If you’re running out of movies to watch on your DVD collection, Netflix, or Sky Q recordings, then Sony is coming to the rescue. The Japanese technology firm has confirmed plans to revive its Sony Movies Classic channels early next year.
The dedicated movie channel is completely free to watch – with Sony opting to use advertising to fund the channel, rather than lock it behind a paid-TV bundle, or monthly subscription. For anyone concerned about the number of subscription services on their current account statement each month, that’s a relief.
Debuting on January 5, 2021, the Sony Movies Classic channel will celebrate, surprise surprise, decades of classic moments on the silver screen. From the ‘40s to the Noughties, the channel is designed to broadcast iconic films from the Golden Age of Hollywood, landmark movies from every decade, including British new-wave as well as modern masterpieces.
A few of the titles set to air when the channel returns in January include Psycho, The Graduate, In The Heat of the Night, Our Man In Havana and many more.
If you’re keen to watch the first broadcast the moment it starts, set your alarms for 6am on Tuesday January 5 2021. According to Sony, “movie legends such as Marilyn Monroe, Barbara Streisand, Bob Hope, and Faye Dunaway take centre stage with screenings of The Great Lover, Ladies of the Chorus, Funny Girl, and Eyes of Laura Mars, among many other favourites.”
Sony Movies Classic, which advertises itself with the tagline “the home of classic cinema”, will be available on Freeview channel 51, Freesat 303, Sky Q channel 319 and Virgin 424.
The channel joins the Roku Channel, which recently debuted on Roku-branded set-top boxes, NOW TV and Sky Q boxes, with access to free movies and hit TV shows. Funded entirely by advertising, which Roku says is minimal compared to its terrestrial channel partners, the US firm is able to acquire shows and movies to air for free.
Recent new arrivals on the Roku Channel include boxsets of Undercover Boss, Masterchef Junior, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, Stephen Fry’s Kingdom, The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, as well as movies like Journey to the Centre of the Earth, John Carpenter’s Dark Star, horror favourite Let Me In, Resident, and The Beaver.
