Surprise Virgin Media and Sky channel swaps coming THIS week in TV guide revamp with big change for kids due by weekend
A MAJOR Sky TV channel shake-up is taking place these week – and it affects Virgin Media customers too.
Telly fans across the UK will need to watch out for as many as six changes to TV guides, just days after a major Sky outage.
Two of the swaps take place today, with the other four kicking at different points throughout the week.
It’s part of Sky‘s ongoing TV channel shuffle to keep its offering fresh.
But it also affects any Virgin Media TV customer watching Sky channels through their package.
SKY TV SWAPS THIS WEEK
The first two changes for Sky and Virgin Media customers are set for Monday, May 19.
The first is Sky Mega Hits, which is switching back after a temporary change.
It’ll become Sky Hits HD once again, and remains on channel 303 for Satellite, Sky Glass, and Sky Stream.
Second is Sky Mission Impossible, which is temporarily changing to Sky 80s HD.
That’s available on channel 302 for Sky Satellite, Glass, and Stream.
Then on Wednesday, May 21, we’ll see That’s Oldies rebrand to That’s Summer on Satellite 359.
Similarly, That’s Dance will be rebranding to That’s Pride on channel 360.
For Friday, May 23, we’ve got one change that might be perfect for the kis.
Sky Family is renaming to Sky Fairytale / Sky Fairytale HD temporarily.
You’ll be able to find that on Sky Satellite 306/850, or 306 on Sky Glass and Sky Stream.
Finally, there’s a chance scheduled for Saturday, May 24.
This will see Sky Cinema Action changing its name temporarily to become Sky M:I / Sky M:I HD.
That’ll be on Sky Satellite channel 307/851, or channel 307 on Sky Glass and Stream.
WHY DOES SKY CHANGE ITS TV GUIDE?
Sky’s channel changes usually come as a surprise, as they’re announced at short notice – and can be difficult to predict.
But the fact that the TV guide changes isn’t particularly unusual.
In fact, Sky usually makes several swaps every single week.
Sometimes Sky will temporarily change a channel for an event, like a bank holiday or season.
Or it might want to try out a new type of content.
Channels can also close down due to low demand or broadcasting restrictions.
TRY THESE SKY TRICKS!
Got Sky Q? There are some handy tricks worth knowing about...
Find your lost TV remote
If you can’t find your Sky Q remote, don’t panic.
Just press the Sky Q logo on the front of your TV box.
It’s actually a button that will trigger your TV remote’s built-in ringer.
You’ll get 30 seconds of beeping to find where you’ve dropped it. Hint: it’s probably under the sofa cushion.
Search movies by quotes
You might have already used voice search for controlling TV playback – but your remote’s microphone has another clever trick.
It turns out that you can say movie quotes into the remote and Sky will find the film for you.
This is handy if you can’t remember the name of a top movie or show.
Here’s a list of movie quotes to try on Sky.
Save lost recordings
Have you ever deleted something you’d recorded on Sky, only to regret it later?
Or maybe someone in your family removed something without telling you – sparking a massive row.
Don’t panic: you can get them back.
Just go to Recordings > Manage > Deleted and then simply hit Undelete on the item that you want to resurrect.
If you do that, it’ll return to your Recordings section as good as new.
Picture Credit: Sky
And sometimes new channels pop up entirely too.
Ultimately, Sky wants to keep the TV guide feeling fresh, so it’s normal for some channels – especially ones for movies – to change regularly.
FULL LIST OF SKY TV MAY 2025 CHANNEL CHANGES
Here’s the full list of Sky TV changes in May 2025 so far…
Friday, May 2
- Sky Horror (Satellite 311 – Sky Glass/Stream 311) renames to Sky ScFi/Horror / Sky ScFi/HorHD (reverting from temporary change)
- Sky Apocalyptic (Satellite 302 – Sky Glass/Stream 302) renames to Favourites HD (temporary change)
- Sky Cinema Action (Satellite 307/851 – Sky Glass/Stream 307) changes name to Sky Heroes/SkyHeroesHD (temporary change)
Tuesday, May 6
- Sky Favourites (Satellite 302 – Sky Glass/Stream 302) renames to SkyStarTrekHD (temporary change)
Friday, May 9
- Sky Hits (Satellite 303 – Sky Glass/Stream 303) changes name to SkyMegaHitsHD (temporary change)
Saturday, May 10
- Sky Heroes (Satellite 307/851 – Sky Glass/Stream 307) changes name to Sky Action / Sky Action HD (reverting from a temporary change)
Monday, May 12
- Sky Star Trek (Satellite 302 – Sky Glass/Stream 302) renames to Tom Cruise HD (temporary change)
Friday, May 16
- Sky Greats (Satellite 304/849 – Sky Glass/Stream 304) renames to CultClassics / CultClassicsHD (temporary change)
Saturday, May 17
- Sky Tom Cruise (Satellite 302 – Sky Glass/Stream 302) renames to Sky M:I HD (temporary change)
Monday, May 19
- Sky Mega Hits (Satellite 303 – Sky Glass/Stream 303) changes name to Sky Hits HD (reverting from temporary change)
- Sky Mission Impossible (Satellite 302 – Sky Glass/Stream 302) renames to Sky 80s HD (temporary Change)
Wednesday, May 21
- That’s Oldies (Satellite 359) rebrands to That’s Summer
- That’s Dance (Satellite 360) rebrands to That’s Pride
Friday, May 23
- Sky Family (Satellite 306/850 – Sky Glass/Stream 306) renames to Sky Fairytale / Sky FairytaleHD (temporary Change)
Saturday, May 24
- Sky Cinema Action (Satellite 307/851 – Sky Glass/Stream 307) changes name to Sky M:I / Sky M:I HD (temporary change)
It’s worth noting that this likely isn’t the end of the changes.
Sky typically only announces its channel swaps for the week ahead.
So there may be some stragglers due to be added to the list at the very end of the month.
We won’t find out about those until the end of this week at the earliest.