BSkyB strikes deal with Universal for exclusive movie rights

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/nov/06/bskyb-deal-universal-movie-rights

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BSkyB has struck a wide-ranging deal with Universal for exclusive rights to movies including The Bourne Legacy and Anna Karenina.

It is the second major agreement BSkyB has made with a "big six" Hollywood studio since being cleared of holding a monopoly of UK pay-TV film rights.

The satellite broadcaster has expanded its existing multi-year deal with NBC Universal, which sells the rights for Universal Pictures in the UK and Ireland, effectively shutting out rivals including Netflix and Amazon's LoveFilm for the next four to five years.

The deal, thought to be longer than its existing three-year agreement, gives BSkyB exclusive first pay-TV rights to new and archive films include Snow White & The Huntsman, The Bourne Legacy, Les Miserables, Jurassic Park, Back to the Future, Gladiator and American Pie.

BSkyB has also sewn up the rights to offer the films on Now TV, the video on demand service it launched in July to take on the newly arrived US rival Netflix and LoveFilm.

Part of Sky's deal, announced on Tuesday, is an extension of its TV carriage agreement to offer NBC Universal channels including Syfy, E! Entertainment and Movies 24.

The deal follows September's renewed agreement with Warner Bros – upped from three years to five years – for the rights to films including The Dark Knight Rises. An addendum to the deal saw Sky snatch the rights to be the only UK broadcaster to show any Harry Potter films for a three-month period over Christmas.

The deals with Universal and Warner Bros effectively mean Sky will have films from the studios for about a year before they are made available to other pay-TV services.

In May, BSkyB scored an important victory over rivals when the Competition Commission decided its deals with the "big six" Hollywood studios – the others are Disney, Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Sony Pictures – were not anti-competitive.

This was a U-turn from the competition regulator's view last August when its provisional decision had been that Sky had a monopoly.

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