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| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | United Kingdom Ireland |
| Headquarters | London,England |
| Programming | |
| Picture format | 1080iHDTV (downscaled to16:9576i for theSDTV feed) |
| Timeshift service | Great! Movies +1 (replaced with Great! Mystery +1) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Sony Pictures Television (2012–2021) Narrative Entertainment UK Limited (2021–present) |
| Sister channels | Great! TV Great! Action Great! Christmas |
| History | |
| Launched | 3 May 2012; 13 years ago (3 May 2012) (linear television) 9 November 2022; 3 years ago (2022-11-09) (FAST channel) |
| Replaced | Movies4Men 2 (Sky) Movie Mix (Freeview) |
| Closed | 4 September 2025; 2 months ago (4 September 2025) (linear television) |
| Former names | Sony Movie Channel (2012–2019) Sony Movies (2019–2021) |
| Links | |
| Website | greatnetwork.com/movies |
| Availability Channel 50 on Freeview TV (UK) | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Freeview | Channel 61 |
| Streaming media | |
| Samsung TV Plus | Channel 4991 |
Great! Movies (stylised asGREAT! MOVIES)[1][2] is a British FAST television channel and formerly a free-to-air linear channel owned by Narrative Entertainment UK Limited that broadcasts across the UK and Ireland showingfilms and related content. The channel was transmitted on most of the major broadcast platforms in the UK - terrestrial, satellite and cable. It was broadcast instandard-definition on satellite, cable, and terrestrial, was also broadcast inhigh-definition onSky Glass and eventually commenced broadcasting onSamsung TV Plus andRakuten TV in November 2022.
The Sony Movie Channel brand was made available outside the US for the first time when a British version of the station launched on theSky platform in the UK and Ireland on 3 May 2012 (2012-05-03).[3][4] To release Sky guide slots for the launch of SMC and its +1 timeshift,Movies4Men 2 and its +1 service were closed (and thus lost byFreesat viewers).
At launch and until 2018, SMC was broadcast on a free-to-view basis, meaning that access to channel was only available to those with a Sky viewing card, and although no subscription payment was required to view the channel, it was unavailable to Freesat devices.
On 10 January 2017, Sony Movie Channel was added to Freeview and Virgin Media, replacingMovie Mix, which already broadcast some of the same content.[5] In preparation for the switch, Movie Mix and SMC had been broadcasting an identical schedule in the final days prior to the transition.
Sony Movie Channel became fullyfree to air on satellite on 13 August 2018, in preparation for its full launch on theFreesat programme guide on 9 October 2018.[6] To permit SMC's launch on Freesat, Sony reorganised their other movie channels on the guide: Movies4Men +1 was no longer listed on the Freesat guide as a result of the addition of SMC, though remains freely available for manual tune-in. Encryption was also removed from Sony Movie Channel +1 at the same time, though this was not added to the Freesat full guide.
On 24 July 2019, it was announced that the channel will be renamed as Sony Movies from 10 September 2019.[7]
On 25 May 2021, the channel rebranded as Great! Movies as the channel was acquired by Narrative Capital/Narrative Entertainment.[8]
On 9 November 2022, Narrative Entertainment UK Limited announced the launch of a FAST version of Great! Movies, to stream onSamsung TV Plus, the new FAST network has the same branding as the linear channel, but a different schedule. A FAST version ofGreat! Movies Christmas was also launched.[9]
In June 2023, the channel launched anon demand service known as Great! Player, availablevia the red button on Great! Movies onFreeview.[10]
On 18 October 2023, Great! Movies +1 was replaced byGreat! Movies Extra on Freeview channel 61. On 20 March 2024, Great! Movies Extra was replaced byGreat! Real on Freeview channel 61.
On 4 September 2025, the channel was replaced byGreat! Mystery on Freeview, Sky & Virgin.[11]The Great! Mystery FAST variant was replaced by a FAST version of Great! Christmas on Samsung, Rakuten and Netgem TV, but on Freeview it was replaced by the FAST version of Great! Movies.[12]
