The satellite TV company has signed a content deal with HBO, the US channel that revolutionised the television market by launching a pay-TV service that screens big-budget dramas. The Sky deal, expected to be announced this morning, will give Sky access to HBO's archive and all forthcoming shows over the lifetime of the agreement. It is believed to be worth around £150m over five years.It's a biggie, and means that the likes of True Blood and Treme will be Sky exclusives in years to come. Living may get Sex in the City repeats, Bravo The Sopranos and The Wire, whilst new series such as Boardwalk Empire are likely to debut on Sky Movies Premier (like The Pacific did last Easter).
It's an interesting deal, not just because it steals content from other commercial broadcasters (once their current deals run out) but because it signals an attempt by Sky to secure some of the highest quality programming around, something it has long been criticised for not attempting. These series aren't huge audience pullers and HBO's track record of late has been somewhat mixed - True Blood aside, there's been nothing new that has really caught light with US audiences - so it's a prestige acquisition more likely to booster perception rather than audiences.
9 comments:
Totally agree with Nialli, this is more for show than actual programming. So they sign a 5yr deal, we will still get to see the shows or just download them from the net....whoop to Sky
http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/34621/virgin-media-vod-online-mobile
new vod service coming!
Im sure FX have lifetime rights for True Blood and E&D (much like Dexter)
'Sky is also unable to poach FX’s hit True Blood or fellow HBO series Eastbound & Down as FX has the first option on both of these shows as long as they are on air'(Broadcast magazine). They dont even get 'The Wire' yet as FX has two more entire runs of the seasons.
Also C4 have rights for the True Blood re-runs along with S8 Curb Your Enthusiasm and Hung.
So it's more of the new shows Sky will have really. The only thing that will annoy me is HBO have been on VM on demand and will be missed when they leave at the end of the year.
According to this report http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/s59/true-blood/news/a252758/fx-uk-still-owns-true-blood-rights.html the Sky deal isn't quite as exclusive as Sky are claiming. In fact, thinking about it this won't be that much different from the HBO On Demand rights that Virgin has had for years - we've had The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Band of Brothers, Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm etc available through TV Choice on Demand pretty much since the service launched.
Is this yet another "pie in the sky" from Sky...
As should be clear to anyone who actually read the article, in terms of archive shows, it's just about the same deal VM had, but with rights to "forthcoming shows" thrown in, so if by "pie in the sky" we're talking a decidedly tasty offering from Sky, then that would be an accurate assessment.
Although the HBO deal was completely mismanaged by VM, I doubt Sky will take the same random approach to how they offer these episodes to their viewers, and it looks like they will air new shows and episodes as soon after the US premiere as they have done for years with shows like Lost, 24, BSG, etc, so anyone rubbing their hands with spiteful glee about the fact that Sky haven't quite (yet) poached new-run rights of True Blood from FX might want to remember that the term "new run" barely seems like an apt description, considering how long it takes FX to air them. But, then, you can just download the episodes, of course, as suggested and endorsed by our resident VM employee. What's next, tips on how to circumvent VM's new encryption system?
Sorry Erich, forgot you don't do anything which could be construed as breaking the rules...get a grip
I accept your apology, SquareEyes. Have some pie. ;)
I'm just glad season6 of The Sopranos in HD has finally made it to VoD.
We never watched it first time around and will hopefully complete the entire saga via HD VoD. It has taken over a year though with the crazy scheduling, missing episodes, endless re-runs of seasons 1-3 but we're finally on the home straight.
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