Industry

Sky Italia and Mediaset/Rti have signed a dual commercial partnership that will benefit both Sky and Mediaset Premium’s existing customers, while enabling Italian viewers to enjoy Sky via a new DTT service.

The first part of the deal will see 5 cinema and 4 TV series channels, currently only airing on Mediaset Premium’s platform, made available to Sky’s existing satellite customers at no additional cost. The deal will further enrich Sky’s wide-ranging library of on-demand content, which includes film premières and the most popular TV shows from around the world, that over 3.1 million Sky families access to download and watch their favourite programmes anytime, anywhere.

Following the deal, Sky Cinema Pack customers will also be able to watch – in addition to the 12 HD Sky branded channels which already air one première a day, box-office hits and the best Italian films - Premium Cinema and Premium Cinema +24, with even more premières and Hollywood blockbuster films, Premium Cinema Energy, dedicated to action, horror and thriller movies, Premium Cinema Emotion with romantic comedies and the most exciting stories, Premium Cinema Comedy, entirely dedicated to comedy and entertainment, from Italian cult movies to the most successful comedy films. Together, these channels air over 1,400 different film titles each year including recent blockbusters such as Wonder Woman, Dunkirk, Darkest Hour, Fifty Shades Freed, Justice League, It, The Snowman.

Sky Family pack customers will be able to watch the Premium Action channel, dedicated to action series, superheroes, fantasy and SyFy, Premium Crime, with crime and legal dramas, Premium Joi with great stories ranging from medical, romance and family dramas and Premium Stories, dedicated to comedy series, sitcoms and all kinds of comedies. These channels will further enrich an already extensive offer, landing side by side with Sky Uno, Fox, Sky Atlantic and National Geographic channels to name a few.

Alongside the very popular and internationally acclaimed Sky original productions – such as Gomorrah – The Series, The Young Pope, Babylon Berlin or the much-awaited Il Miracolo by writer Niccolò Ammaniti – international TV series from HBO, Disney and Fox – such as WestWorld, Game of Thrones, Grey’s Anatomy, The Walking Dead, Billions, Trust – will be broadcast at the same time as the US. The offer will also feature viewers’ favourite programmes such as Gotham, Chicago Fire, Supergirl, Suits and Mr Robot.

This unprecedented high-end content offering is combined with Sky’s superior viewing experience including Sky Q which has set a new standard for TV viewing.

As part of a second commercial agreement covering the DTT platform content distribution, Sky Italia will rent bandwidth from the multiplexes managed by Mediaset-controlled company Ei Towers to deliver its pay-TV offer, specifically designed for DTT.

Starting from 1st June 2018, thanks to the transmission capacity offered by Mediaset Group, Sky will create its own pay-TV offer on DTT that will combine a selection of Sky and Fox channels side by side with 9 Mediaset channels, namely 5 dedicated to films and 4 to TV shows, which will also be available via satellite. Alongside this cinema, TV series and entertainment pack, it will be possible to add a sports offer featuring a selection of Sky’s sporting events, also in High Definition.

Thanks to this offer, enjoying the Sky TV experience will be easier as customers will be free to choose their favourite distribution platform among the satellite, the Internet or DTT.

Further details related to Sky’s DTT offer will be announced closer to launch.