[cheekyangus]

I suspect Arts remains high in the guide is because they want Sky branded channels to remain prominent. And it's a bit of a prestige channel, they want to be seen "Supporting the Arts".

Given Sky Crime is new they won't know for sure how popular it will be so they aren't going to give it too good a slot. Especially as other true crime genre channels have had mixed fortunes.

Sky Two is supposedly the channel that Sky Comedy will be replacing early next year, so they probably decided to have it the lowest of their Pay channels (not including +1s). All their Pay channels got moved above their Free To Air channels despite Challenge and Pick being their 3rd and top rated entertainment channels respectively (Sky1 is 2nd and Witness is 4th). I'm using the August BARB ratings for that, they probably fluctuate positions a bit.

Sky Arts is now much closer to its HD channel than it was, the HD channel moved up about 50 numbers. And those who have the HD version in their package can always use the "Press Blue To Watch In HD".

If Sky Crime is a flop I can see Sky Comedy being switched into that slot. There aren't any Weekly ratings for Sky Crime on the BARB website at the time I type this.