Sky's Branding

Yes, it took some time but now the Sky presentation has gone back to being fantastic and cohesive though

Sky Living idents remain pretty poor..

I have to concur with you about Sky Living, while the idents look pretty mediocre, production values are decent and the soundtrack's nice.

Sky1 and Cinema in my opinion benefited the most from the refresh - I was never fond of the 2011 set.

My guess is they're not spending money on Living because it's the only Sky brand being UK-only

Sky Movies older idents were very nice, but after some time they got, well, old..

Ever since Sky Living stopped having a dedicated channel controller it seems to have been in decline. All original productions moved to Sky1. When Sky rebranded its entertainment channels, no press releases mentioned that Sky Living was included. Only two new idents were introduced and they were taken from a channel trailer previously aired on the channel. It is not very noticeable but the characters in the idents freeze towards the end as the footage was too short. There were more than two scenes filmed but the other scenes featured in the promo must not have been long enough to turn into idents. Interestingly one of its flagship programs 'The Blacklist' is moving over to Sky1 shortly. I am sure if it was to close, all its primetime US dramas would fit well on Sky1. Perhaps Sky Bravo might be taking its place in the future? You can definitely notice a reduction in promotion for the channel, similar to how Sky2 and Sky3 started to decline before Sky Living and Sky Atlantic took over.

The Sky1 controller, MacDonald, has assumed control of Sky Living, but sadly it's lacking original content - and all three channels are suffering from content being spread too thinly. I question how certain Sky1 content such as Road Wars can air on Living, while certain programmes like the Blacklist fit better on Sky1. And Sky1 having all original content? Doesn't Atlantic have this as well with programmes including Fortitude and The Young Pope? Living's focus on US drama - Atlantic also fits that remit as well.

What Sky really needs to sort out is the fact that there should be a clear focus with programmes on all three channels. Have original content on all three channels at least - fit it towards the audience, rather than trying to shunt it only on Sky1 and Atlantic.

And as for what Sky would intend to close to launch Sky Bravo - Sky2 would be well placed for the Sky firing squad.

Close down Sky Living. Does Sky 2 still exist? another one that should go.

I wouldn't shut off Sky Living IMO, but they would have to restructure the channels to tailor to their audiences - Sky2 would be ideal to shut off but it still squeezes out a bit of revenue.

I definitely agree, Sky needs a female (or slightly so) brand

Shutting off Sky2) wouldn't solve many problems, since Sky2 is just a Sky1 "repeats container", with no money spent on it

It's like Sky1's very own 4seven - plus, Sky2 lacks an HD channel, giving it little justification to rebrand it with spending money on playout for a new channel.

Sky Living needs a huge restructuring to be honest - closure won't help but revitalising the personality of the channel with original content and aiming towards its audience would give it a huge boost.

What does IMO mean?

Sky 2 has been left to die, no HD version, seems crazy.

Sky Living is for reality TV? come to think of it what is Sky 1 for. It's all a bit over the place.

Sky should give the entertainment channels a clear identity.

Sky 1 - Mainstream and family entertainment

Sky Living - Female oriented

Sky Bravo - New male oriented channel

Sky Atlantic - HBO style content

Sky Trouble - New teen/youth oriented channel

Sky Arts - Stay as it is

In My Opinion.