Sky to launch Christmas movies channel

Sky has announced that it will rebrand Sky Movies Screen 2 as The Sky Movies Christmas Channel for the whole of the festive season.

From December 1, the standard and high definition movie channel will start hosting a range of themed 'box set' days showcasing genres such as musicals, romantic films and fairytales.

Movies to be shown on Christmas Day and Boxing Day will be selected by readers of IPC TX magazines and visitors to Sky's website. All winners will be able to dedicate their choice to a loved one.

Sky movies head of marketing Paul Gilshan said: "Our Sky Movies Christmas Channel is a great way to give our viewers something special throughout December and the deal with IPC really helps bring the voting and daily movie box sets to life."

IPC TX publishing director Angie O'Farrell added: "Our readers really look forward to Christmas TV and they will love that Sky has created this dedicated channel. It's a really fun idea and one the TX titles and whatsontv.co.uk are very happy to support with this exclusive partnership."

The Promotions Factory will run a marketing campaign to promote the channel in the run-up to Christmas, including a free Christmas Channel advent calendar in TVTimes at the end of November.

"At a time of intense annual competition for ratings, it's never more important to be able to create a resonance with viewers than at Christmas," said The Promotions Factory account director Dan Meiland.

"This is precisely what Sky and IPC TX have been able to achieve on the Sky Movies Christmas Channel partnership, with The Promotions Factory happy to have played a part in helping both companies engage effectively with their target markets."

Yesterday, ITN partnered with Jerusalem Productions to launch a new channel on YouTube featuring over 200 items of original Christmas-themed content.