Sky's Branding

The 2013 refresh didn't represent Challenge as a whole. The characters were also tacky and irritating. Same goes for Pick - both channels have massively improved in presentation. I actually like the idents - it shows viewers what Challenge is as a whole and gives some personality to the channel, as is Pick.

Programming has been taking a dive - it's been reliant on Pointless, The Chase (both shows are excellent), Bullseye and Millionaire, in order to make back the revenue to buy more niche shows.

But even with the constraints caused by overspending on football rights - Sky have treated Challenge with better respect than VMTV have ever done.

Are the Premier League costs really causing Sky to tighten their belts?

Their profits were up 12% last year to £1.1Bn. They have deep pockets, and probably even deeper after the 21CF takeover is completed. Surely, they have plenty to be able to invest in Sky1 and Sky Living?

I think so. I deal with Sky professionally, I detect (for the first time in over 25 years) belt tightening.

Definitely. Rumblings are that it is not a happy place to work. I know people are trying to get out.

Interesting. This of course comes off the back of a raft of on-air talent moving from Sky News, so I can imagine quite a few behind the camera would have gone as well.

Actually - the people I know don't work in News.

Entertainment? Production Services? Sports?

Not even sure about what's going on at Sky, I thought it was a good place to work, and considering that I don't live far from Osterley...

After the stories I've heard, I'm not surprised.

I've been hearing the r-word being bandied about.

Apparently all isn't well between Discovery and Sky, possibly Sky Vs Virgin Media again...?

Discovery threatens to pull its 12 channels from Sky on 31 Jan after claiming it is abusing "dominant market position" in TV carriage deal

— Mark Sweney (@marksweney) January 25, 2017

Well, it's nice to be on the other side of this for once… not that it's happened much recently but still.

Sigh. 'Dominant market position'? That's because more people have Sky than cable. Sky invest more in technology for their customers (rather than relying on creaky firmware in Tivo boxes) it's a more attractive product. You don't become dominant in the marketplace, by sitting on your hands moaning at the competition.
If that is Virgin Media talking in the background, then it's self important chest puffing of the highest order.

I'd like to know how many people watch a Discovery Network channel on Sky, compared those via Virgin Media. 3 or 4 times more, maybe?

Suspect a deal will be done sometime around next Monday afternoon...