Sky reveals Euro arts push

Satcaster Sky has unveiled its first major cross-territory initiative since combining its European operations, and revealed plans to merge channels and increase programme budgets in the UK.

Darroch Jeremy at MipTV

The Sky Arts Production Hub will commission and produce arts shows for Sky customers across Europe and is the first major move since the UK-based company bought out its sister operations in Germany and Italy last year.

Meanwhile, Sky Arts 1 and Sky Arts 2 will be merged to create a single channel, which will launch on June 9 and be handed a 10% increase in its programming budget.

Sky Arts in the UK and Ireland will be relaunched with an on-demand catalogue of more than 1,000 hours of arts programming, while the network will also launch in Germany and Austria, replicating Italy’s Sky Arte, which launched at the end of 2012.

The satcaster is also preparing new events including the Sky Arts Photographer of the Year competition for 2016, which will aim to uncover the continent’s best amateur snapper.

Jeremy Darroch, Sky’s CEO, said the arts push is a result of the recent merger, which “opened up the opportunity to create new and exciting content on a greater scale.”

Darroch added that it “represents a major new commitment” and “underlines our ambition to invest at scale in even more of our own original content.”