Almost five years after Sky killed off its most famous channel, Sky One is making a comeback.
Sky announced today that the legendary entertainment channel will return on Tuesday, February 24, 2026, taking over channel 106 from Sky Showcase.
The move is a dramatic reversal of the 2021 rebrand that saw Sky One shut down and replaced by two new channels.
For anyone who grew up watching Sky, this is proper nostalgia territory. Sky One was where you’d find everything from The Simpsons and 24 to An Idiot Abroad and Brainiac: Science Abuse.
It was Sky’s flagship channel for over 30 years, and its closure in September 2021 felt like the end of an era.
Now it’s back – and Sky’s clearly betting that the Sky One brand still means something to viewers, even after four years in the wilderness – especially ahead of the launch of HBO Max in the UK.
A Brief History of Sky One
Sky One has been around, in various forms, since the very beginning of satellite television in the UK.
The channel launched way back on April 26, 1982 as Satellite Television – Europe’s first ever satellite and non-terrestrial channel.
It was a pan-European service broadcasting to cable operators across the continent, though it struggled financially in those early years due to disappointing ratings and the massive costs of satellite transmission.
In January 1984, it was renamed Sky Channel, and by 1989 it had become Sky One – focusing exclusively on UK and Ireland audiences as British Sky Broadcasting’s flagship entertainment channel.
Over the decades, Sky One became the home of some genuinely massive shows. American imports like The X-Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Lost, Prison Break, 24, and of course The Simpsons all found their UK home on Sky One.
The channel also commissioned plenty of British originals – from game shows like Blockbusters to reality hits like Ross Kemp On Gangs and comedy panel shows.
For years, Sky One was synonymous with premium entertainment on satellite TV. If you had Sky, you watched Sky One.
The 2021 Shutdown
Then, in 2021, Sky dropped the bombshell and announced Sky One would shut down, replaced by two new channels – Sky Showcase and Sky Max.
At the time, Sky’s reasoning was all about making things clearer for viewers.
Sky Showcase would curate highlights from across Sky’s entire channel lineup, whilst Sky Max would serve as the home for blockbuster entertainment – essentially taking over Sky One’s old role.
The final programme to air on Sky One was Prodigal Son, and then the channel vanished from EPG slot 106. Sky Showcase took its place, whilst Sky Max launched on channel 113.
It felt like a major rebrand. Sky was moving away from the traditional single flagship channel model towards something more fragmented and genre-specific, with separate channels for comedy, crime, documentaries, and so on.
But apparently, it didn’t really work.
Why Bring Sky One Back?
Let’s be honest – Sky Showcase and Sky Max never quite captured the public imagination the way Sky One had.
Sky Showcase, as a “best of” channel showing highlights from other Sky services, felt a bit… pointless.
If you already had access to Sky Atlantic, Sky Comedy, and the rest, why did you need a channel showing selected highlights?
Sky Max, meanwhile, was essentially Sky One under a different name. It had the same sort of programming – original dramas like A Discovery of Witches and COBRA, American imports, entertainment shows.
Now, the return of Sky One means the end of both Sky Showcase and Sky Max – the two channels that replaced it back in 2021 are being discontinued entirely.
Then there’s also the small matter of what’s happening in the broader TV arena right now.
Sky is facing unprecedented pressure from streaming services. Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, the launch of HBO Max in the UK next month, and the fact that Sky customers are supposed to get bundled access to it.
That’s a lot of premium content suddenly available through a competitor’s platform, even if it’s bundled into Sky packages.
And just a few months ago, Disney Jr returned to Sky as a linear channel – five years after Disney shut down all its UK kids channels and declared streaming was the future.
It seems traditional TV still has value, and familiar brand names still matter to viewers.
By bringing back Sky One, Sky is doubling down on a brand that people actually know and remember. It’s simpler, clearer, and – let’s face it – more appealing than trying to explain the difference between Sky Showcase and Sky Max to your parents.
What’s On The New Sky One?
According to today’s announcement, the relaunched Sky One will be “the home of Sky’s unmissable comedy and entertainment programmes.”
That includes brand new shows like The Dyers’ Caravan Park and Gemma Collins: Four Weddings and a Baby, alongside returning favourites such as Rob & Romesh Vs, The Paper, and Ted.
Sky One will also be the home of Saturday Night Live UK, which launches later this year – potentially a major coup for the channel, given the cultural cachet of the SNL brand.
Carli Kerr, MD of Sky TV & NOW, said: “Our goal is to make it easier than ever for Sky TV customers to find and enjoy the shows they love. Building on the iconic heritage of Sky One, the channel will be a one-of-a-kind destination that’s big, bold and bursting with energy.”
The new Sky One will be available on Sky Ultimate TV, Sky Signature, and Sky + packages, as well as on NOW. Notably, it won’t be available on the budget Sky Essentials tier – just like the now-defunct Sky Max.
The Channel Shuffle
Bringing Sky One back means shuffling quite a few other channels around the EPG.
On Sky Q satellite boxes:
- Sky Comedy moves to channel 113
- Sky Documentaries moves to channel 114
- Sky Crime moves to channel 121
- Sky Arts moves to channel 122
- Challenge moves to channel 130
- Sky Sci-Fi moves to channel 145
On Sky Glass and Sky Stream:
- Sky Comedy moves to channel 109
- Sky Documentaries moves to channel 110
- Sky Crime moves to channel 111
- Sky Arts moves to channel 112
- Challenge moves to channel 116
- Sky Sci-Fi moves to channel 114
Recent Changes at Sky
The Sky One comeback is just the latest in a series of major changes at Sky over the past few months.
Back in October 2025, Sky shut down Sky Replay – one of its oldest channels, which had served as a catch-up service for Sky One (and later Sky Max). The reasoning was simple: in an age of on-demand streaming, a dedicated repeat channel doesn’t make much sense anymore.
Then in December, Sky Q was quietly scrubbed from Sky’s website. You can still get the satellite box if you phone up and specifically ask for it, but Sky’s clearly pushing everyone towards Sky Stream – the broadband-based alternative that doesn’t require a dish or an engineer visit.
These moves all point in the same direction. Sky is transitioning away from traditional satellite broadcasting and towards internet-based streaming.
The satellite deal runs until 2029, so existing Sky Q customers aren’t being forced to switch immediately, but the writing’s on the wall.
And yet, Sky still needs strong, recognisable brands to convince customers to stick with Sky packages rather than just subscribing to Netflix, Disney+, and the other streaming services directly.
Sky One – with all its nostalgia and name recognition – will hopefully serve as that kind of brand.
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