Sky Atlantic to become the exclusive home of Showtime in the UK
Billions
Much like they did with HBO, Sky have struck a deal with CBS, the owners of US network SHOWTIME for exclusive rights to air all new and future series of their shows on Sky Atlantic. This will include the upcoming 2017 limited Twin Peaks series, and the Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti show Billions, which had the best series debut performance ever for Showtime when it launched in the US.
This is a bit of a no-brainer for Sky. The HBO deal has worked extremely well for them, and they already run a number of Showtime shows on Sky Atlantic, including Ray Donovan, The Affair and House of Lies. The deal will include the Showtime back catalogue too, so you can expect to see episodes of The Borgias, Brotherhood, Californication & Dexter cropping up On Demand at some point in the not too distant future.
Twin Peaks
Gary Davey, Managing Director, Content, Sky commented: “This is one of the most important content deals Sky has ever agreed, cementing Sky’s position as the market-leader in Europe for world-class drama. We are enormously proud that Sky will be the exclusive home to new SHOWTIME programmes for many years to come, building on a relationship that has grown over time including producing three successful seasons of Penny Dreadful together. The agreement means our customers can enjoy an incredible slate of upcoming new dramas like Billions, Twin Peaks and also explore hundreds of hours of amazing series such as Dexter, Californication, The Affair and House of Lies on demand from the back catalogue of one of the world’s most exciting pay TV networks.”
For those of you wondering about existing Showtime shows that are airing on other UK channels right now, don’t panic. The deal only covers new and future series which don’t currently have deals in place. So Homeland and Masters Of Sex will be staying on Channel 4, and Episodes should be back on the BBC.
