Sky Cinema and Entertainment One sign new deal
David Farnor | On 26, Nov 2020
Sky Cinema has inked a new deal with Hasbro’s entertainment studio Entertainment One.
The long-term partnership will bring Sky Cinema customers hundreds of hours of blockbuster movies, covering both eOne’s existing library and new releases in development.
As a result of the deal, almost 200 movies from eOne’s library will be available to Sky Cinema customers, while – from summer 2021 – Sky Cinema will have the pay TV rights to eOne’s first-run feature films, including the animated kids’ title Two by Two: Overboard.
Notable eOne titles heading to Sky Cinema include the Twilight and Divergent franchises, Young Victoria, Dallas Buyers Club and Looper, while a number of new releases will also be available exclusively to Sky Cinema customers further down the line, such as the holiday rom-com Happiest Season starring Kristen Stewart – released today to buy and rent online.
Stephen van Rooyen, EVP & CEO UK & Europe Sky said: “We’re incredibly excited to partner with eOne and bring their award-winning world-class content to our audiences. Sky Q makes it easy for customers to access the content they love, all in one place, and this new deal will expand the impressive range of films already available. This year alone we’ve struck agreements with Disney, Discovery, Sony and DreamWorks Animation to increase the variety of content available on Sky Q, and recently we’ve brought lifestyle and entertainment apps like Fiit and Roxi onto the platform. Throw in our comprehensive sports offering and our popular Sky Originals and there’s something for everyone on Sky Q.”
Stuart Baxter, President, International Distribution, eOne said: “We’re delighted to be expanding our relationship with Sky on this ground-breaking deal, especially during these challenging times. A partnership of this scale marks one of the biggest strategic deals we’ve done this year. We’re confident they will be a brilliant marketing partner for our content, working with us through the entire lifecycle.”
The deal was brokered by eOne’s Dan Gopal, Executive Vice President, Sales, EMEA and Patrick Roberts, Vice President, International TV Sales and Sky’s Katie Keenan, Head of Acquisitions, Movies and Maud Letreguilly, Head of Content Acquisitions.
The deal follows previous deals with Amazon Prime Video, which is currently the exclusive streaming home for 1917, and Netflix UK, which has streamed such titles as Trumbo and Spotlight.