SBS buys exclusive rights to MGM titles

Dutch free-to-air network SBS Broadcasting has closed a package deal with LA-based MGM Studios, giving it the rights to the exclusive television premieres of several blockbuster movie titles.

The contract allows SBS, the Dutch arm of ProSiebenSat.1 Media, the second-largest broadcasting group in Europe, to air titles including the latest James Bond film, Quantum of Solace. Also in the bag are Tom Cruise’s recent vehicle Valkyrie and the final instalment in the Rocky franchise, Rocky Balboa, starring Sylvester Stallone.

SBS has also bought the rights to a selection of MGM’s older feature films, including the whole James Bond franchise, The Usual Suspects and Four Weddings and a Funeral. A range of television series including animated show Spaceballs, featuring the voices of Mel Brooks and Joan Rivers, are included in the deal.

The MGM content will be shown on SBS’s three TV channels: Net5, SBS6 and Veronica.

Rozan Hamaker, head of acquisitions for SBS Broadcasting, said she was pleased to be able to keep broadcasting MGM titles. “Since the launch of SBS in the Netherlands, we’ve been broadcasting the James Bond movies and we are now able to continue this tradition with the newest edition: Quantum of Solace,” she said.