one month to celebrate the anniversary, then came back from January 1 to January 21, 2013 and again in February. Its final broadcast was on August 17, 2013. In November 2013, ITV regained the rights to the Bond franchise after making a deal with the distributor and the films were shown again on regular television. On July 8, 2016, Sky Movies was renamed Sky Cinema and Sky got the rights to show the latest Bond film, Spectre.
Background
On April 12, 2012, it was announced that BSkyB had made a deal with MGM to get exclusive rights to show the James Bond movies in the UK, starting in October which marked the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise. This deal ended ITV’s long-held rights which it had since 1975. Initially, Sky planned to air the films on Sky Movies Showcase but in August 2012, they revealed plans to create a special channel just for James Bond movies. A logo and ad for the new channel, inspired by the Bond franchise, were released in September, with the channel’s launch set for October 5.
Sky’s contract with MGM ended in late 2013. In November 2013, ITV made a new deal with the distributor to regain the broadcasting rights, allowing them to air Skyfall in 2014. Later, in December, RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcaster, signed a multi-million Euro deal to air the Bond films starting that Christmas.
Launch
To celebrate the launch of Sky Movies 007 HD, entertainment journalists from Digital Spy were invited to a special Bond movie marathon at the Corinthia Hotel in London. They watched all 22 James Bond films back-to-back, starting on Friday, September 28 and finishing on Sunday, September 30. The channel officially launched on Friday, October 5, to mark the 50th anniversary of Dr. No, the first Bond film. The channel was available on Sky Digital and on demand until Sunday, November 4. After the channel’s run ended, the films were still available on Sky’s on-demand service, Sky Anytime+ and continued to air on other Sky Movies channels. In addition to the films, the channel also showed Bond-related documentaries including behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew.
Speaking on October 3, 2012, just before the channel’s launch, Ian Lewis, the Director of Sky Movies, said, “The Bond movies are a unique franchise and we want to give our customers an experience like never before. That’s why we’re creating a dedicated channel, SKY MOVIES 007 HD, entirely focused on James Bond, showing all the films along with extra content.” As part of the promotion for the channel, on October 5, 2012, the digital radio station Absolute Radio 00s temporarily changed its name to Absolute Radio 007 for the day.
The channel initially aired for a month and closed on November 5 to make room for Sky Movies Christmas. It was relaunched on January 1, 2013. To celebrate the return, Sky Movies held a survey asking viewers to choose their favorite Bond scene which was featured in a special show called Bond’s Greatest Moments. The winning scene, with 10.3% of the votes from 2,500 people, was from Goldfinger, where Bond is strapped to a table with a laser cutting toward him. The channel closed again on January 21 but came back on February 11 due to popular demand, moving to channel 310 when Sky Movies Showcase became Sky Movies Oscars. It returned in summer 2013 and stayed on air until August 17, when it was replaced by Sky Movies Superhero.
Similar Promotions
In a similar promotion in October 2015, Sky Movies Greats was temporarily renamed Sky Movies Harry Potter. This was to celebrate the upcoming 15th anniversary of the release of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Starting on October 24, the channel showed all the Harry Potter films for nine days. After that, the films were available on Sky’s on-demand service for the next 12 months.
