A multi-year deal has been agreed that will see Disney+ bundled into Sky television subscriptions in the UK and Ireland, as both media groups step up efforts to win and retain viewers in a fiercely contested market.
Under the terms of the deal, Sky subscribers will have access to the standard Disney+ “with ads” package from March, adding programmes including The Bear and Rivals to the Comcast-owned group’s platform.
Disney+ programmes will be promoted alongside Sky’s own content on the continue watching rail and in recommendations for what to watch, Sky said. Sky customers in the UK and Ireland have had access to Netflix included in their subscription since 2018.
Sky Cinema subscribers will also get access to a new Disney+ Cinema channel, providing “a taste” of the films available on Disney+.
The deal comes after Netflix agreed an $83 billion takeover of Warner Bros’s streaming and studios operations that will give it ownership of HBO, and hits such as Game of Thrones, Succession and The White Lotus, as well as content from Warner Bros Studios and Marvel.
For Sky, a deal with Warner Bros Discovery that gives it the sole right to air HBO shows on its own services in the UK will come to an end next month, when HBO Max is available in Britain. The ad-supported version of HBO Max will then be bundled in for Sky customers at no extra cost but it will lose the element of exclusivity.
Sky has come under pressure from the rise of American streaming giants as well as social media platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, which are stealing audiences from traditional players.
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Sophia Ahmad, chief consumer officer at Sky, insisted that customers “don’t want the complexity of multiple subscriptions, multiple apps and also not being able to see the full range of content that they subscribe to in one experience”.
It is currently in talks with ITV over a £1.6 billion takeover of its television business, which it hopes will create a “UK commercial streaming champion” capable of going head-to-head with Netflix and Disney+, according to sources close to the deal.
“This agreement for us is about growth”, Karl Holmes, general manager of Disney+ in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, said, adding that it would be “complementary and additive” to its existing direct-to-consumer business.
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He said: “Quite categorically, we haven’t entered into this agreement as a result of the actions of a competitor”, in reference to the Netflix deal with Warner Bros.
Disney+ was launched in the UK six years ago and it has become the company’s largest market in Europe.
“Overall we expect this agreement to increase our reach in the UK by around 40 per cent even after accounting for overlap,” Holmes said.