Sky Media unveils bold new brand positioning alongside innovations at industry upfronts

Sky Media, the advertising partnerships arm of Sky, brought the media industry together last week at the Tate Modern in London for its Sky Media Connects showcase. Over 350 media agency executives attended the high-energy event, which unveiled Sky Media’s new brand positioning: Connections Mean Everything, alongside a suite of exciting products and partnerships.

Sky Media Managing Director, Brett Aumuller, hosted the event, emphasising Sky Media’s ability to build meaningful connections in four core areas – Customers, Culture, Partners, and Innovation. Highlights included appearances from notable sports figures Micah Richards, Laura Robson, and David Flatman, Sky’s unique customer insights from Sky News’ Sarah-Jane Mee, and a fireside chat between presenter Dan Walker and Paramount Chief Content Officer Ben Frow on the evolution of Channel 5.

The event opened with a compelling performance from award-winning poet Sophia Thakur and went on to feature major announcements including;

• Sky Media IQ and Project Norman – new insight tools using Sky’s industry-leading data and campaign measurement capabilities to deliver smarter, more effective advertising.

• Expanded advertising opportunities in women’s sport, a collaboration with Hearst UK, a new sports marketplace and sponsorship options tied to the new Premier League deal.

• Advances in streaming and programmatic, including the expansion of FAST channels to VIDAA, biddable inventory on The Trade Desk, and the roll-out of voice-activated ads.

Brett Aumuller, Managing Director of Sky Media, commented “Over the last 9 months we’ve been on a journey to build out the ‘Connections Mean Everything’ brand position which captures what we uniquely bring to market. Each word in our brand position is equally important, it’s about creating the right connections with audiences, in a meaningful way for clients and bringing together everything across our ecosystem which to deliver scale, creativity and better outcomes for brands.”

With Sky Media continuing to lead on innovation and creativity, the latest showcase set a bold vision for how advertisers can unlock new opportunities and deliver impactful campaigns. Major announcements were made aligning to each key pillar of the brand positioning:

Connected to Customers

• Sky Media IQ: A sophisticated tool that delivers deduplicated multi-platform outcomes measurement, Sky Media IQ integrates web visit lift, conversion metrics, and other performance indicators into one streamlined dashboard. This allows advertisers to assess the holistic impact of their campaigns across Linear TV, video on demand (VoD), and digital platforms, offering unrivalled transparency and accountability.

• Project Norman: Powered by insights from over 2,000 campaigns spanning 10 years, this AI-driven dataset allows advertisers to benchmark performance, optimise targeting, and strategically allocate media budgets. Norman focuses on metrics like brand lift and sales conversions, empowering advertisers to plan campaigns informed by real-world results.

Connected to Culture

• Premier League sponsorship opportunities: Sky Media invited agencies and brands to access its expanded Premier League coverage, offering exclusive sponsorship opportunities to partner with the UK’s most-watched sports event across Sky Sports and TNT Sports.
• Sports Marketplace: A simplified way for advertisers to access Sky Media’s live sports inventory. Sports Marketplace introduces impression-based packs, available both programmatically and directly, to help brands of all sizes connect with live sports audiences.

Connected to Partners

• Hearst UK partnership: As the market leader in broadcasting women’s sports, Sky Media announced a new partnership with leading publisher, Hearst UK, to enhance the visibility and impact of women’s sport across the UK. Launching in 2025, this collaboration will offer advertisers the opportunity to tap into the rapidly growing women’s sports sector and connect with a new generation of fans. Research reveals that these fans are eager for more non-live sports content and want to see female athletes recognised as icons. This partnership will tap in to sporting moments throughout the year connecting them with audiences’ passions for fashion, beauty, and health, with athletes at the forefront.

Connected to Innovation

• FAST channel expansion: Following a successful rollout across Samsung TV Plus and Sky’s platform, Sky’s suite of FAST channels will be available on VIDAA, expanding its reach across Hisense and Toshiba devices.
• Paramount+ and streamers package: Sky’s new solution aggregates reach across major SVOD platforms, providing seamless access to millions of younger viewers – an audience that increasingly prefers streaming over traditional viewing.

• Biddable inventory with The Trade Desk: Advertisers can now programmatically purchase premium VoD inventory, including live sports, through private marketplace auctions. This ensures greater flexibility and accessibility for brands looking to deliver against performance goals.

• Voice-activated ads: Sky unveiled interactive ads that enable viewers to use voice commands to explore branded content directly from their TV screens. Initial tests showed significant uplifts in ad recall and engagement metrics, reinforcing the potential of voice technology in advertising.

JD Williams teams up with Sky Media and Channel 5 for its new Spring campaign

Gok Wan, Judi Love and Helen Skelton star in bespoke cross-platform campaign celebrating women

JD Williams, a leading platform within N Brown Group plc, the inclusive fashion and homeware digital retail platform, today reveals its brand new campaign in collaboration with Sky Media and Channel 5, in a deal negotiated by the7stars, to target its midlife audience.

The partnership will use both JD Williams and Sky Media’s rich data capabilities to ensure the campaign is reaching the retail platform’s target customer (women aged 45 – 65). This data ecosystem will mean Sky Media can tailor campaign messaging to specific customer groups, maximising the relevance and engagement of the creative.

JD Williams continues to take a stand against the ‘invisibility’ of midlife women, celebrating their relevance, roles and individuality in its new campaign fronted by the stars of Sky Media’s channel portfolio. A series of 10” TV idents, 30” and 60” spots will feature TV personality and comedian, Judi Love (Out of Order, Comedy Central), and Channel 5 presenter Helen Skelton (Springtime on The Farm, Dan and Helen’s Pennine Adventure), being interviewed by fashion guru, Gok Wan. The interview delves into their lives to discuss how their style and fashion confidence has changed in midlife.

From the 15^th March, JD Williams will also be the exclusive sponsor of Channel 5 content that leans into the theme of Inspired Living; including female-fronted shows  such as The Hotel Inspector and Susan Calman’s Great British Cities.

In a creative extension of the TV activity, customers can enjoy longform (10 minute) versions of the interviews on jdwilliams.co.uk. During these, Gok will explore Judi and Helen’s individual style using JD Williams’ fashion, shapewear and beauty products, and giving viewers a peek into their lives and wardrobes​. All aforementioned content has been produced by Sky Media.

Leveraging Sky’s full ecosystem of content platforms (linear TV, BVOD, Shortform VOD and AdSmart from Sky), a QR will be used to direct viewers to jdwilliams.co.uk, allowing JD Williams the ability to measure and target its campaign further, as well as gain a deeper understanding of a customer’s shopping journey. Meanwhile, measured activation across Sky Media’s and Channel 5’s digital and social channels, will reinforce the campaign’s message and give viewers even more content to explore.

Live from the 14^th of March, through to the 9^th of May, the integrated media strategy crafted by the7stars will see the campaign play out across Channel 5 and Sky channels, Global OOH sites, Smooth FM & Heart FM 5, Hearst’s Good Housekeeping and Red Magazines as well as paid and organic social.

Sam Walker, Director of Group Marketing and Creative at N Brown, commented: “JD Williams proudly champions midlife women and we’re excited to be launching a campaign with Judi, Helen and Gok to help women feel confident in dressing for midlife style. We understand our customers better than anyone, so we’ve worked with Sky Media to ensure that our campaign messages are more targeted across Sky’s platforms and to benefit from the wealth of data that we’ll gain through Sky’s ability to engage with their audience. JD Williams is all about making women feel amazing, and we’re confident that our new campaign will resonate with our customers.”

Karin Seymour, Director of Client and Marketing at Sky Media, added: “Our JD Williams partnership is a brilliant example of a modern integrated partnership. Production, access to talent and advanced data sharing means that together with Channel 5 and the7Stars, we can drive JD Williams’ business forward by connecting and engaging their ideal audience.”

Peter Dale, VP, UK Ad Sales & Commercial Development, Paramount said: “This bespoke creative partnership is a brilliant example of how advertisers can align themselves with Channel 5 and our high-profile talent to engage and entertain viewers through distinctive, effective campaigns.”

Zach Al-Moajil Cole at the7stars, added: “This is a great branded-content series with a fabulous talent line-up that both reflects and empowers the audience it serves – magnificent mid-life women. It has been a truly collaborative project and it’s great to see the media strategy evolve into a fully integrated, data-fuelled activation incorporating more assets and channels, to really build on the success from last year.”

The drama continues as Simba’s 2024 sponsorship becomes
Channel 5’s biggest ever deal

Sky Media and Paramount UK have announced that Simba Hybrid will be the official sponsor of drama on Channel 5, plus the broadcaster’s ‘Evening’ programming strand, as well as on demand platform My5 throughout 2024.

The seven figure, one-year partnership represents Channel 5’s biggest ever sponsorship and sees the British sleep tech brand renew its successful 2023 sponsorship campaign.

Across 2024, Simba’s 15, 10 and 5” idents will showcase the brand’s Hybrid Mattress and feature around new and returning original dramas and popular titles including Dalgliesh and The Hardacres, Wife on Strike and Police: Suspect No.1.
Simba first aired as a Channel 5 sponsor in July 2022 for 6 months and doubled its investment in 2023 – sponsoring My5, Dramas on Channel 5 and Evenings on C5 across the year, which helped the brand reach 60% of all ABC1 Adults and 25-54 year olds.

This was driven by the continued success of new Channel 5 dramas such as The Inheritance and The Catch as well as the return of The Madame Blanc Mysteries and much-loved All Creatures Great and Small. Portillo’s Andalucia, Susan Calman’s Grand Day Out and Police Interceptors also drew viewers to Channel 5’s evening schedule of programming.

In October, Simba co-sponsored the broadcaster’s ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup coverage, further extending their relationship with Channel 5 and reaching a broader male audience. The 2024 renewal deal was brokered by media agency, Wake the Bear.
Channel 5 is the only commercial PSB channel to have grown its total share of audience across peak time so far this year.

Jonathan Moore at Simba said “Partnering with Channel 5 has been a game-changer for us in the advertising landscape. Their dynamic approach, coupled with a commitment to excellence and continued audience growth, has provided our brand with unprecedented exposure and success.”

Peter Dale, VP, UK Ad Sales & Commercial Development, Paramount has said “We’re delighted to continue our partnership with Simba into 2024. It’s testament to the strength of being associated with Channel 5’s popular peak time shows and critically acclaimed original drama, which delivers strong audiences on both Channel 5 and My5.”

Karin Seymour, Director of Client and Marketing at Sky Media said: “It’s fantastic to see the partnership between Simba and Channel 5 continue. This is Channel 5’s biggest ever sponsorship deal and shows the faith brands have in using TV to drive ROI and brand fame.”

AMC Networks International UK unveils a fresh and cohesive new look for its UK portfolio of channels and streaming services

• CBS Reality becomes TRUE CRIME
• CBS Catch Up Channels UK becomes WATCH FREE UK
• True Crime from CBS Reality is renamed to TRUE CRIME UK

AMC Networks International UK has announced that it will rebrand its portfolio of UK channels and streaming services owned by the CBS AMC Networks UK Channels Partnership, a joint venture with Paramount Global.

The rebrand will be rolled out on 22 November and provides an exciting opportunity to introduce a clearer look and offering across the joint venture’s channels and services in the UK, while retaining familiar colouring for its dedicated audiences and renaming of the services to better reflect their content offering to attract new viewers. The whole portfolio is now brought together with the signature open box branding.

CBS Reality, which has been the UK’s #1 factual entertainment channel amongst adult women¹ since 2016 and has been airing popular original, expert-led true crime programming, will be renamed to TRUE CRIME, and streaming brand True Crime from CBS Reality will change from to TRUE CRIME UK.

Entertainment channel LEGEND, which features action, sci-fi, adventure and western series and movies, and which was renamed from Horror Channel in 2022, will also go through a brand transformation.

This portfolio of channels reaches viewers in more than 25 million homes throughout the UK via the Sky, Virgin Media, Freesat and Freeview platforms, and on-demand content from both the TRUE CRIME and LEGEND channel brands are available currently on free on-demand player CBS Catch Up Channels UK which will become WATCH FREE UK. WATCH FREE UK is accessible directly via FreeView, Freesat and Youview, and downloadable via IOS, Android, and all major device/manufacturer stores.

Other channels in the portfolio to rebrand include LEGEND XTRA and TRUE CRIME XTRA, and time-shift versions LEGEND XTRA +1 and TRUE CRIME +1.

Sam Rowden, VP, Content Group said, “With such a vast array of content available across so many platforms, we wanted to elevate our UK portfolio to be more easily recognisable and accessible, and to clearly reflect our content offering. This rebrand closely aligns with our aim to provide carefully curated services catering to both existing and new audiences, wherever they choose to watch our programmes.”

The new look was developed with Second Home Studios alongside AMCNI UK’s in-house creative team led by Creative, Marketing and Communications Director Matt Stott, and the updated identity is supported by a marketing campaign including on air and digital media elements.

Current programming highlights on TRUE CRIME include original content such as “Evidence of Evil”, “Murder by the Sea”, “Killers: Caught on Camera”, “Donal Macintyre’s Killer Evidence”, “The Truth About My Murder” and exclusive third-party content including “Medical Detectives”.

Upcoming content on LEGEND includes series “The Six Million Dollar Man”, “Walker Texas Ranger” action movie titles Hard Target, Barb Wire and thriller Sneakers alongside Jet Pilot and Angel and the Bad Man starring John Wayne, from the westerns collection.

1 Based on 0900-2959 daypart, All adults 2022.
Source: BARB/Techedge, audience shares based on whole day viewing, adults.

Electronic Arts scores three-year deal as sponsor of Sky Sports Premier League coverage

EA SPORTS, Lead Partner of the Premier League, to feature prominently across live Sky Sports coverage of top-flight football and the broadcaster’s digital touchpoints as part of sponsorship brokered by mSix&Partners.

Electronic Arts (EA) and Sky Media today announced a sponsorship agreement that sees the video game company sponsor Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage from the start of the 2022/23 season until the end of the 2024/25 season. The three-year, multi-platform deal was brokered between Sky Media and global media network mSix&Partners.

EA SPORTS FIFA – the world’s largest sports video game franchise – will appear right before and after each of the exclusive 128 Premier League matches per season broadcast live on Sky Sports, on non-live Premier League programming on the dedicated Sky Sports Premier League channel including On Demand, and across digital touchpoints including Skysports.com, the Sky Sports App and Sky Sports social channels.

From August 5th 2022, fans tuning in to watch the likes of Jack Grealish, Virgil Van Dijk, Son Heung-min and Kai Havertz will be treated to unique creatives as part of their pre- and post-game viewing experience. EA SPORTS will draw parallels between real-life and game-play footage from the iconic FIFA series which will be echoed across digital in the form of premium display and video campaigns on the Sky Sports website and sponsorship of Premier League content on Sky Sports’ Facebook, Twitter and Instagram social channels.

James Salmon, EA SPORTS FIFA Marketing Director, said:
“This is a momentous sponsorship for EA SPORTS that signifies our long term commitment to delivering authentic experiences for football fans globally. We’re hugely excited to be part of the Premier League experience on Sky Sports with bespoke content that blurs the lines between the virtual and real world of football.”

Brett Aumuller, Managing Director at Sky Media said:
“We’re absolutely thrilled to announce EA SPORTS joining our stellar line-up of sponsors for the Premier League. EA becomes the first official Premier League partner to sponsor our Sky Sports coverage, as well as first to include social media rights. This innovative partnership will come to life across multiple platforms and capture the excitement and scale only the Premier League can deliver.”

Abby Stanworth, Head of Partnerships at mSix&Partners said:
“EA SPORTS and Sky Sports are a perfect match, and we are delighted to have worked with them to bring one of the biggest and most iconic media sponsorships to life. EA is one of the embedded accounts we have at mSix&Partners and this announcement is an exciting example of what close collaboration can achieve. The Premier League is one of the most-watched sports leagues in the world and we can’t wait to see EA SPORTS and Sky Sports deliver truly original, relevant, and engaging content for its fans over the coming years.”

Audi to be the new sponsor of Sky Documentaries

Audi, a leader in premium electric vehicles, announces that the brand will be the new sponsor of Sky Documentaries from July.

The sponsorship, planned and brokered between Omnicom Media Group’s PHD and Sky Media, will see Audi’s electrifying e-tron idents across a range of engaging, immersive and exclusive documentary programming, including the below upcoming titles;

• The Princess (a documentary celebrating the life of Princess Diana on the 25th anniversary of her death)
• One Shot: The Football Factory (a programme focusing on footballers who dream of playing in the Premier League)
• Kingdom of Dreams (a fashion documentary which will showcase the world of fashion across three decades)

The channel is dedicated to world-class documentaries from award-winning film makers that explore a broad range of topics. The Audi sponsorship covers new and exclusive factual releases and an extensive library of documentary content with the campaign planned to go live across multiple platforms.

Tony Moore, Head of Marketing, Audi UK says: “We’re extremely excited about our new partnership with Sky Documentaries, the home for immersive quality content.

The fascinating story-telling relates closely to our own progressive range of Audi e-tron fully-electric models which are redefining the future of premium mobility. We’re looking forward to celebrating these electrifying and innovative moments through this partnership.”

Nicola Dhanjal, Business Director, PHD, said “Working on a brand as prestigious and forward-thinking as Audi is always exciting in media. Sky Documentaries is the perfect, like minded partner who will enable us to deliver a platform where Audi can showcase their innovation and quality via credible premium programming.”

Sarah Jones, Director of Planning at Sky Media, said “The Audi brand is a perfect match for Sky Documentaries’ premium, award winning shows. We’re delighted to build an even stronger relationship with Audi through this long term partnership and really excited to see the impact that it has on Audi’s business.”

All-new Range Rover Sport inspires innovative media collaboration with Sky Media

• Third Generation Range Rover Sport stars in ‘Spillway’, a new powerful brand film hosted by Sky Media
• The 7-minute cliff-hanger will simulcast across Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League today, the first of its kind premier for a brand film with a UK broadcaster
• The large-scale campaign marks unique collaboration partner Sky Media, made possible through the mutual pursuit of innovation, and delivers three media-firsts moments
• New interactive voice-activation and QR shoppable capabilities compliment Land Rover’s digital transformation and its elevated online customer solutions

‘Spillway’ is a dramatic film that charts the new Range Rover Sport’s high-intensity ascent of a 193m dam spillway in Iceland against a torrent of water flowing at 750 tonnes per minute. The creative direction of the film was developed to echo the Luxury SUV’s emotive design, dynamic aesthetic and powerful, muscular proportions.

This powerful content demanded an innovative campaign partner to bring it to the world innovatively and with impact. Sky Media accepted the challenge and created a bespoke ecosystem for the media partnership, starting with a multichannel simulcast, the first of its kind for a brand film premiere with a UK broadcaster.

The film will simulcast across Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Premier League channels tomorrow ahead of the hugely anticipated Spurs v Arsenal game. In addition, a high-impact 30” TVC using Sky Media’s “shoppable” QR capability will promote Spillway during the half-time break, followed by another opportunity to see it immediately after Sky’s football show.

Anthony Bradbury, Marketing Director, Jaguar Land Rover UK said: “The launch of a new model, like the iconic Range Rover Sport is a pivotal moment for Land Rover, so we took this opportunity to take stock and look at its launch campaign with a fresh perspective. We wanted to create a moment that was as powerful and inventive as the new car, one that talks directly to our discerning customers. The brief we set our potential partners was intentionally wide as to not stifle creativity, so it was clear and exciting when Sky Media’s pitch came in and their ambition to set a new benchmark was in perfect synchroneity with ours.’’

The North London derby is expected to attract significant viewing figures on Sky Sports, offering a captive audience and natural synergy to seamlessly showcase the awe-inspiring driving challenge in the third generation Range Rover Sport with Official James Bond stunt driver, Jess Hawkins.

Steve Smith, Executive Director Content, Sky Sports commented: “It’s been fantastic to collaborate with Jaguar Land Rover to bring this epic stunt to Sky Sports customers. W Series driver Jess Hawkins stars in the challenge which will be showcased alongside our coverage of the north London derby on Thursday night.”

‘Spillway’ will be amplified by a tailored media strategy using a wide range of Sky Media’s market-leading capabilities and platforms. 30” and 10” TVCs will be used across linear TV, VoD, social and digital; while a 6” TVC for Sky Go and Short-form VoD will continue to promote the film across Sky platforms throughout May. A voice-activated traffic driver will be used for Sky Glass and Sky Q customers, and interactive QR code TVCs will be used for all other Sky customers; both will harness Sky Media’s AdSmart targeting capabilities to reach the core Range Rover Sport audience through the Experian Autos group.

Wavemaker UK secures Peroni Nastro Azzurro as the inaugural sponsor of Sky Atlantic VOD on NOW

Wavemaker has collaborated with Sky Media to enable Peroni Nastro Azzurro to become the inaugural sponsor of Sky Atlantic Video on Demand (VOD) content on NOW.  The sponsorship campaign will run across the channel’s award-winning drama content and popular programming such as House of the Dragon and Gangs of London S2 for 12 months from 7th February.

This premium sponsorship opportunity will go live with a campaign produced by Trouble Maker that brings Peroni Nastro Azzurro’s unique Italian style proposition to life by simply stating We’re Italian. Of Course We Love a Little Drama. The creative draws on the brand’s proud Italian heritage and shows a group of friends on the Italian coast in what feels like the start of a drama, but leaves the story to the imagination of the audience to create their version of what could happen next.

Paul Hutchison, CEO at Wavemaker, explained: “We believe that this innovative sponsorship on NOW is the perfect opportunity for the much-loved brand to reach an engaged audience of younger, upmarket lager drinkers. And by associating itself with Sky Atlantic’s critically-acclaimed, innovative and genre-defining drama content across VOD on NOW – something that no brand outside of Volvo has ever done – it will positively provoke the beer brand’s quest to be the drink that customers reach for at home. With the help of Sky Media, we’re pleased to bring awareness and drive further growth for yet another brand beloved by generations”.

Sam Rhodes, Marketing Director at Asahi UK, commented: “At Peroni Nastro Azzurro we believe strongly in the spirit of collaboration to bring our unique Italian style proposition to life. With this in mind, we are always looking for new and innovative ways to access premium environments to talk to our audience. That’s why we are so excited to be the first sponsor of Sky Atlantic VOD on NOW. We feel that Sky Atlantic with its world class drama content, and NOW as a destination that creates bright new ways to entertain, is the perfect partner for Peroni Nastro Azzurro. As the number 1 super premium beer in the UK, we know our audience puts time aside to watch their favourite critically-acclaimed shows and Peroni Nastro Azzurro is the perfect accompaniment.”

Sarah Jones, Director of Planning at Sky Media, added: “It’s fantastic to have Peroni Nastro Azzurro onboard as our first solus partner for Sky Atlantic on NOW. It’s a perfect fit for the super premium beer to be aligned with our talked-about premium content.”

Wavemaker Content was responsible for developing the strategic principles, identifying the property and brokering the deal.  The agency that has positive provocation at the heart of its offering will also be managing the project.

Sky makes changes to entertainment portfolio unveiling Sky Showcase and Sky Max

To help customers easily find programmes that they love and to discover new shows, we’re making some changes to our portfolio of TV channels and on demand destinations.

From September, we’re saying goodbye to the Sky One brand and we’ll be replacing it with a new flagship brand Sky Showcase, as well as launching a further new service, Sky Max. The changes include:

• Launching the newly branded Sky Showcase channel, a linear only main event channel that will curate a selection of the top shows from across Sky’s portfolio of entertainment brands. So when you’re not sure what you’re in the mood for, Sky Showcase is the place to go to find something new to watch
• Launching a brand-new destination Sky Max, a linear channel and on demand service, that is the new home for Sky’s blockbuster entertainment, including some of your Sky favourites such as original dramas A Discovery of Witches and COBRA and original comedy entertainment including panel shows like A League of Their Own and the return of Never Mind The Buzzcocks.  Sky Max is where you’ll now find all the addictive blockbuster entertainment you know and love.
• Updating Sky Comedy so it now becomes the home of Sky Original Comedy including shows such as Code 404 and Hitmen Reloaded, that were previously on Sky One, alongside the Best of US comedy such as The Office US, PEN15 and Miracle Workers.  So if you’re after a laugh, Sky Comedy is the place to go.

Sky Showcase will be Sky’s flagship channel, replacing the Sky One brand at 106 on the electronic programme guide, and it will feature a selection of programmes from across Sky’s portfolio of channels – airing content from Sky Witness, Sky Documentaries, Sky Crime, Sky Nature, Sky Arts, Sky Max, Sky Comedy, Sky History, Sky Kids, SyFy and E!. It will also air selected highlights from Sky Cinema and Sky Sports. At launch Sky Showcase will hero all new Sky Original drama Wolfe, documentaries such as Hawking and The Bambers: Murder at the Farm; high profile original nature series such as Shark with Steve Backshall, as well as the best of the US including Young Rock and SWAT.

Sky Max’s launch schedule will include blockbuster entertainment such as the return of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, The Russell Howard Hour and DC Superheroes.

Sky Atlantic will remain the exclusive home of high-concept original dramas such as Landscapers, I Hate Suzie, Gangs of London and Chernobyl, as well as being the home of drama from HBO and Showtime.

The changes will come into effect from 1 September.

Commenting on the channel shake-up, MD of Content Sky UK & ROI, Zai Bennett said:

“In this golden age of television, the sheer volume of incredible programming can be overwhelming. Over the last 12 months we’ve been making it easier for people to find what they want to watch. From September those looking for the very best of Sky will find it at the top of their programme guide on Sky Showcase, while Sky Max will become the new home of blockbuster entertainment joining the host of genre-led channels launched in the past year – so whether you’re in the mood for true crime, a documentary or just a laugh there’s always a channel to suit. And if you’re not sure what to watch Sky Showcase will curate some of the highlights from our line-up so you can find something new to watch.”

The channels will be available to Sky customers at no extra charge. They will also launch on streaming service NOW and on Virgin and BT.

First look of Sky original drama Gangs of London

The new series delves into the underbelly of London’s modern-day criminal underworld

Sky today reveals the first look trailer and images of its new visceral, action-packed thriller, Gangs of London, which takes audiences on an immersive journey into the hidden heart of the capital. Starring a multi-talented ensemble cast featuring Sope Dirisu, Joe Cole, Colm Meaney, Lucian Msamati and Michelle Farley.

This nine-part Sky original drama which is co- production with Cinemax, will launch on Sky Atlantic and TV streaming service NOW TV later this year.

Gangs of London was created by visionary award-winning filmmaker of The Raid film franchise, Gareth Evans and his creative partner Matt Flannery and executive produced by Thomas Benski and Lucas Ochoa for Pulse Films and Jane Featherstone for Sister. This epic saga, with family at its heart is unlike anything seen on TV before, as Gareth’s unique brand of cinematic action explodes on to the small screen for the first time.

Set in the heart of one of the world’s most dynamic and multicultural cities, Gangs of London tells the story of city being torn apart by the turbulent power struggles of the international gangs that control it and the sudden power vacuum that’s created when the head of London’s most powerful crime family is assassinated. For 20 years, Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney) was the most powerful criminal in London. Billions of pounds flowed through his organisation each year. But now he’s dead – and nobody knows who ordered the hit. With rivals everywhere, it’s up to the impulsive Sean Wallace (Joe Cole), with the help of the Dumani family headed by Ed Dumani (Lucian Msamati) to take his father’s place. if the situation wasn’t already dangerous enough, Sean’s assumption of power causes ripples in the world of international crime. Perhaps the one man who might be able to help him and be his ally is Elliot Finch (Sope Dirsu), who up until now, has been one of life’s losers, a lowlife chancer with a mysterious interest in the Wallace family. But as the wind of fate blows, Elliot finds himself transported to the inner workings of the largest criminal organisation in London.

Gangs of London was commissioned in partnership with Cinemax by Zai Bennett, Sky’s Managing Director of Content and Cameron Roach, Sky Studios Director of Drama, with Sky Studios Gabriel Silver as the commissioning editor. The series is produced by Pulse Films in association with Sister. Executive producers include Thomas Benski and Lucas Ochoa for Pulse Films alongside Jane Featherstone for Sister. The series is directed by Gareth Evans, Corin Hardy and Xavier Gens.

Sky has recently committed to more than double its investment in original drama, comedy and documentary through Sky Studios, the commissioning and production arm of Sky. Sky Studios brings to screen unique stories from the very best talent in Europe and is the creative home of Sky’s award-winning and much-loved Sky originals.