David Farnor | On 20, Mar 2019

Sky and BBC Studios have today announced an agreement to bring a new range of BBC comedy and drama box sets to Sky and NOW customers.

From next month, customers will be able to binge on hundreds of hours of content, newly available on Sky and NOW under the trusted UKTV channel brands of GOLD and ALIBI.

The box sets include iconic British comedies such as The Vicar of Dibley and Only Fools and Horses, as well as more recent hits such as McMafia and Spooks. Other shows coming to Sky and NOW next month include Absolutely Fabulous, Blackadder, The Royle Family, Little Britain, Open All Hours, The Young Ones, Keeping Up Appearances, Red Dwarf and Extras.

Later in the year, more box sets will be coming to Sky including The Last Post, Father Brown, QI, Top Gear, The League of Gentleman, Ashes to Ashes and Brian Cox’s Wonder… series.

The titles will begin to be available from 1st April 2019. The deal follows an agreement with Channel 4 to a group of exclusive box sets. It also arrives as the BBC is increasingly looking to monetise its extensive back catalogue of shows, with the launch of Britbox, a new subscription streaming service, in partnership with ITV.

Rob Webster, Group Director of Partner Channels at Sky, says: “Bringing all of these box sets together for the first time will cement Sky and NOW’s reputation as the home of entertainment. It’s a great example of collaboration between Sky and BBC Studios, and we are pleased to be bringing our customers even more great British content.”

Marcus Arthur, President for UK & ANZ at BBC Studios, adds: “We are delighted to have licensed this range of titles which Sky and NOW customers will soon be able to enjoy under the much–loved UKTV channel brands.”

NOW customers will be able to watch newly available GOLD box sets using the NOW Entertainment Membership, while Sky customers will be able to watch newly available box sets through both GOLD and ALIBI.

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