The Movie Channel (British TV channel)
The Movie Channel was a British television service which only aired movies. Launched on British Satellite Broadcasting, The Movie Channel was a predecessor of some of the Sky Movies channels having survived the 1990 merger with Sky Television, another satellite service launched by Rupert Murdoch's News International. History. The Movie Channel began on 25 March 1990 as one of the services of British Satellite Broadcasting, a consortium formed on 11 December 1986 by Granada Television, Pearson, Virgin, Anglia Television and Amstrad. The name given to the network during the bidding process was Screen  . Prior to its launch, BSB signed an exclusive first-run deal with United International Pictures (which distributed Paramount, Universal and MGM/UA releases). One of its first film premieres was the "James Bond" film, "The Living Daylights", starring Timothy Dalton. Both BSB and Sky Television suffered heavy losses and merged, operating as the newly formed British Sky Broadcasting. The Movie Channel, along with The Sports Channel remained on air, and it launched on the Astra 1B satellite on 15 April 1991. It broadcast under that name until 31 October 1997 when it was rebranded as Sky Movies Screen 2. The