01 Oct 10

BSkyB to launch Sky Atlantic

BSkyB is to launch a new HD subscription channel, Sky Atlantic, which will be home to US imports including Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire and Treme.

The new HD service will launch early next year and will be available to subscribers as part of Sky's Variety Pack of channels which costs £19 a month.

Sky Atlantic will have the UK TV premieres of HBO shows including Martin Scorsese's critically lauded prohibition era drama Boardwalk Empire and The Wire co-creator David Simon's new show, Treme.

BSkyB also confirmed today that it has secured the exclusive UK broadcast rights to AMC's Mad Men from next year's series five for the life of the show, and this will also be shown on the Sky Atlantic channel.

Other HBO programmes that will premiere on Sky Atlantic include Luck, executive produced by David Milch and Michael Mann and starring Dustin Hoffman; Mildred Pierce, featuring Kate Winslet; and fantasy drama Game of Thrones. Future series of HBO shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, Entourage and Big Love will also be shown on the channel.
However, True Blood will stay on FX as the channel has a life of series deal (FX also has first look options to renew Hung and Eastbound & Down).

The launch of Sky Atlantic follows the broadcaster's audacious £150m, five-year deal to snap up the exclusive UK TV rights to US cable channel HBO's entire archive, new HBO programming and a first-look deal on all co-productions.
Programmes on the channel will also be offered to Sky customers via on-demand channels including the soon-to-launch Sky Anytime+ service. BSkyB said it could not at this stage confirm any wholesale deals with other pay-TV operators, such as Virgin Media, to carry Sky Atlantic.