Some Great Shows That Will Screen Here (and in HD)

If Sky TV ever needed proof of the hunger for an HBO-style channel here, its executives should read the responses to Chris Philpott’s On the Box blog for Stuff, which has generated more than 100 comments about “great shows that probably won’t air here“.

Philpott cites the five he most laments missing from our screen.

But, as previously reported here, Falling Skies is due to air on TV2 and Sky is believed to have picked up Game of Thrones.

Philpott’s favourite, Breaking Bad, remains the property of MediaWorks TV, which aired the first two seasons in primetime on Four’s predecessor, C4.

It plans to to air season three off-peak but hasn’t yet decided if it will play on Four or TV3.

Other series mentioned by readers frustrated about the woeful state of drama scheduling include White Collar and The Killing,  both of which MediaWorks has acquired through its output deal with 20th Century Fox Television.

However, The Killing will screen first on Sky. That’s because Fox Television Studios produced it for the AMC cable channel, and under the terms of MediaWorks’ Fox deal, Fox can offer one cable series a year to Sky for screening on one of its premium channels.

Hopefully, that premium channel won’t be Sky Movies, where Sky launched Boardwalk Empire, but a new HD channel tailored to meet New Zealanders’ unsatisfied demand for premium drama in primetime.