Sky Mix (formerly Sky Three, Sky3, Sky 3, Pick TV and Pick) is a British

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscri ...

television channel, owned by

Sky UK Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), Trade name, trading as Sky, is a British broadcasting, broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone ...

. The channel originally launched on 31 October 2005 as Sky Three. The channel's current name, which was adopted in 2023, is the second time that the "Sky Mix" brand has been used. Sky Replay was originally known as 'Sky One Mix', and previously known as 'Sky Mix' from 2004 to 2005.

History

As Sky Three

Sky Three was the first free-to-air general entertainment channel from Sky since Sky One became a pay channel in 1993. It launched on 31 October 2005, replacing the Sky Travel's EPG slot on Freeview in a bid to attract more subscribers to Sky's satellite service. It was essentially a

barker channel A barker channel is a form of digital signage, operating in the form of a television channel that is entirely composed of sales promotion and advertising, usually marketing various features of the service carrying the channel. The name is derived ...

for Sky's main entertainment channel

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

and its other subscription services, which served to ''"offer digital terrestrial viewers the opportunity to enjoy a wide variety of popular programmes from Sky"''. From its launch on until 24 June 2010, the channel carried Sky Travel's commercial presentations selling holiday deals for a number of providers.Plunkett, John
"Sky Three to launch on Freeview"
, '' MediaGuardian'', 22 September 2005. Retrieved 31 March 2010. Due to its wider availability on Freeview channel 11, the channel constantly had higher ratings than Sky Two. Sky Three was achieving on average a 1% share compared to Sky Two's 0.1–3% share. Instead of Sky selling on the terrestrial free-to-air rights for their programmes to another broadcaster, these rights are usually retained to remain exclusive to Sky. In 2008, Sky's entertainment channels changed the wording in the logos to numbers, hence Sky Three became Sky 3. Early highlights from the channel's schedule included ''

Futurama ''Futurama'' is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company and later revived by Comedy Central, and then Hulu. The series follows Philip J. Fry, who is cryogenically preserved for 1 ...

'', ''

Cold Case ''Cold Case'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series. It ran on CBS from September 28, 2003, to May 2, 2010. The series revolved around a fictionalized Philadelphia Police Department division that specializes in invest ...

'', '' Tru Calling'', ''

Relic Hunter ''Relic Hunter'' is a Canadian adventure television series, starring Tia Carrere and Christien Anholt. It centres on Sydney Fox, a professor who is also a globe-trotting "relic hunter" who looks for ancient artifacts to return to museums and ...

'', '' Road Wars'', the ''Inside'' strand of documentaries, '' Brainiac: Science Abuse'', ''

Airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers or freight (cargo). Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines ...

'', and '' 35mm'' from

Sky Movies Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema on ...

(which looks at upcoming films in the cinema and on Sky's premium movies service

) and '' Dream Team''. The channel has also shown the free-to-air premieres of some of Sky One's more prestigious shows; such as series 3 and 4 of '' 24'', '' Rescue Me'', '' The 10th Kingdom'', '' Hex'' and the latest remake of ''

Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. It began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, '' Galactica 1980'', a line of book adaptat ...

''. The channel also showed series 3 and 4 of ''

Prison Break ''Prison Break'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Paul Scheuring for Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox. The series revolves around two brothers: Lincoln Burrows (Dominic P ...

'' in 2010, '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' and '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''. On 23 August 2010,

Sky Sports News Sky Sports News (SSN) is a British pay television, paid television sports news channel run by Sky Group, Sky, a division of Comcast. History Sky Sports first started broadcasting sports news bulletins when it began broadcasting the Premi ...

became a pay-TV channel, which was replaced on Freeview by a one-hour timeshift version of Sky 3. Sky 3 +1 also launched on Sky channel 223 on the same day. A final rebrand took place in early 2011 and saw Sky 1, 2 and 3 gain similar rectangular logos to

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

and

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...

. On 1 February 2011,

Sky Atlantic Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group, Sky Group Limited that launched in 2011 and broadcasts in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel airs original British-produced dramas like ''Fortitude (TV series), F ...

launched on Sky channel 108, which had originally been occupied by Sky 3.

As Pick TV

On 1 March 2011, Sky 3 changed its name to Pick TV to disassociate the channel with Sky as it began to air more programmes from the former Channel One and Bravo. Initially, the channel retained the look of the most recent rebrand which occurred a few weeks earlier. Since its rebrand, recent Sky One shows (such as '' UK Border Force'', '' Pineapple Dance Studios'') and documentary series hosted by Ross Kemp (such as ''On Gangs'' and ''In Search of Pirates'') were shown. Sky's 2010 acquisition of Challenge from Living TV Group saw

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

s and quiz-type programming move out of Pick TV. Nonetheless, it became fairly common for Pick and Challenge to cross-promote its programmes to viewers. These include regular trailers in between shows, and when a certain show finishes, the continuity announcer will usually tell viewers what is coming up next on both channels. On 20 September 2011 at 14:00, Pick TV +1 was removed from Freeview. This was so that all of the channels owned by BSkyB could be on multiplex C and Challenge could broadcast for 24 hours a day in Wales on the platform, in-line with the rest of the UK. In May 2012, Pick TV started broadcasting some older Sky One and

Sky Living Sky Living was a British pay television television channel, channel owned and operated by Sky Limited, Sky. The channel's programming was aimed mainly at women and young adults. It originally launched as UK Living yet became Sky Living by 2011. H ...

shows, and the former Channel One and Bravo shows. On Monday 7 October 2013, "TV" was dropped from the channel's name; becoming known as simply Pick. The channel would also introduce a new look and logo. On 28 June 2016, another new logo was announced which also included a brand new look. On 1 March 2018, Pick +1 was added back on Freeview as a FreeviewHD service. A while later the channel moved from channel 97 to 92 on Freeview. On 18 June 2020, Pick +1 was removed from Freeview channel 92. Between June and July 2020, when the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

resumed after lockdown, all of the remaining matches were televised due to fans not being allowed in the stadiums. Twenty-five of these matches were televised on Pick. In its later years, the channel had an increased focus on airing

Sky Showcase Sky Showcase is a British pay television channel which launched on 1 September 2021. It is owned and operated by Sky Group, a division of American media company Comcast. Sky Showcase was announced on 28 July 2021, along with Sky Max, as a rep ...

(Sky One's successor channel, which launched in 2021) and

Sky Witness Sky Witness is a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky, a division of Comcast. The channel primarily broadcasts procedural dramas from the United States aimed at the 18–45 age demographic. Sky Italia broadcasts an Italia ...

programmes 12–18 months after their original broadcasts, and as well as content tailored towards Pick.

As Sky Mix

On 3 October 2023, it was announced that Pick will rebrand on 18 October 2023 as Sky Mix. This relaunch will see the channel return to its original Freeview channel number on channel 11, and it will notably be airing the first series of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...

drama ''

True Detective ''True Detective'' is an American Anthology series, anthology Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created by Nic Pizzolatto for the premium cable network HBO. The series premiered on January 12, 2014, and ...

''. In 2024, a Sky Kids–branded programming strand launched on Sky Mix; airing on weekends from 8am to 9am.

Former logos

File:Sky Three logo 2005.svg, Sky Three logo used from 31 October 2005 to 30 August 2008. File:Sky3 logo 2008-2011.svg, Sky3 logo used from 31 August 2008 to 1 February 2011. File:Sky 3 logo 2011.svg, Sky 3 logo used from 1 February to 28 February 2011. File:Pick TV logo 2011.svg, Pick TV logo used from 1 March 2011 to 6 October 2013. File:Pick UK logo 2013.svg, Pick logo used from 7 October 2013 to 22 June 2016. File:Pick +1 logo 2013.png, Pick +1 logo used from 7 October 2013 to 22 June 2016. File:Pick TV logo.svg, Pick logo used from 23 June 2016 to 18 October 2023. File:Pick +1 logo 2016.svg, Pick +1 logo used from 23 June 2016 to 30 March 2022.

References

{{Freeview 2005 establishments in the United Kingdom English-language television stations in the United Kingdom Sky television channels Television channels and stations established in 2005 Television channels in the United Kingdom