Sky is to launch a free-to-air channel for Sky originals and premium programming, Broadcast can reveal.

Sky Mix will sit on Freeview channel 11 and will replace Sky Arts in the EPG. To accomodate the new channel, Sky Arts will move down to channel 36 where it will sit in between ITV1+1 and QVC2. It marks the first free-to-air launch by Sky in three years, since Sky Arts’ arrival in 2020.

Arriving on 18 October, Sky Mix is essentially a rebrand of Pick, which will cease to exist after a decade as a channel, and is designed to showcase a wider range of content.

It will house Sky original dramas, films, docs, entertainment, arts, crime and nature shows, as well as acquired titles from Sky Atlantic and Sky Witness such as HBO favourite True Detective and The Equalizer.

Sky does not believe the EPG move for Sky Arts represents a relegation for the channel, which was made free-to-air to much fanfare in 2020, following Broadcast’s revelation of the impending move.

Sky confirmed that Mix will simulcast new Sky Arts commissions when they first air.

According to a Sky spokeswoman, the strategy behind ad-supported Sky Mix is to offer audiences a “taste” of recent titles and acquisitions, generally several years after they first air, in a bid to attract them back to the paid-for channels.

For example, Sky Mix will air series one of HBO hit anthology True Detective, which premiered in 2014, ahead of the upcoming fourth series landing on Sky Atlantic next year.

Sky Arts replaced Pick on Freeview in the channel 11 slot, with Pick moving to 36. The soon-to-be-defunct brand has offered drama and factual titles, and some Sky Originals titles, including The Good Doctor, Britain’s Most Evil Killers and Hawaii Five-O.