I
t’s about three and a half years since I joined Sky and it remains the most fun, creative and focused place I have ever worked.
We are at a real moment in the company’s history, placing huge emphasis on entertainment content – and especially home-grown shows – as one of the key drivers behind the next chapter in the Sky story. As we’ve said many times, we are going to spend £600m on UK content across all Sky channels by 2014, which is incredible. You’d expect me to say this, but Sky is without doubt the place to work in British television at the moment.
That’s partly because the company is full of smart, driven, kind people, who share the collective responsibility for achieving any goal we set ourselves. And it’s partly because in every decision we make we put the customer front and centre. And of course, unlike with many other broadcasters, people pay for us every month, and there’s nothing like customer choice to focus the mind and hold you to account.
We work hard and work cleverly to make sure those who have Sky – whether on TV, tablet, phone or online – love what we do, and see Sky as a broadcaster that creates great connections between loved ones, delivers world- class TV moments and gives customers complete control over when and where they enjoy their favourite shows.
This goal, which is pretty simple when you think about it, is made easier by the fact that we know how our customers feel because we feel the same way. We all love TV and we get excited by companies that have imagination, passion and strive for excellence in everything they do.
A few years ago, we bought Living so that women would have a channel within the Sky family that was for them. We’ve invested hugely in this ever since, and under its new head, Antonia Hurford-Jones, viewers tell us it is increasingly becoming one of their must-have channels.
Elementary and Chicago Fire have been big hits, and our investment in commissioned comedy and drama will come to air very soon. The first of these shows, Dracula, is Sky Living HD’s first ever co-commission with a US network. From the makers of Downton Abbey, it has the disgracefully talented Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the title role.
We launched Sky Atlantic HD, a channel so loved that just 18 months in a whopping 12% of all new subscribers cite it as the reason they’ve joined Sky. It’s a channel that boasts
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Game of Thrones, Veep, Julia Davis’ Hunderby and Bradley Wiggins: A Year In Yellow among many other great shows and we’re immensely proud of it.
Sky 1 HD goes from strength to strength. This year it won Channel of the Year for the first time in its history, it scooped several British Comedy awards and has once again attracted the biggest talent in the UK, Ireland and the States to its shows. Over the coming years, people will see us scale up our ambitions for Sky 1 HD further still, especially in comedy and drama.
And Sky Arts HD has signed up ridiculously big names, from Jon Hamm and Alison Steadman to Daniel Radcliffe and Idris Elba. With programmes such as Playhouse Presents… and The South Bank Show, shows unlike anything else on British TV, Sky Arts HD is retaining its reputation as the most passionate, maverick and unpredictable channel on the box.
We are at a real moment in Sky’s history, placing huge emphasis on entertainment content
We pride ourselves on being an entertainment team that works only with the best and I hope you get a sense of that from this brochure. At Sky, in the offices, we put a premium on creating and maintaining an amazing working environment. At its simplest, this is about giving people creative respect and creative space. It’s about having conversations that, collectively, pull together our talents to make something exceptional and world class.
But this isn’t a fleeting ambition; we are in it for the long term. This brochure is about what’s coming up across the portfolio but hopefully also hints at our passion, commitment and sense of fun, which we will be bringing even more of to Sky screens soon. I want Sky to be present in people’s lives when powerful moments happen.
I hope you love the shows, because we do. As ever, drop me a line to chat, feed back, gossip and share with us what you think of them, so we can continue to make Sky the best place for the most amazing TV.
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