The pay TV provider Sky changes its offer from time to time. Over the year some new stations were added, others were shut down. By the end of the year, an entertainment channel and a children’s channel had already been affected, and two more channels will follow at the end of January.
Sky only launched various new channels for sports fans and a channel in the entertainment sector in the summer of 2022. Sky recently announced the end of four channels. With NatGeo and NatGeo Wild, the provider will remove two documentary channels from the program in February 2023. However, earlier, namely on December 31, Sky stopped broadcasting the children’s channel Junior and E! Entertainment discontinued.
Sky Junior has stopped the program completely
Sky Junior aimed its program at the younger target group. Children between the ages of 3 and 13 in particular found series and films such as “Pippi Longstocking”, “Maya the Bee”, “Benjamin Blümchen” and “Bibi Blocksberg” here every day from 6 a.m. From July 2020, Sky Junior was part of the kids package, but could also be received with an entertainment subscription. At the end of December 2022, however, Sky separated from the broadcaster.
The Junior transmitter started operating in July 1996. Behind him stood Studio 100 Media GmbH based in Munich. From October 1999, Junior was part of Sky, then still Premiere. Most recently, Sky was the only platform in Germany through which Junior could still be received. The end at Sky also meant the final end for Junior’s broadcasting operations. After the announcement, the following note was found on the website: “The junior heroes say goodbye on December 31. of you. Thanks for a great time!”.
Sky is also hiring documentary and entertainment channels
In addition to Junior, Sky is also parting with the two channels NatGeo and NatGeo Wild. Both can only be received from the provider until the end of January. Unlike Sky Junior, these channels will continue to be broadcast on other platforms such as Disney+, MagentaTV or GigaTV. On NatGeo and NatGeo Wild viewers will mainly find documentaries and natural stories.
Unlike the decision to separate from the Junior broadcaster, Sky gives a reason for the end of NatGeo and NatGeo Wild. With Sky Nature and Sky Documentaries, you have two of your own, very well running channels on offer that you want to focus on in the future. “Therefore, after many years of good partnership, we will phase out NatGeo and NatGeo Wild at the beginning of next year,” Christian Asanger, Vice President Entertainment Sky Germany, told the portal DWDL.
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It has been known since October 2022 that E! Entertainment will only be available on Sky for a short time. The station, operated by NBC Universal, shut down like Junior at the end of the year. Here, too, Sky explained that they wanted to focus more on the successful alternatives. In this case, these are the stations 13th Street, Syfy and Universal TV. However, it is possible that Sky will receive some content from E! Entertainment outsourced to other broadcasters.