SoHo’s Staggered Schedule Sizzles

October 20, 2011 0 Comments

If you haven’t invested in a My Sky + by now, don’t delay if you want to maximise the value of Sky’s new premium drama channel, SoHo.

The satcaster has confirmed more of the HD channel’s sensational November schedule on the eve of updating subscriber numbers at its annual general meeting on Friday.

New to the schedule since my last post are Boardwalk Empire, The Hour, In Treatment, The Killing, Treme and Dexter.

The roll-out of these series is being staggered across the month, with movies filling slots in the interim.

Details for only the first two weeks of November have been released so far.

But already the structure of the schedule, which will limit advertising to 90 seconds an hour between programmes, is becoming clear.

Boardwalk Empire, The Hour, Game of Thrones, The Killing and Dexter have been awarded 8.30pm slots for their initial airings, and Treme and Weeds, 9.30pm.

All SoHo series, whether new seasons or ‘library classics’, will screen several times within a week while ‘box set’ weekend omnibuses often will be used to promote pending new episodes.

For instance, SoHo will precede its November 6 launch of Boardwalk Empire’s second season with box set screenings of the first season the same weekend.

It will adopt a similar strategy for Dexter, when season five will screen back-to-back as a box set on the weekend of November 12-13, ahead of season six’s November 15 premiere.

Fridays appear to be reserved for HBO movies, starting with Temple Grandin and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee on November 4, and continuing with You Don’t Know Jack on November 11.

Library series will be dotted through the week: Mad Men (6.40pm weekdays, from November 1); Entourage (7.30pm Thursdays, from November 3); True Blood (8.30pm Thursdays, from November 3); Six Feet Under (7.30pm Fridays, from November 4); and The Sopranos (9.30pm Mondays, from November 7).

Here, at a glance, is how the SoHo schedule is shaping up:

Series