Sky extends key CBS deal
CBS's Showtime & CW network the entertainment equivalent of landing a top-four sport.
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It’s had mixed regulatory and financial fortunes of late but Sky continues to clean up in content deals.
It’s latest is an extension of its deal with CBS. As usual, the pay-TV provider won’t comment on the costs but it does say it’s multi-year and exclusive.
Famously – or infamously – Sky has the big four sports wrapped up in multiyear deals.
But it’s doing just as well on the entertainment side, with its multi-year exclusive contracts with HBO, Discover, Disney and CBS – the makers of premium shows that actually move people to subscribe to Sky or its relatively new offshoot Neon.
The bad news, for Sky shareholders: As online competition increases, these deals are getting more expensive.
CBS’ stable includes the premium cable networks Showtime and CW. That includes – for my money – three of the best series on television at the moment: the dramas Ray Donovan, Billions (soon to be joined by a Twin Peaks reboot) and the US fly-on-the-wall political news/documentary effort The Circus (drop-dead brilliant if you’re a Trump junkie; droll and revealing where others are shrill and predictable).
The deal will also see CBS free-to-air mainstays like MacGyver, Bull and Madam Secretary on Prime.
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Sky extends key CBS deal
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