Sky and Disney are now a pair, with a multi-year deal in place to integrate Disney+ and even launch a new Disney Cinema channel for linear, too. With all the details to share is entertainment attorney at Blake & Wang P.A., Brandon Blake.
Single Subscription
With this deal in place, Sky will now carry Disney+, HBO Max, Netflix, and Hayu through one subscription. Sky will be offering the “Standard with Ads” offering from Disney, at a cost of £5.99 ($8.20), and will be open to eligible Sky TV package viewers from March.
The linear channel will also launch, with featured movies. The first month’s slate will include Alien: Romulus, Iron Man, and Deadpool and Wolverine among the first 50 movies, the bulk of which is Pay-2 movies, or older, library, content. 2 movies will be refreshed per week.
New Old Partnership
Sky, of course, already offers both National Geographic and Disney Jr. as linear channels, alongside the to-be-launched offering. Disney has been in the UK market for 6 years currently, with the UK one of its largest markets outside of the US. While they have also been working on direct-to-consumer offerings for the territory, Sky is a very saturated operator in the area, and Disney isn’t the only operator courting them to help boost access to new eyes, especially those who like to “buy” their TV as a single, larger subscription.
Disney has been pretty aggressive in pursuing these deals recently, including some content-sharing options, such as that with ITV in the UK. What’s new about this deal, however, is that Disney will not be bringing over Sky originals in return.
Sky is perhaps best known for its deal with HBO, although that has now lapsed, and seems keen to find other partnerships itself. In fact, with uncertainty hanging over Warner Bros. Discovery and its eventual new owners, it seems that the deal is being deprioritized on both sides, although HBO remains part of the Sky Ultimate offering for now. It looks like this new evolution of bundling is here to stay for a long time, however.
