There's no original content for it, and it can't be used as a platform to advertise Sky's services because it's not present on Freeview. I think it's only a matter of time before it disappears, unless they try twisting it into a "Best of Sky" channel including shows from Living and Atlantic, giving VM subscribers a taste of the latter for once. Then again, I suppose it's not much of a far cry from a "best of" channel as it stands. Just not a particularly good one.
I think someone posted on here that, before the Flextech acquisition, Sky were indeed planning to revamp Sky 2 as a female targeted channel. That was all scrapped when Sky got hold of Living TV and didn't have to start from scratch.
Sky 2 did have the attention of Sky for a time. I remember they made a big deal out of them showing The Simpsons on a channel other than Sky 1 for the first time, with a new late night double bill at 10pm. This was around the same time that Sky 1 got to premiere a new episode first, before the States.
Here's a suggestion. Soaps in the morning, travel programmes in the afternoon, history programmes at tea time, sci-fi and drama in prime-time, and maybe some late night classic sport?
It's probably the branding rather than the content that lets it down - it can be a repeats channel but they need to sell it in a similar way to 4seven rather than just forget about it.
I think someone posted on here that, before the Flextech acquisition, Sky were indeed planning to revamp Sky 2 as a female targeted channel. That was all scrapped when Sky got hold of Living TV and didn't have to start from scratch.
Yup that was me. They were asking indies for ideas that no doubt ended up on Living eventually anyway.
And as I've said countless times on here the sole reason Sky2 exists is for Sky to make additional money out of cheap repeats of content it already owns. It's not suffering an identity crisis or is a forgotten about sister channel, it's doing its job as a channel that makes a bit of ad money out of stuff they've got sat on a shelf. Don't get hung up by the name, they've got three core entertainment brands they want to focus on, they don't need to turn any attention to Sky2. Real Lives exists for the same reason.
I think someone posted on here that, before the Flextech acquisition, Sky were indeed planning to revamp Sky 2 as a female targeted channel. That was all scrapped when Sky got hold of Living TV and didn't have to start from scratch.
Yup that was me. They were asking indies for ideas that no doubt ended up on Living eventually anyway.
And as I've said countless times on here the sole reason Sky2 exists is for Sky to make additional money out of cheap repeats of content it already owns. It's not suffering an identity crisis or is a forgotten about sister channel, it's doing its job as a channel that makes a bit of ad money out of stuff they've got sat on a shelf. Don't get hung up by the name, they've got three core entertainment brands they want to focus on, they don't need to turn any attention to Sky2. Real Lives exists for the same reason.
Sky2 was originally planned to take that shift as a female channel - because Sky Real Lives didn't get the success that Sky had wanted, and then decided to close it as a result. They've at least struck gold with Living, though it was a colossal mistake to kill off Bravo, as it could have given Sky a lucrative channel to serve the male audience. Despite that, they have four core brands in Sky1, Atlantic, Living and Arts, far stronger in output for Sky basics than it was years ago. And Sky has treated Challenge with far greater respect than VMTV did in the period leading up to the acquisition.
As for Pick, it's the same financial proposition - to make as much from the Sky archive, though it's remit clearly is to promote the Sky platform to Freeview viewers. Unfortunately Sky hasn't tapped into the closure of Channel One to improve Pick - whatever's been left of Channel One has been used to create a block of sci-fi programmes (much like V1/C1 used to with Star Trek).