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Sky Atlantic HD will exclusively house HBO's new slate as well as HBO Originals
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Sky secure a life of series deal for exclusive rights to Mad Men from Season 5
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Sky Atlantic to showcase more of the best entertainment content from the US and UK
Sky today announced plans to launch
Sky Atlantic HD
, a new entertainment channel, in early 2011. Sky Atlantic will provide an exclusive home to some of the most hotly anticipated shows in television to customers throughout the UK and Ireland.
Following Sky and HBO's multi-year output deal announced in July,
Sky Atlantic HD
will air all of HBO's new series exclusively in the UK and Ireland including the already critically acclaimed
Boardwalk Empire
. The Prohibition-era drama from acclaimed director and Oscar® winner
Martin Scorsese
and
The Sopranos'
Emmy® Award winning writer
Terence Winter
features an all-star cast including
Steve Buscemi
,
Michael Pitt
and
Kelly Macdonald. Boardwalk Empire
made its US debut on HBO on September 19, 2010 and a UK and Ireland premiere is scheduled for February 2011. The series has already been green lit for a second season after scoring HBO's best premiere audience for over six years.
Other upcoming HBO productions to be broadcast by
Sky Atlantic HD
include the fantasy drama
Game of Thrones
, based on the series of books
A Song of Ice and Fire
by George R.R. Martin,
Luck
, executive produced by
David Milch
and
Michael Mann
and starring two time Oscar® winner
Dustin Hoffman
,
Mildred Pierce
starring Oscar® winner Kate Winslet and the new series from
David Simon
(
The Wire
), the New Orleans set
Treme
, which chronicles the rebuilding of the city following the historic devastation at the hands of Hurricane Katrina . In addition, future seasons of existing HBO shows - such as
Entourage
and
Big Love
- will be broadcast exclusively on Sky Atlantic in the UK and Ireland. Furthermore, some of the most critically lauded series of recent times including
The Sopranos
,
The Wire
,
Six Feet Under
and Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks'
The Pacific
will also air on the channel. The content will also be offered to Sky customers via Sky's on-demand platforms, including the soon-to-launch Sky Anytime+ service.
In a separate deal announced today with Lionsgate Television,
Sky Atlantic
HD
will also be the exclusive UK home to brand new
Mad Men
from 2011. The BAFTA® award-winning
Mad Men
made history as the only cable series to win back-to-back best drama Emmy® Awards and the only series to win the Golden Globe® Award for Best Drama for three consecutive years.
Mad Men
burst onto the scene when it debuted on AMC in July 2007 and quickly became one of the most talked about series on television. Set in 1960s New York,
Mad Men
follows the lives of the ruthlessly competitive men and women of Madison Avenue advertising.
As part of Sky's growing commitment to original production,
Sky Atlantic
HD
will also offer a range of exclusive, new UK programming. Further details will be announced in due course. This follows Sky 1 HD's continuing shift towards drama and comedy, which will include over the next two years the upcoming
Thorne
,
Mad Dogs
,
Martina Cole's The Runaway
,
Chris Ryan's Strike Back
and a reimagining of
Sinbad
, plus previously announced comedies
Little Crackers
,
Stella
,
Mount Pleasant
and
This Is Jinsy
.
Upcoming premieres on
Sky Atlantic HD
will include
Boardwalk Empire
(February),
Mildred Pierce
(March),
Game of Thrones
and
Treme
(both April).
Sophie Turner Laing, Sky's Managing Director, Entertainment, News & Broadcast Operations
said: “
Sky Atlantic HD will be an extraordinary TV channel. It will have compulsive television that pushes creative boundaries and tells great stories.
“The addition of Sky Atlantic completes a fantastic portfolio of entertainment channels including Sky 1 HD, Sky Arts, Living and Sky Movies. Together, our channels will bring customers high-quality programming that is worth paying for.”
Stuart Murphy
will extend his responsibilities and become Director of Programmes Sky1 HD, Sky 1, 2 and 3 and Sky Atlantic HD. Turner Laing added: “
In just over 12 months Stuart has made a tremendous impact at Sky, creating a really strong brand identity for Sky 1 and producing some truly original, talked about television. His passion, commitment and expertise will be integral to Sky Atlantic and Sky's entertainment portfolio
.”
Sky Atlantic HD
's launch comes on the heels of the high profile acquisition of the Virgin Media Television subsidiary, adding content from
Living,
Bravo
,
Channel One
and
Challenge
to the Sky family. Sky launched a dedicated 3D channel,
Sky 3D
, on October 1 which includes movies, sport, entertainment, the arts and documentaries. Available via all existing Sky+ HD boxes, Sky 3D is compatible with all 3D Ready TVs in the UK and Ireland.
Sky Atlantic
forms part of Sky's Variety Pack of basic channels, which is available to TV customers from £19 a month.*
ENDS
About Sky
Sky operates the most comprehensive multichannel, multi-platform television service in the UK and Ireland. Over 9.8 million homes enjoy an unprecedented choice of movies, news, entertainment and sports channels. Sky continues to break new ground with its own portfolio of channels: Sky1 combines its commitment to UK production with the best of the US; Sky Arts continues to embrace new audiences as the UK's only dedicated arts channel brand; Sky Sports is still raising the bar in sports broadcasting; and Sky News remains a pioneer in multiplatform television news.
Around 3 million homes have already joined Sky+HD, which provides access to almost 50 dedicated HD channels, Europe's first 3D TV channel and future innovative services such broadband-enabled video-on-demand.
Sky has also been the UK's fastest growing broadband and fixed-telephony provider for more than two years.
For more information on Sky Atlantic HD please
click here
.