Super WB Deal for Sky
September 25, 2017 
6 Comments
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a Sky satellite beaming out all the latest seasons of DC Series like The Flash, Arrow, Super-girl and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.
The under-siege satcaster has done a deal with Warner Bros International Television Distribution to secure exclusive first-run rights to the studio’s DC Comics heavyweights.
All new seasons of The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, plus Shameless US and Supernatural, are switching from TVNZ to Sky, where they will premiere across its linear channels as well as being available for catch-up on Sky Go and Sky On Demand (along with earlier seasons).
They will also be on streaming service Neon, with the exception of Arrow, for which Netflix has streaming rights.
Earlier seasons will also be available for subscribers to view on Sky On Demand and Neon.
The bad news for fans is the latest seasons of the DC Comics franchises won’t screen in HD, as they’re all bound for The Box. To watch them in HD, you’ll need to subscribe to Neon.
“The new series will all screen on our basic tier channel The Box from early in the New Year, providing an uninterrupted run by avoiding the seasonal American hiatuses,” Karen Bieleski, Head of Entertainment Content Sky, said in a statement.
The DC and CW series content is a great fit with our various Sky channels and we are delighted we could make this arrangement work so well with our colleagues at TVNZ and Warner Bros.
As well as fast-tracking The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl and Supernatural via Neon and our On Demand services, we have some exciting plans on the linear side of our business for marathon and pop-up special events showcasing these titles from the very beginning.
The deal makes sense for both TVNZ and Sky, as it delivers the latter exclusivity and relieves the former of some of the burden of its under-performing shows in its WB stable: the DC titles were quickly consigned to off-peak or Duke while Shameless and Supernatural were written off to late-night years ago.
Hence this statement from Jeffrey Schlesinger, President, Warner Bros. Worldwide Television Distribution:
We see this deal as extremely beneficial for all – especially for viewers in New Zealand. Now viewers will have greater access and choice to enjoy these great series across a number of platforms. We look forward to working with Sky and TVNZ to market these series across their services.
Said Lisa Clements, Sky’s Head of Acquisitions Entertainment & Movies:
We know the New Zealand DC fans are passionate about these shows, so we have worked hard with Warner Bros and TVNZ to secure them a long-term home that is accessible to all Kiwis, whether Sky customers or not
We know that more and more viewers are demanding a flexible, digital method of viewing series like these, and making them available via streaming on Neon and On Demand for Sky customers means we can provide the quickest access to these titles as they play in the USA.
Shameless US will be fast-tracked to SoHo in November, preceded by a Shameless US pop-up covering all previous seasons and available to all basic tier Sky customers.
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September 25, 2017 at 1:56 pm
Will Gotham season four come out on Sky?
No, it won’t. Sky says the package was limited to the linked Greg Berlanti-produced shows, which all share a television universe and screen on the CW network in the US.
There is a bit of confusion with how the article is phrased. Are the four Arrow-verse programmes all gone from TVNZ for good?
Yes, as of the latest seasons about to start in the US. They will screen on the Box from early next year and, except for Arrow, can be streamed on Neon or caught up with on Sky Go or On Demand. Earlier seasons will also screen or stream on Sky but TVNZ may still have expiring rights to some of these.
OK I’m still confused. Are all WB studio content all going to Sky or is it just the named titles in the article? If they are exclusive to Sky, then why does the article state it will be accessible to both Sky & TVNZ. Can the article be amended to clear things up?
It’s just the named titles in the article, as stated in the second paragraph: “The under-siege satcaster has done a deal with Warner Bros International Television Distribution to secure exclusive first-run rights to the studio’s DC Comics heavyweights.” The only other WB product are Supernatural and Shameless. Everything else stays with TVNZ. The deal starts with all the new seasons of these series and includes access to earlier seasons. However, some of these earlier seasons are still playing out off-peak on TVNZ, such as Arrow and Supergirl on TVNZ 2. TVNZ won’t have rights to the new seasons that will screen on Sky from early next year.