Origins The different channels in the package mostly have their origins in the analogue Premiere channel which started broadcasting in 1991 and the movie channels of the
DF1 platform started in 1996. The movie package on the DF1 platform consisted of
Cine Action,
Cine Comedy,
Romantic Movies,
Star*Kino and
Western Movies. When DF1 and Premiere merged to form the platform "Premiere World" in October 1999, it movie package, which was called "Movie World", consisted of the
Premiere channel and
13th Street as well as the former DF1 channels
Star*Kino,
Cine Action,
Cine Comedy,
Sci Fantasy and
Romantic Movies while
Western Movies closed. This structure remained until July 2001 when Premiere World relaunched their packages and brought all the channels they owned under the Premiere umbrella brand. •
Premiere was extended to three channels:
Premiere 1,
Premiere 2 and
Premiere 3 •
Star*Kino renamed
Premiere Star •
Cine Comedy renamed
Premiere Comedy •
Sci Fantasy renamed
Premiere Sci-fi •
Cine Action renamed
Premiere Action •
Romantic Movies was closed down and replaced with
Premiere Action-X, a sister channel of
Premiere Action In May 2002, "Premiere World" became simply "Premiere". At the same time, the themed movie channel were replaced by the numbered movie screens
Premiere 4 through
Premiere 7 while
Premiere Action-X closed. On 1 August 2006, the channels were overhauled again.
Premiere 1 to
Premiere 4 became part of a package called "Premiere Blockbuster", which also included
Disney Channel.
Premiere 5,
Premiere 6 and
Premiere 7 were closed down and replaced by
Premiere Filmclassics and
Premiere Filmfest. They became part of a package called "Premiere Entertainment", which also included
Premiere Serie,
Premiere Krimi and
Premiere Nostalgie. "Premiere Blockbuster" and "Premiere Entertainment" merged and became "Premiere Film" in on 1 July 2008.
2009 relaunch On 4 July 2009, Premiere was relaunched and became Sky Deutschland. All Premiere channels were renamed. The movie channels got the following names: •
Premiere 1 split into two channels:
Sky Cinema and
Sky Action •
Premiere 2 became
Sky Cinema +1 •
Premiere 3 became
Sky Cinema +24 •
Premiere 4 became
Sky Comedy •
Premiere Filmclassics became
Sky Cinema Hits, now "Sky Hits" •
Premiere Filmfest became
Sky Emotion •
Premiere Nostalgie became
Sky Nostalgie The Premiere Film channels were sold with
Disney Channel and
Fox Channel. When Sky was relaunched, those two channels were moved to the Sky Welt package, while the
MGM Channel and
Disney Cinemagic took their place.
Premiere Krimi was moved to the Sky Welt package and became
Sky Krimi. With the relaunch, the channels adopted the searchlights-themed graphics, used by the British
Sky Movies channels since 2007, with the logos replaced by those of German counterparts. Sky Cinema uses Sky Movies Premiere's ident, while Sky Action uses Sky Movies Action & Thriller's, Sky Emotion uses Sky Movies Drama's, Sky Nostalgie uses Sky Movies Classics', Sky Comedy uses Sky Movies Indie's (not Sky Movies Comedy's), and Sky Cinema Hits uses the original idents of Sky Movies HD 1 and 2. When the channels where rebranded, there was only one high-definition simulcast channel, Sky Cinema HD. It was joined by two more HD simulcasts on 13 August 2010, Sky Cinema Hits HD and Sky Action HD.
2020 relaunch On 11 March 2020, Sky Cinema was revamped with new and renamed channels: • Sky Cinema and Sky Cinema +24 became Sky Cinema Premieren and Sky Cinema Premieren +24. Sky Cinema +1 will close. • Sky Cinema Comedy, Nostalgie, Emotion and Hits were replaced by Sky Cinema Family (SD/HD), Sky Cinema Best Of (SD/HD), Sky Cinema Special (HD), Sky Cinema Thriller (HD), Sky Cinema Fun (SD), and Sky Cinema Classics (SD). • Sky Cinema Action continued to broadcast, in HD and SD as before.
2024 relaunch On 11 April 2024, Sky Cinema saw its linear lineup of channels reduced in order to put more efficience on its video on demand service: • Sky Cinema Premieren +24, Sky Cinema Thriller and Sky Cinema Fun were closed. • Sky Cinema Premieren was renamed to Sky Cinema Premiere and Sky Cinema Best Of was renamed to Sky Cinema Highlights. •
Warner TV Film and
Paramount+ are now offered free of charge. ==Channels==