Deadwood No-Go for New SoHo

Among the signature HBO series that won’t ride again on Sky’s new SoHo channel is Deadwood.

When the HBO-style channel launches on October 31, it will leaven the latest seasons of series like Boardwalk Empire, Weeds and Dexter with what SoHo’s snazzy showreel (Sky, Channel 10) dubs “iconic classics”.

These range from The Sopranos and Six Feet Under to The Wire and Entourage.

A handful of series, like The Wire, won’t be native HD but will be up-converted for broadcast.

However, not every series synonymous with HBO will wind up on SoHo.

All new series as of Sky striking its output deal with HBO obviously will be. But the free-to-air networks still retain the rights to some earlier content.

Case in point: In Treatment. Because TVNZ has licensed season one, SoHo will have to start the psychiatrist drama from season two.

Moreover, not all HBO series are distributed worldwide by HBO or through its parent company, Warner Bros.

Such a casualty is Deadwood. The ribald western was handled internationally by Paramount Pictures, hence the US market getting a deluxe DVD release of each season, with extras, whereas the rest of the world had to settle for bare-bones discs.

Similarly, HBO last year released The Complete Series on Blu-ray in the US, complete with a posse of new extras, but so far there’s no sign of Paramount doing likewise in other territories.

As if that’s not aggravating enough, the HBO Blu-ray is locked to Region A, which means it won’t play on most Blu-ray players bought in NZ, the most notable exception being the Oppo range.

Talk about Deadwood’s NZ fans being dealt a worst hand than Wild Bill Hickok.