Sky One Wednesday 11th June from 18:00hrs for 24hrs

Well as expected Sky have approached this, and came out with all guns blazing. Admittedly their schedule appears to be rather repetitive throughout the day and night, however because of this the series link is used to its full potential and confirms its importance for Sky+ users.

Strangely though Buffy never seems to appear with a link at 18:00hrs, however there after that little green icon hardly ever rests. Kirsty's Home Videos, Voyager, Outer Limits, Jack and Jill, The Nanny, Philly, Jag, Early Edition, Batman, Rescue Heroes and Dream Team all appear with links. The afternoon programmes X-Files, Stargate and all the afternoon chat shows also all appear with links.

In this 24hr period 30 programmes were broadcast of which 24 were linked. This equates to 80 % being linked.

Sky One Thursday 12th June from 18:00hrs for 24hrs

Much the same as above with all the same evening and nightly programmes being linked. Links continued through the night and all the following day, even for programmes that were "old series" like Early Edition.

In this 24hr period 30 programmes were broadcast of which 25 were linked. This equates to 83.33 % being linked.

Sky One Friday 13th June from 18:00hrs for 24hrs

Even better today!! Apart from no Buffy link at 18:00hrs (Why?) the majority of the programmes were linked. All Sky's entertainment programmes for the evening and through the night were linked. This very welcome trend continues through the morning and afternoon with all those favourite chat shows.

In this 24hr period 31 programmes were broadcast of which 27 were linked. This equates to 87.09 % linked.

Sky One Saturday 14th June from 18:00hrs for 24hrs

Slight change to the schedule this time, however Sky didn't lapse in the series link department. Again no Buffy at 18:00hrs but then again all evening programmes were linked, (Simpsons, Futurama, Malcolm In The Middle, Salems Lot etc. ). All the kids’ cartoons were linked as was the old favourite WWF.

In this 24hr period 31 programmes were broadcast of which 24 were linked. This equates to 77.41 %being linked.

Sky One Sunday 15th June from 18:00hrs for 24hrs

One word for this......Excellent!! Apart from two programmes all were linked. This again included all entertainment, chat shows, Soaps and Kids programmes...Oh by the way the two not linked were 18:00hr showing of Dream Team and the 04:05hr showing of Crib.

In this 24hr period 30 programmes were broadcast of which 28 were linked. This equates to a massive 93.33 % being linked.

Sky One Monday 16th June from 18:00hrs for 24hrs

Familiar ground developing here now, with all of Sky's usual top programmes being linked throughout the 24hr period. The only exceptions here were 18:00hr Buffy, 22:00hr Enterprise and the 16:00hr showing of Dream Team.

In this 24hr period 30 programmes were broadcast of which 27 were linked. This equates to 90 % being linked.

Sky One Tuesday 17th June from 18:00hrs for 24hrs

Sky finishes off this 7 day period much the same way as they started. All the evening and nightly shows were linked as were all the Chat Shows and Soaps the following day.

In this 24hr period 28 programmes were broadcast of which 23 were linked. This equates to 82.14 % being linked

Overall Conclusion for Sky One's Series Link Service

Well as I said previously, Sky should certainly hold their heads high when it comes to providing Series Links. From about 19:00hrs they consistently provided all programmes with links. This service continued throughout the evening/night and all the following day. The only strange behaviour I found from them was the failure of linking the 16:00hr showings of Dream Team and the 18:00hr showings of Buffy. Still this would be nit-picking really, as Sky have proved that if you provide a feature that is reliable and as effective as series Links, then you're viewing pleasure can only be enhanced further with the delights and comfort of Sky+ nestling below your television.

Over the course of the week Sky One broadcast 210 programmes of which 178 were linked. This equates to a very impressive weekly total of 84.76 % being linked. The best day for links was Sunday and the worst day for links was Saturday.

Well there we have it boys and girls, the week in the life of a Series Link. Ask anyone with Sky Digital, and the majority will tell you how series links make their viewing so much easier. Ask anyone with Sky+, and they'll tell you that they couldn't imagine life without them. They are used so often when setting up recordings, when they do periodically fail to link to the next programme, it actually highlights just how much importance we, the paying subscriber, put on them.

Hopefully I have given you some insight into how often the broadcasters use this simple, yet so effective function. We know the issue with Five, and hopefully this will be resolved soon. All we ask is that the broadcasters continue to keep ahead of themselves, and give us the viewers, the service we have come to expect.

* For all you statisticians out there, the total number of broadcasts for all the five channels over the 7 day EPG period was 1214 of which 568 were linked. This equates to a grand total of 46.78 % of programmes linked.

The overall best day for links was a Friday and the worst was a Saturday.

..Now if you don’t mind, I’m off to book tickets for the Hulk movie..Enjoy and happy linking.

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