Sky, Viacom Agree to Extend Partnership in UK, Ireland

Sky

and Viacom International Media Networks

have agreed to extend their commercial partnership in the UK and Ireland for a further five years. The arrangement ensures Viacom's popular pay TV channels – including Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and VH1 – will continue to be available in all Sky homes. The two companies will also extend their advertising sales relationship to include Channel 5 and its associated channels. Channel 5's suite of channels — Channel 5, 5 USA and 5* — will be added to the portfolio of 17 Viacom channels already sold by Sky Media, Sky's advertising sales division, from June. Channel 5's sponsorship, digital and on-demand sales will also be sold by Sky Media as part of the arrangement. Viacom is wholesaling its commercial impacts to Sky Media, who will now be the sole re-seller of all Viacom's advertising inventory in the UK and Ireland. David Lynn, President, VIMN UK, Australia and Eastern Europe, commented: "Sky is a highly-valued partner for Viacom and we're delighted to extend our relationship for the benefit of our viewers and advertisers. We're convinced Viacom's interests are best served by a single point of advertising sales in the UK and Ireland and that Sky Media, with its strong track record of selling our pay TV channels and its innovative approach to improving the targeting and effectiveness of TV advertising, is best placed to provide it." Andrew Griffith, Chief Financial Officer and MD, Commercial Businesses, Sky, added: "The extension of our partnership with Viacom is great news for Sky customers as well as advertisers. The addition of Channel 5 will further strengthen Sky Media's extensive channel portfolio. Advertisers will now have access to an even broader range of opportunities to reach customers using Sky Media's creativity and innovation." Sky Media represents all of Sky's channels and websites across sports, news entertainment and movies, as well as a further 26 broadcasters including Viacom, Discovery Communications, National Geographic, FOX and NBC Universal. Sky Media's portfolio of channels reaches almost 50 million people in the UK every week on average.