Sky Atlantic

Background

Launch

It was announced on 25 October 2010 that Sky Atlantic would launch on Sky channel 108, which was previously occupied by Sky 3. Sky Atlantic launched on 1 February 2011 on Sky in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

At launch, Stuart Murphy was the director of programmes for Sky One, Sky Two, Pick and Sky Atlantic. On 5 May 2011, Elaine Pyke, the head of drama at Sky, was promoted to director of Sky Atlantic, reporting to Murphy. Programmes on the channel are also offered to Sky customers via on-demand channels including the On Demand and Sky Go services and Now. Both BT TV and Virgin Media had held talks with Sky over the new channel but have been unable to agree a carriage deal, in Virgin's case due to pricing.

Additional channels

A one-hour timeshift of Sky Atlantic started broadcasting on 20 September 2012 on channel 173 as Sky Atlantic +1. It moved to channel 170 on 9 June 2015 as part of a reshuffle which also included the closure of Sky 3D, Sky Livingit becoming Real Lives and Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts 2 merging to become simply Sky Arts. It moved to channel 217 on 18 July 2017 as part of the Sky Sports reshuffle which included Sky Sports Mix moving to entertainment, and again to 208 on 1 May 2018 as part of Sky's major EPG reshuffle due to Sky Atlantic being channel 108.

Sky Atlantic was available in both standard definition and high definition, the latter on Sky Atlantic HD. Sky Atlantic also utilises the HD swap bouquet system developed by Sky, which switches SD channels with HD channels for HD Pack subscribers, meaning Sky Atlantic HD is on channel 108 and the standard definition version appears on channel 808.

Sky Atlantic VIP was a rewards channel for subscribers of Sky TV who had been with Sky for two or more years and for subscribers who had the Sky Original Bundle (later Sky Entertainment pack, then Sky Signature pack). The HD version also required the HD pack in the UK and the Sky Box Sets pack in Ireland. The channel only broadcast brand new episodes of a popular show a week or so before being shown on the main Sky Atlantic channel. An example of this is when episodes of Riviera were shown first on Sky Atlantic VIP, then a week or so later on Sky Atlantic. Sky Atlantic VIP was under Sky VIP's "See-It-First" offer. Sky VIP is a rewards programme for long-term Sky subscribers. When the channel was not broadcasting a brand new episode of a programme, the channel was off-air resulting in the channel being on-air only for a few hours per week. The channel only broadcast adverts for programmes on Sky channels. The SD version was on Sky channel 994 with the HD version on channel 995. The channel closed on 12 June 2019.

In January 2024, select programming begun being simulcast on Sky Showcase.

Acquisitions

Sky Atlantic relies heavily on screenings of US television programmes, with more than 50% of all programming coming from HBO. Although the channel mainly screens dramas, blocks in the channel's schedule were dedicated to comedies and movies. The launch of Sky Atlantic in 2011 followed the broadcaster's £150m, five-year deal to buy exclusive UK and Ireland television rights to HBO's entire archive, new HBO programming and a first-look deal on all co-productions. Although it has been renewed since, the exclusivity deal with HBO is set to expire in March 2026 with the launch of the HBO Max streaming service in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy. In December 2024, the existing deal between Sky and Warner Bros. Discovery was updated to include life-of-series rights to select HBO programming released before the end of 2025, including House of the Dragon, The Last of Us, The White Lotus, Euphoria, and Dune: Prophecy. All future HBO original programming, like Harry Potter, would be released exclusively on HBO Max. Sky still planned to make new acquisitions via separate agreements on a programme-by-programme basis, while new series in existing franchises would continue to be released on Sky.

In January 2016, Sky expanded the acquired programming on Atlantic after purchasing the broadcast rights to Showtime programming; however, Sky Atlantic did not broadcast all Showtime programmes, as some series would later air on Channel 4 as part of a separate deal. The deal with Showtime expired in December 2021, with all future series becoming exclusive to the Paramount+ streaming service which launched in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy in 2022, while a separate agreement allowed Billions to continue on Sky.

Current programming

Drama

Comedy

Co-productions

Acquired programming

• Dune: Prophecy
• Euphoria
• The Gilded Age
• Heated Rivalry
• House of the Dragon
• It: Welcome to Derry
• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
• The Last of Us
• Task
• True Detective
• The White Lotus

Upcoming programming

Drama

Comedy

--

Co-productions

Former programming

Drama

Comedy

Unscripted

Co-productions

Acquired programming

HBO programming

• Angels In America
• Ballers
• Band Of Brothers
• Banshee
• Barry (series 1–2)
• Big Little Lies
• Big Love
• Boardwalk Empire
• Bored to Death
• The Brink
• Camping
• Carnivàle
• The Comeback (series 1–2)
• Crashing
• Curb Your Enthusiasm (series 1–9)
• The Deuce
• Divorce
• Enlightened
• Entourage
• Funny or Die Presents
• Game of Thrones
• Girls
• Hello Ladies
• Here and Now
• High Maintenance
• How to Make It in America
• The Idol
• I Know This Much Is True
• Insecure (series 1–3)
• In Treatment
• Irma Vep
• John Adams
• Julia
• The Knick
• Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (series 1–6)
• The Leftovers
• Looking
• Lovecraft Country
• Luck
• Mare of Easttown
• Mildred Pierce
• Mosaic
• Mrs. Fletcher
• My Brilliant Friend
• The Nevers (series 1A)
• The Newsroom
• The Night Of
• Olive Kitteridge
• The Outsider
• The Pacific
• The Penguin
• Perry Mason
• The Plot Against America
• Quarry
• Raised By Wolves
• Real Time with Bill Maher (series 12–17)
• The Regime
• Room 104 (series 1)
• Scenes from a Marriage
• Sex and the City
• Sharp Objects
• Show Me a Hero
• Silicon Valley
• Six Feet Under
• The Sopranos
• The Staircase
• Succession
• The Sympathizer
• Tell Me You Love Me
• The Time Traveler's Wife
• Togetherness
• Trackers
• Treme
• True Blood
• The Undoing
• Veep
• Vice Principals
• Vinyl
• Watchmen
• We Own This City
• Westworld
• White House Plumbers
• Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty
• The Wire

Showtime programming

• The Affair
• American Rust (series 1)
• Billions
• The Borgias
• Black Monday (series 1–2)
• Brotherhood
• Californication
• City on a Hill (series 1–2)
• The Comey Rule
• Dexter
• Dexter: New Blood
• Dice
• Escape at Dannemora
• The Good Lord Bird
• Happyish
• House of Lies
• I'm Dying Up Here
• Kidding
• The Loudest Voice
• The L Word: Generation Q (series 1–2)
• Nurse Jackie
• Penny Dreadful: City of Angels
• Ray Donovan
• SMILF
• Twin Peaks: The Return
• Weeds
• White Famous
• Yellowjackets (series 1)
• Your Honor (series 1)

Miscellaneous

• All Her Fault
• Awake
• Blue Bloods (series 1–8)
• Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond
• The Following
• Friday Night Lights
• Homicide: Life on the Street
• Mad Men
• Penelope
• Smash

Most watched programmes

The following is a list of the ten most watched programmes on Sky Atlantic (all of them being episodes of Game of Thrones), based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB up to 20 May 2019. The number of viewers does not include repeats or Irish ratings. Additionally, all of these episodes were the most viewed programme of the week on non-terrestrial television in the UK. Game of Thrones is Sky's most popular show.

Notes

References

References

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