Digitaltveurope.com

Sky Cinema is to launch new pop-up Animation channel. Sky Cinema Animation, which will debut on October 14 and run on-air for three weeks will deliver family-friendly animated content.

The channel will air on Sky channel 306 and is timed to coincide with the October half-term holiday, with movies aired on it to be available at no extra cost to Sky cinema customers.

Movies on the service will include The Secret Life of Pets, Trolls and Disney movies Robin Hood, The Emperor’s New Groove and Mulan.

The channel will also run an Ice Age Day on November 4, featuring a 13-hour Ice Age marathon with movies including Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Ice Age: Dawn of The Dinosaurs and Ice Age: Collision Course.

Sky said the channel will also mark the 80^th nniversary of Disney’s classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs – the first feature-length Disney film.

Sky Cinema Animation will run over the Halloween period with movies including Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

The animation channel is the latest in a series of pop-up services launched by Sky this year, including Sky Cinema Oscars in February, Sky Cinema Fast and Furious in April and Sky Cinema Sky-Fi in September.

“It is the first time Sky Cinema has launched an animation-specific service and it will offer something for everyone. From the popular new animation film ‘Sing!’ to classic Disney movies and Pixar favourites, it really will cater for the whole family,” said Sky Cinema group director Ian Lewis.

“Our dedicated channels give customers the chance to delve into a genre and enjoy the best of Sky Cinema’s line-up. Our Pixar channel in March was a huge success and with animation dominating the box office with some of the biggest blockbusters over the last 12 months, we think Sky Cinema Animation will be another one that will appeal to those young and old.”