Now was a British television channel transmitted as part of the

British Satellite Broadcasting British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) was a television company, headquartered in London, that provided direct broadcast satellite television services to the United Kingdom. They started broadcasting on 25 March 1990. The company was merged with ...

service during 1990.

History

The Now channel was originally designed to be a live 24-hour news channel similar to

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

and Sky News, with its content provided by ITN. Between the awarding of the franchise and the launch of the channel, ITN withdrew its involvement with BSB after failing to reach an agreement on how to provide its news service and the Now channel's remit was changed to a mix of daytime lifestyle shows, current affairs programming, and arts programmes at weekends. The channel was promoted under the slogan "The Channel For Living". Now was broadcast throughout BSB's short spell on air from March to December 1990 on the Marcopolo satellites. On 2 November 1990, BSB merged with

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

to form

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

, they decided to streamline the channels available on both services. Now was replaced with Sky News, which Sky Television had broadcast on the

Astra 1A Astra 1A was the first satellite launched and operated by SES (Société Européenne des Satellites), launched in December 1988. During its early days, it was often referred to as the Astra Satellite, as SES only operated one satellite origina ...

satellite. Now ceased broadcasting on Saturday 1 December 1990 at 1.00am – the first of the five BSB channels to close. As there were still arts programmes yet to be shown on Now, BSkyB broadcast

Sky Arts Sky Arts (originally launched as Artsworld) is a British free-to-air television channel offering 24 hours a day of programmes dedicated to highbrow arts, including theatrical performances, movies, documentaries and music (such as opera perfor ...

as a weekend-only opt-out of the Sky News service on the Marcopolo satellite. Once all shows were broadcast, Sky Arts was closed, though the name itself eventually returned in March 2007 when the channel Artsworld, which was taken over by BSkyB in June 2005, was relaunched.

Programming

''Now'' featured a mix of talk and chat shows, documentaries, news, current affairs and arts programming. As with all of BSB's other channels, Now carried short ''BSB News'' bulletins throughout the day. One of Now's most memorable programmes was ''Now Sir Robin'' fronted by ex-''

Question Time A question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be ca ...

'' presenter Sir

Robin Day Sir Robin Day (24 October 1923 – 6 August 2000) was an English political journalist and television and radio broadcaster. Day's obituary in ''The Guardian'' by Dick Taverne stated that he was "the most outstanding television journalist of ...

, which later transferred to Sky News. The programme covered the week's political happenings and confrontations. Now broadcast a number of

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

and classical music performances during its short period on-air. Arts programming featured on most nights.

Sky Arts (Original)

Originally, Sky Arts were planned as a full channel on the

satellite at the beginning of the Sky Television service back in 1989. Promotional material broadcast during the launch indicated the channel would appear later that year along with Disney Channel. Neither channel launched at the time,

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

due to disputes with Sky, whilst arts programming (such as an early broadcast of the opera '' Carmen'') was instead broadcast on Sky One. Following the merger of

and Sky Television to form

in 1990, they replaced with Sky News. However, contracts were still in place for some shows intended for the Now channel to be shown by BSkyB, occasionally opting out of the regular Sky News service during weekends on the Marcopolo satellite (which was owned by BSB prior to the merger and which carried ''Now'') and showing the programmes as part of a weekend service entitled 'Sky Arts'.About BSkyB – Murdoch on Astra...versus BSB on Marco Polo
Irish Cable & Digital Guide The service was only seen by former BSB viewers, since Sky Arts did not interrupt Sky News on the existing Astra satellite service. After all outstanding programmes had been broadcast, the full Sky News service was broadcast on both Marcopolo and Astra and Sky Arts ceased to broadcast.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Now (UK Tv channel) Sky television channels Defunct British television channels Television channels and stations established in 1990 Television channels and stations disestablished in 1990 1990 in the United Kingdom 1990 in British television 1990s in the United Kingdom 1990s in British television History of television in the United Kingdom