Sky are to close three Standard Definition “Sky Cinema” channels, in a move seen to be towards HD only distribution in the UK.

The three Sky Cinema channels set to cease SD broadcasts from the end of June 2020 are : Sky Cinema

Select , Sky Cinema Hits and Sky Cinema Sci-fi/Horror.

This means that Sky subscribers with old SD digiboxes will receive three fewer Sky Cinema channels.

Sky Cinema HD channels have been provided “as standard” for Sky Cinema subscribers on satellite.

This is the first time Sky has closed down a number of its standard definition channels in favour of HD-only broadcasting, and mirrors what Sky has done with its Austrian and German services.

A move to HD only by Sky has been long-awaited and well rumoured for the UK and Ireland, as it would mean an end to subscribers using older SD boxes, that have not been supported for many years.

Impact of this move for Sky Cinema users in Spain
This move would impact Spanish viewers of Sky Cinema Select HD.
Sky Cinema Select, along with a few other Sky Cinema HD channels, moved to the UK beam a few weeks ago, meaning their reception in Spain is harder to receive than before. In fact a 125x135cm dish, the standard currently being used in my service area, only gets a sniff of this frequency. This means that if you wanted to watch a movie on Sky Cinema Select, then you would have to swicth to the SD version, which is still on a “nice and easy to receive” signal. Which will be a problem now this SD channel is set to close. Users with larger 1.8m and 2.4m dishes should have no problems.