English Entertainment
Disney inks new multi-year deal with Sky
MUMBAI: Extending its relationship spanning almost 25 years, UK pay TV operator Sky has inked a new multi-year movie and TV agreement with Disney.
Sky Movies and NOW TV Sky Movies Pass customers will be able to watch new movies like Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur and Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the first pay TV window from around nine months after their release in cinemas.
Additionally, Sky Movies subscribers can access the Disney channel and watch all the latest Disney, Pixar, Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm movies in HD, and in some cases, 3D. In addition, they will have access to Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney Junior TV channels through Sky’s subscription packages in both standard and high definition.
As per the new agreement, customers will get more Disney Channels series through Catch Up TV and On Demand than now available, at no extra cost. Also included in this agreement are ABC Studios primetime drama and comedy series such as Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy andScrubs, available via ABC Studios on demand, through Sky Box Sets.
Moreover, Sky Movies customers will be able to choose from a wide selection of classic Disney movies on demand in Sky’s library of more than 1,000 films including Frozen, Enchanted, Maleficent, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, as well as Disney Pixar hits such as Up,Monsters, Inc. and Toy Story.
Sky will be offering more flexibility for customers to watch where they want with Sky Go, the mobile TV service. The agreement means customers can access the Disney movies, channels and on demand content as part of their subscriptions on over 70 compatible devices including mobiles, tablets and games consoles. All new movie titles and a large selection of classic movie titles will also be available to buy and keep, or rent, via Sky Store.
Sky MD content Gary Davey said, “Sky and Disney have been working together for almost 25 years. Our collaboration has continued to grow and the launch of the exclusive Sky Movies Disney channel two years ago has been a huge success. This new agreement means our customers can continue to enjoy the biggest blockbusters like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Inside Out before they are available on any other online subscription service. They also get access to a great portfolio of family channels and a growing on demand library of amazing shows and films which we know they love.”
Disney EMEA SVP and general manager, media distribution Mark Endema?o added, “With our shared goal of bringing the highest quality, creative entertainment to audiences in the UK and Ireland in ever more flexible ways, we are extending our relationship with Sky to offer subscribers our movies, series, and our channels at home and on the go. Two years on from its launch, we are particularly proud of the shared success of Sky Movies Disney, and look forward to bringing more of our much-loved stories and characters to audiences in the UK & Ireland.”
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
