Sky Sci-Fi (formerly Sci Fi Channel and Syfy) is a British

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

channel owned and operated by

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

, a division of

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

. Launched as The Sci-Fi Channel, it was relaunched as Syfy on 13 April 2010, as part of an ongoing global rebranding. The relaunch was accompanied by the premieres of '' V'' and '' Human Target''. The channel was given a new on-air look and a tagline of "Imagine greater". Sky applied for a Sky Sci-Fi trademark on 4 May 2022. On 14 June 2022 Sky confirmed that the channel rebrand would take place at 11am on 26 July, accompanied by a refreshed schedule of new and existing content.

History

It was launched in 1995 as a localised variant of the US network Sci Fi Channel (now Syfy), with a similar programming line-up. It was on air each day from 8:00 am until 2:00 am, but only on cable as a lack of transponder space on satellite meant that it was only able to broadcast for few hours each day on that platform. It wasn't until the launch of Sky Digital in 1998 that the channel's full broadcast hours were available on satellite. Programming in the channel's early years followed the US channel's model, then consisting largely of archive shows such as '' Lost in Space'', '' The Incredible Hulk'', '' Buck Rogers in the 25th Century'', and films from the Paramount and MCA vaults. The channel was also notable for being one of the first UK television channels to show

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

movies and television series on a regular basis. These programming choices were supplemented by a few 1980s animated series shown in the mornings such as ''

Robotech ''Robotech'' is an American-Japanese science fiction Media franchise, franchise that began with an 85-episode anime television series produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production; it was first released in the United St ...

'', '' Bionic Six'' and ''

G-Force The g-force or gravitational force equivalent is a Specific force, mass-specific force (force per unit mass), expressed in Unit of measurement, units of standard gravity (symbol ''g'' or ''g''0, not to be confused with "g", the symbol for ...

'', although they were dropped as the channel's lineup became more independent of the original US channel. Currently, most archive and anime programming have been phased out of the channel, which now concentrates on contemporary show, movies, and other programming. One original UK production was the late-night show ''Headf**k'', which featured excerpts from unusual TV shows, short films (including ''Chris Barfoot'' 'Phoenix' and 'The Reckoning') and music videos from around the world. Later episodes were presented by David Icke. Programmes on the channel throughout more recent times have included UK premieres of big name US shows like '' Heroes'', '' Flash Gordon'', '' Eureka'', and more recently '' Knight Rider'', '' Legend of the Seeker'' and Joss Whedon's '' Dollhouse''. Also shown as of February 2007 are digitally remastered episodes of ''

Star Trek ''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the Star Trek: The Original Series, series of the same name and became a worldwide Popular culture, pop-culture Cultural influence of ...

'' (not to be confused with the remastered series with new CGI); in October the channel secured an exclusive deal with CBS to air '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episodes, remastered from original film elements to current HD standards with new HD CGI sequences, and as of November 2012 have been broadcasting them in (mostly) chronological order.

Current programming

Acquired programming

*'' The Ark'' *'' SurrealEstate''

Viewership and reach

As of April 2008, the channel reached an average of three million UK and Ireland households a week, appealing equally to male and female demographics. Initially, the channel shared its analogue satellite

transponder In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

with no less than five other channels, limiting its output to early evenings and late nights with the rest of its continuous daytime programming (including cartoons) restricted to cable customers. With the launch of Sky Digital in the UK the channel eventually expanded to exclusive broadcasting on its own channel and now broadcasts round the clock most days each week.

Most watched programmes

The following is a list of the ten most watched shows on Syfy (previously Sci-Fi), based on Live +7 data supplied by

BARB Barb or the BARBs or ''variation'' may refer to: People * Barb (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname * Barb, a term used by fans of Nicki Minaj to refer to themselves * The Barbs, a band Places * Barb, ...

up to 10 September 2017.

, vi

/ref> The number of viewers does not include viewers from Ireland, repeats or airings on Syfy +1.

HD feed

A High-definition television, high-definition simulcast channel was launched on the

Sky+ HD Sky HD may refer to: * Sky+ HD, a high-definition television service provided by British Sky Broadcasting Group in the United Kingdom and Ireland * Sky HD (Italy), a high-definition television service provided by Sky Italia in Italy * Sky HD (South ...

service as the 31st high-definition channel on

. A range of high definition movies, including Sci Fi Channel original production ''Ba'al: The Storm God'', aired on the channel along with ''

Eli Stone ''Eli Stone'' is an American Legal drama, legal Musical film, musical comedy drama television series that was created by Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, who also served as executive producers alongside Ken Olin who directed the pilot, with M ...

'', '' Tin Man'' and ''

Sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

''. It was added to Virgin TV on 1 April 2010.

References

External links

* {{Media in the United Kingdom Syfy English-language television stations in the United Kingdom British science fiction Television channels and stations established in 1995 Sky television channels Science fiction television channels 1995 establishments in the United Kingdom