British satellite channel Sky One has acquired the rights to the award-winning drama Lost, stealing Channel 4’s biggest hits.
The show, which follows a group of air crash survivors on a desert island, is thought to have cost the channel £20m, reports trade paper Broadcast.
“We’re absolutely thrilled,” said Sky One’s director of programmes, Richard Woolfe, who said the cult drama had been the “envy of every network”.
When Lost premiered on Channel 4 in 2005, it attracted six million viewers. However, audiences for the second series have been lower - averaging around 2.8 million, and dropping as low as 1.9 million.
The series, made by American network ABC, has been a critical and commercial success on both sides of the Atlantic.
The first season won six Emmys awards and the show’s creator, JJ Abrams, was hand-picked by Tom Cruise to direct the Mission: Impossible 3 movie.
Sky One’s deal gives it the rights to the third and fourth series of the programme.
“We want to air the show as close to US transmission as possible, and not have anything like a nine-month delay,” Mr Woolfe told Broadcast’s website.
The broadcaster was not available to confirm the details of its deal with distributor Buena Vista International Television, which is part of the Disney corporation.
So just like the scenario when Sky brought the rights to show hit real-time drama 24 from the BBC, satellite viewers will need to subscribe to the service to continue the adventure of Jack and Kate stuck on a ‘hatch-filled’ island.
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Fried Gold says:
Doesn’t bother me but I’ve got a few friends who might be a bit buggered.
Oct 20, 2006, 12:46 pmwalking leaf says:
I had to switch to Sky when the BBC lost the rights to show the new series of my favourite TV show 24. I’m not surprised that Lost is now on satellite but that will annoy terrestrial viewers who will now miss out.
Oct 20, 2006, 5:12 pmflo says:
That’s ccool to learn even if beeing on continent it doesn’t change anythig for me^^
Oct 20, 2006, 1:22 pmI appreciate Leaf, that you didn’t badmouth my favourite serie ever (since punky brewster, that is ^^) as you usualy can’t help ! ; )^^