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Article from the Guardian.

Sky will premiere a new film every day, including the latest Star Wars film this summer, as part of a rebrand of Sky Movies as Sky Cinema.

The move will see a 75% increase in the number of films debuting on Sky from 8 July. The company signed a deal with Disney in 2013 to debut new releases in the Star Wars franchise and comic book blockbusters from Marvel, and also has a deal to premiere films from rival superhero publishing house DC.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be available from August this year, with subsequent films in the series appearing each summer, starting with spin-off Rogue One in 2017. The company will also be resurrecting its standalone Star Wars channel, which showed previous films in the series when Force Awakens hit cinemas late last year.

The pay-TV provider is also increasing the number of films available on demand by 20% to 1,200, and launching as dedicated world film slot on Wednesdays from 10pm. Other films coming to Sky Cinema include Spectre, Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation, Steve Jobs, Bridge of Spies and The Danish Girl.

Its rebrand brings the branding for Sky’s movie channels in the UK and Ireland in line with its operations in Germany, Austria and Italy which were all merged into one pan-European network last year.

The pay-TV provider has ensured it has exclusive rights to a large swathe of blockbuster films eight months after cinema release and for more than a year before they appear on free broadcast channels or subscription services.

The emphasis on big releases is partly driven by growing competition from cheaper subscription services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, which have larger on-demand libraries of films but fewer new releases...

Read more at:http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...-force-awakens