Sky has completed a £150m deal for exclusive rights to all HBO’s back catalogue and future programming for the next five years. There’s a certain irony that over the years various Sky One channel controllers have claimed that they’re going to make Sky One the UK’s version of HBO. I’ve pooh-poohed that in the past, but I suppose this is one way that Sky can become HBO – buy everything they make!
Cue lots of howling and anguish as viewers (on Media Guardian at least) who are used to seeing their favourite HBO shows on other channels potentially disappearing from their screens. While there are implications for stations like Channel 4, which has done well from True Blood and Curb Your Enthusiasm, many of those HBO shows air on another Murdoch owned channel in the UK – FX [Update: FX retains the rights to True Blood as well as the very funny Eastbound & Down].
In reality, as some sager Guardian commenters have mentioned, the reality is that Sky has done a deal for a great quantity of quality back catalogue programming for their on-demand service. I’m not sure if another UK broadcaster already had dibs on Treme – the New Orleans set David Simon series that has just finished its first series in the US. There’s no mention of that in the coverage or the Sky press release. So I suspect that another broadcaster has already done the deal in the UK for that [Update: Nope. Sky has got the rights to Treme according to Broadcast (via The Medium Is Not Enough)]. Instead, most of the coverage is about another forthcoming HBO biggie – Boardwalk Empire – which comes from Martin Scorcese and does look good.
The other really interesting show that Sky’s got its hands on is Game of Thrones based on the popular (although unread by me) George RR Martin fantasy novels. That series has a largely British cast and is being shot in Northern Ireland.
In all the shock and distain about the way this deal has been done, and what it means to everyone, it’s worth pointing out that not every single one of your favourite US shows is actually from HBO.
HBO does have:
Treme (the new yet-to-air-in-the-UK series from David “The Wire” Simon)
True Blood
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Boardwalk Empire (the new Scorcese series that’s eagerly awaited)
Eastbound & Down
Bored to Death (has this found a UK home previously)
Entourage
Hung
The Pacific (which Sky showed on a movie channel)
Luck
Game of Thrones (eagerly awaited by fans of novels, and currently shooting in Northern Ireland)
And of course, there’s there full back-catalogue.
But plenty of other notable shows on other premium or semi-premium US channels. They’re commonly misconceived to be “HBO” shows when they’re not. The following lists are in no way comprehensive.
Showtime has:
Californication
Dexter
Nurse Jackie
The Tudors
Weeds
United States of Tara
The L Word
Starz (now run by ex-HBO president Chris Albrecht) has:
Spartacus: Blood and Sand (I did say “notable”, and not “good”)
Pillars of the Earth (not actually commissioned by them though)
Camelot (forthcoming reimagining of Arthurian legend)
Torchwood (co-production with the BBC of course)
AMC has:
Mad Men
Breaking Bad
Rubicon (forthcoming spy series)
The Walking Dead (based on the zombie comics)
The Prisoner (made with ITV)
TNT has:
Leverage
Southland (picked up from NBC and now running on More4)
The Closer
USA Network has:
White Collar
Burn Notice
Covert Affairs (new spy series that’s not at all like Alias, oh no)
Psych
FX has:
Justified (Just finished on Five USA last night and I’ve not seen the last episode yet. It’s a fantastic series)
Rescue Me (also excellent)
Nip/Tuck
Sons of Anarchy
DirecTV has:
Friday Night Lights (in co-production deal with NBC)
Damages (picked up from FX)
And this list doesn’t include the major networks, or channels like SyFy (sic). I wouldn’t claim for a second that every one of these shows is as good as the best of what HBO does. But it’s a good mix, and there are some absolute gems in there. And HBO has nothing to do with them.