Sky Deutschland drops three linear channels

German pay-TV service Sky Deutschland is dropping three linear channels – Sky Comedy, Spiegel Geschichte and Curiosity TV – in the coming months as a consequence of viewers moving to streaming and on-demand.

Curiosity Channel (formerly Spiegel TV Wissen) and Spiegel Geschichte will be discontinued by the end of June 2023, while Sky Comedy, which launched in April 2021, will be removed from the platform in German-speaking countries by mid-September.

A Sky spokesperson said that audiences were increasingly switching to streaming and on-demand services, such as Sky Q or Wow, particularly for comedy content, telling local industry trade Digital Fernsehen that “Sky does not need a linear comedy channel.” as a result.

Select content, such as HBO comedy And Just Like That, will still be available on remaining linear channels such as Sky 1 and Sky Atlantic.