Sky and Channel 5 ink British box set deal
David Farnor | On 08, Dec 2019
Channel 5 and Sky have inked a new deal that will bring hundreds of hours of British box sets to Sky and NOW.
300 hours of Channel 5 shows will be available on-demand, including factual and entertainment programmes, as part of the new agreement between Sky and the Viacom-owned broadcaster.
The box sets include Royal documentaries such as Meghan and Harry: In their Own Words and Inside Kensington Palace, as well popular Channel 5 documentaries GPs Behind Closed Door and Paddington Station 24/7. This additional content joins Viacom’s already large catalogue of UK originations available to Sky and Now TV customers, including MTV’s Geordie Shore and Comedy Central’s Drunk History UK and Your Face or Mine.
The titles are available for Sky customers right now and will be available on NOW in the coming weeks. They will sit alongside Sky’s extensive library of original productions including Emmy award-winning Chernobyl, Catherine the Great and hit comedy Brassic.
They also sit alongside a range of box sets from Channel 4, including Derry Girls, End of the F***king World and The Inbetweeners, as well some of the best content from BBC Studios, such as McMafia, Only Fools and Horses and Absolutely Fabulous.
Indeed, Sky has inked deals with both Channel 4 and BBC recently, which means that its able to offer a comprehensive range of titles across all three public broadcasters. The deals put Sky on equal footing with BritBox, the newly launched subscription streaming service from BBC and ITV, which costs £5.99 a month. While BritBox will appeal to viewers seeking box sets from the collected broadcasters, it may well struggle to attract subscribers among Sky customers, as the pay-TV broadcaster and its over-the-top service, NOW, step up the competition for audience attention and appetite.
Stephen van Rooyen, Chief Executive Officer, Sky UK and Ireland, says: “This partnership is another brilliant example of how collaboration between UK broadcasters means our customers get even more great, British content alongside award-winning shows from across the Atlantic, further establishing Sky and NOW’s reputation as the home of the best content, all in one place.”
Ben Frow, Director of Programmes, Viacom International Media Networks UK, adds: “At Channel 5 we invest heavily in first-rate British content and this distribution partnership adds to the ways that viewers can access a range of our best programmes on-demand, and also boosts the breadth of Viacom content available to Sky and Now TV customers.”