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Discovery Communications Media Sky

Discovery and Sky agree to new deal on portfolio of 12 channels

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By Kyle O'Brien, Creative Works Editor

January 31, 2017 | 3 min read

Fans of Discovery Channel spoke up and were heard. Thanks to those voices, Discovery Communications and Sky have agreed to a new deal, which finds Discovery’s portfolio of 12 channels continuing to be available on Sky. In addition, Discovery Channel will continue to be available on NOW TV in the UK after 31 January.

Sky and Discovery reach a deal

Sky and Discovery reach a deal

“We want to thank our millions of viewers and fans for their overwhelming support over the last few days. We have been humbled by the strength of the passion people feel for all our brands, including Discovery Channel, Eurosport, TLC, Animal Planet and Investigation Discovery,” said Susanna Dinnage, managing director, Discovery Networks UK.

“We have reached a new agreement that guarantees Sky’s customers access to Discovery’s wide range of channels and programmes for years to come. Our fans’ voices were heard loud and clear. They want choice and great TV and I cannot stress how much we love them for their support,” she added.

Discovery’s portfolio in the UK has the following channels: Discovery Channel, Eurosport 1, Eurosport 2, TLC, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Discovery History, Discovery Shed, Home and Health, DMAX, Discovery Science and Discovery Turbo.

The agreement also includes Discovery’s four pay-TV channels in Germany: Discovery Channel, Eurosport 1 HD, Eurosport 2 HD and Eurosport 360 HD. Discovery also operates three free-to-air networks in Germany: DMAX, Eurosport 1 and TLC.

“We are pleased that we will continue to carry the Discovery and Eurosport channels on Sky,” said Stephen van Rooyen, CEO UK & ROI, Sky. “The deal has been concluded on the right terms after Discovery accepted the proposal we gave them over a week ago. This is a good outcome for all Sky customers.

“We are also delighted to be announcing today a new deal with PBS America that will bring the best of PBS's factual programming to Sky, covering history, science, current affairs, arts and culture. We are also adding over 1,000 hours of programming to our On Demand service from channels like History and National Geographic. This means ours customers can enjoy the very best factual programming available.”

Susanne Aigner-Drews, General Manager, Discovery Networks Germany, said: “We are grateful to our fans in Germany. Thank you for all your support. We have been in a business relationship with Sky for 20 years and we are glad that will continue.”

Added a Discovery spokesperson: “The deal we reached with Sky is meaningfully better than our former agreement and their proposal. Furthermore, our new arrangement enables us to control our destiny in more ways, with even more opportunities to invest and launch channels and consumer services. Stay tuned in the coming weeks."

Discovery Communications Media Sky

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