Greece’s Nova grabs HBO’s Deuce

The Deuce stars James Franco

Greek pay TV operator Nova has secured the rights to air HBO’s forthcoming drama The Deuce and will air each episode simultaneously with its US premiere.

Created by George Pelecanos and The Wire creator David Simon, The Deuce tells the story of the legalisation and ensuing rise of the adult film industry in New York during the 1970s and 1980s.

Hollywood actors James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal star alongside Lawrence Gilliard Jr, Margarita Levieva and Emily Meade. The show’s title is derived from the nickname for Manhattan’s 42nd Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue.

The Greek pay TV provider has scheduled the show on its series-only NovaCinema4HD channel, where The Deuce will air in exclusive first TV broadcast.

Launching on Septermber 10, each episode of the eight-part series will appear twice in the schedule: first simultaneously with the US broadcast on Sundays at 04.00 local time, and the next day in the channel’s Monday primetime slot at 22.00. Episodes will then also be available from Nova’s VoD and mobile services, Nova On Demand and Nova GO respectively.

Greek pay TV platforms are among the country’s most important buyers of foreign fiction series and movies, often competing for first TV broadcasts and the latest foreign shows.

Nova has a long-standing deal with HBO for Game of Thrones and previously hosted a weekly chatshow discussing developments in the series. This summer, for the first time in Greece, Nova secured the six first seasons of Game of Thrones as a complete box set for its subscribers, available through Nova On Demand and Nova GO for a period of two months.