Somewhat essential for Sky viewing (Sky Magazine)

Member Name: cerys82

Product:	Sky Magazine
Date:	28/07/09 (62 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: free! gives a good introducation to new shows

Disadvantages: doesn't always give start dates for new shows, not fully comprehensive

Sky Magazine is the free magazine delivered on a monthly basis to all subscribers of Sky TV, no matter what package you have. It arrives via post towards the end of the previous month with the intention of informing subscribers of viewing highlights over the coming month.

it is worth saying at this point that it is not a comprehensive listings guide in the vein of the Radio Times or its ilk, but neither is it just a flimsy flier and bears more of a resemblance to the type of glossy magazine that you would get as a supplement in a Sunday newspaper with approximately 70 pages.

Most of the magazine is taking up with focuses and promotions of upcoming premieres, namely films (on Sky Movies and Box Office) and completely new programmes or new series of existing popular programmes, incorporating celebrity interviews and character guides. As such, there is a slight bias towards new series that feature on the channels that are on the channels that come exclusively under the 'Sky' brand ie 'Sky 1', 'Sky Real Lives' etc, but that could be that up until quite recently these were the only digital channels that had the buying power to be able to purchase US TV series to premiere, or commission their own; and it is only natural that these exclusives should be viewed as highlights.

The magazine has many sections aside from those specifically focussed around TV: a fashion and style section edited by Gok Wan, Food and Drink by James Martin, Arts and Culture by Mariella Frostrup, Money and Work by Peter Jones and Planet and Wildlife by Ben Fogle. These usually take up a page each and mainly advertise products, but sometimes have some advice and some information about TV programmes that might interest those interested in each individual section.

There is a sports section, detailing sports related highlights but as someone who has little to no interest in sport it really wouldn't be fair for me to review it in any depth other than to mention it!

Towards the end of the magazine is a section which gives information about highlights by a particular week - each week is spread over two pages. This is probably the most useful part of the magazine as it distils the rest of the magazine and splits the highlights into genre - lifestyle, documentary, comedy, drama entertainment and Sky+HD. I find this especially useful myself due to the way that I watch digital TV. Since I got Sky+, I spend so little time channel surfing that I am far less likely to just 'happen' across a programme that interests me or indeed an advert for a new show that I might like so by looking at this section, I am far more likely to find out about it than I would be ordinarily. The only thing that can annoy me, however, is that sometimes it widely promotes a new show/series but has no idea on which date it is going to start, other than what channel it will be on.

The magazine is useful enough to keep around for the whole month, as you obviously can't programme something in your planner more than a week ahead. As I mentioned before it does have a slightly Sky branded channel bias, but increasingly it is featuring highlights on more obscure channels, thereby enabling the viewer to have more awareness of a wider variety of genres - I suppose that this is only natural given the digital switchover.

All in all, I consider this an essential companion to making the most of my digital viewing, and hey, it might not be an in-depth read but it's free at the end of the day

Summary: A very good guide to upcoming shows on digital