Sky 5 is a television channel in New Zealand available on Sky.
The channel's programmes are a variety of international shows from the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Australia, with a small amount of shows from New Zealand.
History The channel started broadcasting on 3 December 1994 as Orange on Sky UHF pre-set channel 7. Orange broadcast between 10am and around 11:30pm and during 1995 Juice TV began broadcasting overnight when Orange went off the air. On 1 January 1997, Cartoon Network began broadcasting between 6am and 4pm while Orange was not broadcasting. The reason to name the channel based on a colour and its brand identity be a fruit was due to the design agency, Lambie-Nairn, which had also designed the 1991 BBC Two Idents and the 1982 Channel 4 launch idents in the United Kingdom, had found out the New Zealand TV market had an overcrowded space for general entertainment networks, and thus had made the channels branding to be different. Using an orange gave the channel a unique identity in the local television landscape. Initially it was only available on Sky's UHF service; in August 1997, it and Sky Sport launched on its satellite service; at the time, the channel was becoming as popular as TV4 and MTV.Sky TV adds a channel for satellite subscribers. (1997, Aug 07). The Press
Orange changed its name to Sky 1 on 1 June 1998Sky renames two channels. (1998, May 02). Dominion and introduced overnight programming, with The Simpsons debuting on 7 July 1998 with the first ever episode. The channel began broadcasting 24 hours a day on 1 January 1999 when the Sky Digital service was launched; however, the UHF channel continued to screen Cartoon Network between 6am-4pm and in 2000 this was replaced with Nickelodeon. The channel started airing WWF/WWE telecasts at the same time, after a ban on ffree-too-air television in the late 1980s.
In 2005, Sky Network Television considered unencrypting Sky 1 to make it a free-to-air channel, but decided instead to purchase the existing network, Prime.
Sky 1 relaunched on 1 February 2008 and in the process its name was changed to The Box. The rebrand was marked by premieres of new series and reality shows, as well as new seasons of existing titles.Grey Group Marketing Digest - December 2007
On 2 February 2018, exactly 10 years and one day after the channel relaunched as The Box, it rebranded for the third time in its history, as Sky 5. The existing mix of programmes continued, but key changes included the addition of TV series based on DC Comics properties and US action shows.
The channel will be renamed Sky Justice on 1 November 2026 and will shift its focus to crime-related programming.Sky relaunches two crime channels, ScreenScribe, 30 September 2026, retrieved 5 Otober 2026
Programming
Current This is a list of Sky 5's programming , which is a mix of American, British, and Australian TV imports with a small amount of New Zealand shows. Channel Patrol The Enemy Within FBI: Most Wanted Ghosts of Beirut Go On The Last Kingdom Lockerbie The Mentalist The Middle Parks and Recreation Quantum Leap South Beach Tow Territory Cops Traffic Cops
Previous The Simpsons South Park WWE NXT (Live until December 2024) WWE Raw (Live until December 2024) WWE SmackDown (Live until December 2024) Xena: Warrior Princess
External links
References