[citation needed] The reason to name the channel based on a colour and its brand identity be a fruit was due to the design agency, Lambie Nairn, which had also designed the 1991 BBC Two Idents and the 1982 Channel 4 launch idents in the United Kingdom, had found out the New Zealand TV market had an overcrowded space for general entertainment networks, and thus had made the channels branding to be different.

[1] Orange changed its name to Sky 1 on 1 June 1998 and introduced overnight programming, with The Simpsons debuting on 7 July 1998 with the first ever episode.

The channel began broadcasting 24 hours a day on 1 January 1999 when the Sky Digital service was launched; however, the UHF channel continued to screen Cartoon Network between 6am-4pm and in 2000 this was replaced with Nickelodeon.

On 2 February 2018, exactly 10 years and one day after the channel relaunched as The Box, it rebranded for the third time in its history, as Sky 5.

[3] This is a list of Sky 5's programming as of December 2024, which is a mix of American, British, and Australian TV imports with a small amount of New Zealand shows.