Sky UK Limited and Channel Four Television Corp. have renewed a long-running partnership that should lead to more Channel 4 content being made available to Sky’s customers.
The extended partnership is meant to continue what the companies say has been a “successful strategic relationship” that aims to support commercial growth and innovation.
For customers, the most visible aspect of the deal is that Sky’s platforms will continue to access Channel 4 content. Indeed, even more programming is expected to become available as the extended deal calls for more All 4 content to be integrated into Sky’s products.
The partners said a much broader range of All 4 content will appear on Sky’s platforms, including more than 1,000 hours of All 4 Exclusives and various catch-up content. Added to that will be dozens of popular Channel 4 box sets, with some entire series being made available to All 4 and Sky users ahead of their linear broadcasts.
The two broadcasters will also likely continue to share coverage of the Formula 1 season.
For Channel 4, the benefit of the relationship is that it gets its content in front of more eyes, which paves the way for it to unlock greater revenue through digital advertising. This revenue will help to support Channel 4’s Future4 strategy, the company said.
“When we set out our Future4 strategy last year, we made clear that securing strategic distribution partnerships would be a vital part of ensuring we can maximise our reach and impact with viewers in a digital age, grow our revenues and compete more effectively for the future,” said Channel 4 Chief Executive Alex Mahon. “I’m delighted to have agreed this deal, which extends a longstanding and incredibly successful partnership.”
Sky UK and Europe Executive Vice President and CEO Stephen van Rooyen said it felt great to extend the agreement because Sky customers love Channel 4 content. “This brings Sky customers more of what they want and supports Channel 4 to deliver on their key priorities, all while providing both parties with long-term confidence in the strategic partnership,” he added.
Sky has worked for years to expand its network of relationships with broadcasters of all shapes and sizes to bring their content to its platforms. One of its most recent agreements saw Amazon Prime Video content made available on Sky and NOW TV devices, adding to content from its existing partnerships with Netflix, Disney+, Warner Media and others.
Sky has also worked hard to improve the quality of the content it delivers. Last year, it added support for high dynamic range on some of its own content, before extending that to services such as Netflix.
