Flick onto channel 108 on your Sky set top box and you will no longer find the dark-hole of repeats that is Sky 3. Instead, in its place you'll find Sky Atlantic, the home of Sky's HBO content.

Back in July last year, Sky put pen to paper on a £150 million deal to get HBO programming exclusively on its platform - the result of which is the new channel which kicks off at 8pm on 1 February.

Sky Atlantic will broadcast on channel 108 (in 720p or 1080i for HD subscribers) and will begin life with Let The Stories Begin - a programme hosted by Mariella Frostrup and starring the likes of Sean Bean, John Hamm and Kelly MacDonald - which takes a look at what's to come on the channel (this is also being simulcast on Sky 1 and Sky Living, so it's obvious Sky is really bigging up its new outlet).

The first actual TV show is a real pearler though - the Martin Scorsese directed Boardwalk Empire, which was the most expensive pilot episode produced in television history.

Other highlights coming up include Mad Men, Entourage, Treme, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Flight of the Concords, and Blue Bloods - a CBS police drama which has some of The Sopranos writers on board.

And, speaking of New Jersey's most famous Mafia family - The Sopranos will be shown in its entirety, right from the very start. So, you better start deleting stuff from your planner to make room.

You may also now notice a few changes to your EPG line-up as a result of a big reshuffle by Sky.

If you're a Sky+HD subscriber, 40 channels in your HD pack will switch positions in the line-up with the SD versions. If you're not a HD subscriber, you won't have to learn new numbers as your SD channels will stay where they are. 

There's also a bit of shuffle down the pack as well (SD or HD versions, depending on your package): 

Sky Living has moved to channel 107, Comedy Central moves to 112, Universal moves to 113, Syfy is on 114, FX jumps to 124 and MTV moves away from the music bunch and can be found at 126.