Now (British TV channel)

Now was a British television channel transmitted as part of the British Satellite Broadcasting (BSB) service during 1990.

Now
Logo of "Now"
Launched27 March 1990 (27 March 1990)
Closed1 December 1990 (1 December 1990)
(Replaced by Sky News and Sky Arts)
Owned byBSB (Later Sky)
SloganThe Channel for Living
Sister channel(s)The Movie Channel
The Sports Channel
Galaxy
The Power Station
The Computer Channel
Availability
at time of closure
Satellite
AnalogueMarcopolo 1 11.93846

History
The first Now logo from 1986

The Now channel was originally designed to be a live 24-hour news channel, similar to CNN and Sky News, with its content provided by ITN.[1] 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[2] 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.

In November 1990, BSB merged with Sky to form British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB). BSkyB decided to streamline the channels available on both services. Now was replaced with Sky News, which Sky Television had broadcast on the Astra 1A satellite.

Now ceased broadcasting on Saturday 1 December 1990 at 1am - the first of the five BSB channels to close. As there were still arts programmes yet to be shown on Now, BSkyB initially broadcast Sky Arts as a weekend-only opt-out of the Sky News service on the Marcopolo satellite. Once all shows were broadcast, Sky Arts closed.

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 presenter Sir Robin Day, which later transferred to Sky News. The programme covered the week's political happenings and confrontations. Now broadcast a number of theatre and classical music performances during its short period on-air. Arts programming featured on most nights.

gollark: Worker cooperatives can't solve prions.
gollark: Except prions.
gollark: fear the prion™
gollark: Until someone randomly sues you for some stupid reason because legal system!
gollark: Relatedly, prions are weeeeeeird.

References
  1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZhhkOsXRCM
  2. Peter Chippindale, Suzanne Franks and Roma Felstein, Dished!: Rise and Fall of British Satellite Broadcasting (London: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 1991)


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