Sky Three
Encyclopedia
Pick TV is a British television channel, available free-to-air
on Freeview and TalkTalk TV, and free-to-view
on satellite via Sky, Freesat from Sky
and Virgin Media
. The channel was originally launched on 31 October 2005 as Sky Three. From Thursday 24 June 2010, programming from Sky Travel Shop was dropped from the schedules being replaced with programming from Sky Real Lives, which was closed in 2010 to enable Sky to invest in Sky1 and Sky2
.
On 1 February 2011, Sky Atlantic
launched on Sky channel 108, which had originally been occupied by Sky3. Sky rebranded Sky3 as Pick TV on 28 February 2011.
Early highlights from the channel's schedule included Futurama
, Cold Case, Tru Calling
, Relic Hunter
, Road Wars, the Inside strand of documentaries, Brainiac: Science Abuse
, Airline, and 35mm from Sky Movies
(which looks at upcoming films in the cinema and on Sky's premium movies service Sky Movies
) and Dream Team
. The channel has also shown the free-to-air premieres of some of Sky1's more prestigious shows such as series 3 and 4 of 24
, Rescue Me
, The 10th Kingdom
, Hex
and the latest remake of Battlestar Galactica
. The channel also showed series 3 and 4 of Prison Break
in 2010.
In recent years the number of well known Sky1 shows being shown on Sky3/Pick TV has declined. The channel is well known for airing repeats of Road Wars and Airline whilst other shows such as Coach Trip
and It's Me or the Dog
are also shown regularly, the closure of Sky Real Lives responsible for the increase in lifestyle programming. The number of American shows airing on the channel has declined rapidly, with Prison Break
the last major US Sky1 drama to be shown on the channel in 2010. Since its rebrand to Pick TV recent Sky1 shows such as UK Border Force
, Pineapple Dance Studios
and documentary series hosted by Ross Kemp
such as gangs and in search of Pirates have been (or currently are being) aired. The most recent major US series to be shown on Pick TV is Glenn Martin, DDS
, being broadcast since September 2010. As of 5th October 2011 US drama Lie to Me
series 1 is being shown.
where Sky3 was achieving on average a 1% share compared to Sky2's 0.1-3% share. Instead of Sky selling on the terrestrial free-to-air rights for their programmes to another broadcaster, these rights are usually retained to remain exclusive to Sky. In 2006, Sky's entertainment channels changed the wording in the logos to numbers, hence Sky Three became Sky3, assuming the theme of particles.
On 23 August 2010 Sky Sports News
became a pay-TV channel, which was replaced on Freeview by a one-hour timeshift
version of Sky3. Sky3 +1 also launched on Sky channel 223 on the same day. A final rebrand took place in early 2011 and saw Sky1, 2 and 3 gain similar rectangular logos to Sky News
and Sky Sports
.
The channel was rebranded to Pick TV (and Pick TV +1) on February 28th 2011. Only the name was changed, as the channel retained the look of the most recent rebrand which occurred a few weeks earlier. The launch of Challenge saw quiz and gameshow type programming move off Pick TV. On 20 September 2011 at 14:00, Pick TV +1 was removed from Freeview. This was so that all of the channels owned by BSkyB could be on multiplex C and Challenge could broadcast for 24 hours a day in Wales on the platform, in-line with the rest of the UK.
Free-to-air
Free-to-air describes television and radio services broadcast in clear form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscription or one-off fee...
on Freeview and TalkTalk TV, and free-to-view
Free-to-view
Free-to-view is a term used for free of charge and encrypted audio and/or video contents transmission that do not require any form of continual subscription...
on satellite via Sky, Freesat from Sky
Freesat from Sky
Freesat from Sky is a British satellite television service from BSkyB. It offers over 240 free-to-air channels and 12 free-to-view encrypted channels...
and Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
. The channel was originally launched on 31 October 2005 as Sky Three. From Thursday 24 June 2010, programming from Sky Travel Shop was dropped from the schedules being replaced with programming from Sky Real Lives, which was closed in 2010 to enable Sky to invest in Sky1 and Sky2
Sky2
Sky2 is a British television channel originally launched on 2 December 2002 as Sky One Mix. Sky2 is now available on Sky, Virgin Media, Smallworld Cable and TalkTalk TV platforms in the UK. It is also available in the Republic of Ireland on the UPC Ireland platform.-Rebrand:Sky One Mix was...
.
On 1 February 2011, Sky Atlantic
Sky Atlantic
Sky Atlantic is a television channel owned by British Sky Broadcasting, which launched on 1 February 2011 on Sky in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland....
launched on Sky channel 108, which had originally been occupied by Sky3. Sky rebranded Sky3 as Pick TV on 28 February 2011.
Programming
When the channel originally launched as Sky Three in 2005, it was essentially a "shop window" service for Sky's main entertainment channel Sky1 and its other subscription services, which served to "offer digital terrestrial viewers the opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of popular programmes from Sky". From its launch on 31 October 2005 until 24 June 2010, the channel carried Sky Travel's commercial presentations selling holiday deals for a number of providers.Early highlights from the channel's schedule included Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
, Cold Case, Tru Calling
Tru Calling
Tru Calling is an American television supernatural drama series that premiered on Fox Network on October 30, 2003. It ran for two seasons before being canceled....
, Relic Hunter
Relic Hunter
Relic Hunter is an anglophone Canadian television series, starring Tia Carrere and Christien Anholt. Actress Lindy Booth also starred for the first two seasons; Tanja Reichert replaced her for the third...
, Road Wars, the Inside strand of documentaries, Brainiac: Science Abuse
Brainiac: Science Abuse
Brainiac: Science Abuse is a British entertainment TV show with a science motif. Numerous experiments are carried out in each show, often to verify whether common conceptions are true or simply to create impressive explosions...
, Airline, and 35mm from Sky Movies
Sky Movies
Sky Movies is the collective name for the premium subscription television movie channels operated by Sky Television, and later British Sky Broadcasting. It has around 5 million subscribers, via satellite, cable and IPTV in the UK and Ireland...
(which looks at upcoming films in the cinema and on Sky's premium movies service Sky Movies
Sky Movies
Sky Movies is the collective name for the premium subscription television movie channels operated by Sky Television, and later British Sky Broadcasting. It has around 5 million subscribers, via satellite, cable and IPTV in the UK and Ireland...
) and Dream Team
Dream Team (TV series)
Dream Team is a British television series produced by Hewland International which aired on Sky1 and Sky3 from 1997 to 2007; it chronicled the on-field and off-field affairs of the fictional Harchester United Football Club....
. The channel has also shown the free-to-air premieres of some of Sky1's more prestigious shows such as series 3 and 4 of 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
, Rescue Me
Rescue Me (TV series)
Rescue Me is an American television drama series that premiered on the FX Network on July 21, 2004, and concluded on September 7, 2011. The series focuses on the professional and personal lives of a group of New York City firefighters in the fictitious Ladder 62 / Engine 99 firehouse.The show...
, The 10th Kingdom
The 10th Kingdom
The 10th Kingdom is an American epic fantasy miniseries written by Simon Moore and produced by Britain's Carnival Films, Germany's Babelsberg Film und Fernsehen, and the USA's Hallmark Entertainment...
, Hex
Hex (TV series)
Hex is a British television programme developed by Shine Limited and aired on the Sky One satellite channel. The story is about a remote English country school that becomes the battleground between a demonic entity and the witches who oppose it...
and the latest remake of Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American military science fiction television series, and part of the Battlestar Galactica franchise. The show was developed by Ronald D. Moore as a re-imagining of the 1978 Battlestar Galactica television series created by Glen A. Larson...
. The channel also showed series 3 and 4 of Prison Break
Prison Break
Prison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...
in 2010.
In recent years the number of well known Sky1 shows being shown on Sky3/Pick TV has declined. The channel is well known for airing repeats of Road Wars and Airline whilst other shows such as Coach Trip
Coach Trip
Coach Trip is a reality show that was broadcast on Channel 4 with More4 and Pick TV showing repeats since 7 March 2005. The programme returned on 25 May 2009. The show's format consists of 4 to 7 teams of 2 undertaking a coach tour principally of continental Europe...
and It's Me or the Dog
It's Me or the Dog
It's Me or the Dog is a television program produced by television production company Shed Media US, in which dog trainer Victoria Stilwell tackles behavioral problems in dogs by teaching their owners responsible dog ownership...
are also shown regularly, the closure of Sky Real Lives responsible for the increase in lifestyle programming. The number of American shows airing on the channel has declined rapidly, with Prison Break
Prison Break
Prison Break is an American television serial drama created by Paul Scheuring, that was broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company for four seasons, from 2005 until 2009. The series revolves around two brothers; one has been sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit, and the other devises an...
the last major US Sky1 drama to be shown on the channel in 2010. Since its rebrand to Pick TV recent Sky1 shows such as UK Border Force
UK Border Force
UK Border Force is a Sky fly on the wall documentary series narrated by Bill Nighy. The series focuses on the UK Border Agency and reveals the action behind the scenes of immigration....
, Pineapple Dance Studios
Pineapple Dance Studios (TV series)
Pineapple Dance Studios is a docusoap which aired on Sky1 during 2010. The show gave viewers an insight into the world of Pineapple Dance Studios, a London dance complex, and introduced several employees including Louie Spence and Andrew Stone. The show was first broadcast on 14 February 2010 on...
and documentary series hosted by Ross Kemp
Ross Kemp
Ross James Kemp is a BAFTA award-winning British actor, author and journalist, who rose to prominence in the role of Grant Mitchell in the BBC soap opera, EastEnders...
such as gangs and in search of Pirates have been (or currently are being) aired. The most recent major US series to be shown on Pick TV is Glenn Martin, DDS
Glenn Martin, DDS
Glenn Martin, DDS is an American stop-motion-animated television series that premiered on Nick at Nite on August 17, 2009. The series is produced by Tornante Animation in association with Cuppa Coffee Studio...
, being broadcast since September 2010. As of 5th October 2011 US drama Lie to Me
Lie to Me
Lie to Me is a 2009-2011 American television series.Lie to Me may also refer to:* Lie to Me , a South Korean drama series* "Lie to Me" , an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer...
series 1 is being shown.
Pick TV on Freeview
Sky Three was the first free-to-air general entertainment channel from Sky. It launched on 31 October 2005, replacing the Sky Travel's EPG slot on Freeview in a bid to attract more subscribers to Sky's satellite service. Due to its wider availability on Freeview channel 11, the channel constantly had higher ratings than Sky2Sky2
Sky2 is a British television channel originally launched on 2 December 2002 as Sky One Mix. Sky2 is now available on Sky, Virgin Media, Smallworld Cable and TalkTalk TV platforms in the UK. It is also available in the Republic of Ireland on the UPC Ireland platform.-Rebrand:Sky One Mix was...
where Sky3 was achieving on average a 1% share compared to Sky2's 0.1-3% share. Instead of Sky selling on the terrestrial free-to-air rights for their programmes to another broadcaster, these rights are usually retained to remain exclusive to Sky. In 2006, Sky's entertainment channels changed the wording in the logos to numbers, hence Sky Three became Sky3, assuming the theme of particles.
On 23 August 2010 Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News
Sky Sports News is a 24-hour sports news channel in the United Kingdom. It is run by BSkyB whose sports channels include Sky Sports 1, 2, 3 and 4, as well as Sky Sports HD1, HD2, HD3 and HD4....
became a pay-TV channel, which was replaced on Freeview by a one-hour timeshift
Timeshift channel
A timeshift channel is a television channel carrying a time-delayed rebroadcast of its "parent" channel's output. This channel runs alongside their parent: the term "timeshift" does not refer to a network broadcasting at a later time to reflect a local timezone unless the parent is also available...
version of Sky3. Sky3 +1 also launched on Sky channel 223 on the same day. A final rebrand took place in early 2011 and saw Sky1, 2 and 3 gain similar rectangular logos to Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...
and Sky Sports
Sky Sports
Sky Sports is the brand name for a group of sports-oriented television channels operated by the UK and Ireland's main satellite pay-TV company, British Sky Broadcasting. Sky Sports is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland...
.
The channel was rebranded to Pick TV (and Pick TV +1) on February 28th 2011. Only the name was changed, as the channel retained the look of the most recent rebrand which occurred a few weeks earlier. The launch of Challenge saw quiz and gameshow type programming move off Pick TV. On 20 September 2011 at 14:00, Pick TV +1 was removed from Freeview. This was so that all of the channels owned by BSkyB could be on multiplex C and Challenge could broadcast for 24 hours a day in Wales on the platform, in-line with the rest of the UK.
Free Weekend Pass
On the weekend of 18–20 September 2009, the channel showed a selection of programmes normally only available to paying Sky subscribers instead of the channel's usual schedule as a "taster" of what is available on the subscription-based Sky to viewers of Freeview, TalkTalk TV, and Freesat from Sky. Channels not available to Freeview and Freesat from Sky viewers, such as Sky1, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, Living, ESPN and MTV contributed programming to the weekend. Sky showed a second Free Weekend Pass event on 17–18 April 2010 and a third event between 11-13 February 2011.External links
- TV Listings at sky.com