Prison break is moving to Sky One!

SoSueMe

http://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/broadcastnowarticle.aspx?intStoryID=169291

Sky One has stolen the exclusive UK rights to US drama Prison Break from Five.

The deal with 20th Century Fox International will give Sky One the life of rights for series three of Prison Break and the first two seasons of new US drama Journeyman.

Head of acquisitions for Sky One, Two and Three David Smyth said: "Prison Break originally launched in 2005 and instantly became a global success captivating audiences with its plot twists. The edge of the seat drama is the perfect addition to our must-see slate of US programming."

But a Five spokesperson said: "In the light of Prison Break's declining ratings we didn't feel the asking price for season three represented good value." It is unclear how much Sky has paid for the third and final series of the show.
Prison Break follows the story of Michael Scofield whose brother is wrongly imprisoned for murder.

Scofield, played by heartthrob Wentworth Miller, hatches an elaborate plan to break his brother out of prison.

The first season culminated in a successful breakout while the second season, which concludes next week on Five, followed the escaped prisoners attempts to avoid capture.

Season three is currently in production and creator Paul Scheuring has said that the overall theme will be "redemption".

The first series averaged a 9.2% share for Five while the second series has so far attracted an average share of 8.5%.

The channel has been hotly tipped to pick up Journeyman since the pilot was shown at the LA Screenings last week.

The show is produced, written and directed by the team behind hit US political drama The West Wing, and stars British actor Kevin McKidd as a man who finds himself travelling into the past with a purpose - impacting people's lives for the better - and sometimes the worse.

Smyth said: "The Journeyman pilot was a stand-out pilot at the LA Screenings and we're confident that the series will resonate with Sky One's audience, aided by a knockout performance from British actor Kevin McKidd."

Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution managing director Steve Cornish added: "We are sure that both of these series will fit well with Sky One's schedule and appeal to their core audience. We are looking forward to working with Sky to make Prison Break and Journeyman a success for them."

Sky's most recent high profile steal was Lost from Channel 4. It paid £975,000 per episode for the show, with t he 23-part third series, which ended last week, averaging 1.1 million (7.2%) in its Sunday night slot at 10pm.

SoSueMe

http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/story/0,,2095912,00.html

Sky One has acquired the exclusive rights to the next series of US show Prison Break, which is currently broadcast on Channel Five.
BSkyB's pay-TV entertainment channel is understood to have paid around £500,000 an episode for Prison Break, topping Five, which was paying around £400,000 per episode.

Sky One has also acquired the rights to new US drama Journeyman, which features actor Kevin Kidd - star of Trainspotting, Dog Soldiers and Rome. The network has secured the rights to the first two seasons of Journeyman.

David Smyth, the head of acquisitions for Sky One, Two and Three, described the shows as a "perfect addition" to its US programming schedule.

The third series of Prison Break will air on Sky One from the autumn. Five is set to air the last episode of the second series next week.

A Five spokesman said: "In the light of Prison Break's declining ratings we didn't feel the asking price for season three represented good value."

Prison Break averaged about a 9% audience share in its first series on Five last year and has been running at around 8.5% so far during the second run.

Last night's penultimate episode of series two had 1.2 million viewers and a 7% share.

Prison Break follows the story of Michael Scofield and his attempts to prove his brother Lincoln Burrows' innocence after he is framed and put on death row for murdering the US president.

Last year, Sky One swooped to snatch the third series of Lost from Channel 4 at a reported cost of £1m per episode.

And in 2004, it acquired the rights to air 24 from series three onwards; the BBC had aired the first two series of the Kiefer Sutherland show.

Sky One negotiated the deal to air Prison Break and Journeyman with 20th Century Fox Television Distribution, which is a subsidiary of News Corporation, the largest shareholder in BSkyB.

SoSueMe

http://www.c21media.net/news/detail.asp?area=1&article=36097
Sky clinches Prison Break in Fox double deal

UK satcaster Sky One has snatched exclusive rights to US drama Prison Break from rival terrestrial Five as well as bagging rights to another Fox drama, launched at the LA Screenings last month.

The double deal for both Prison Break and new drama Journeyman, was brokered by David Smyth (left), head of acquisitions at Sky One, Two and Three, and Steve Cornish, senior VP and MD of 20th Century Fox Television Distribution Europe.

The deal for Golden Globe-winner Prison Break includes all UK rights. The deal is a coup for Sky and sees the pay-TV company continue its strategy of poaching US series after their debut terrestrial runs.

The channel will no doubt capitalise on Five's successful marketing campaign for Prison Break, as it did when it last year poached Lost from Channel 4 for an estimated £20m (US$37.5m), the pay-TV giant's most expensive acquisition to date.

A spokesman for Sky confirmed today, however, that the Prison Break pricetag was "nowhere near" that paid for Lost last autumn.

Furthermore, a spokesman for Five played down the loss of one of its best-known US dramas: "In the light of Prison Break's declining ratings we didn't feel the asking price for season three represented good value."

While the first series of Prison Break averaged a 9.2% share for Five, the current series is averaging aroud 8.5%. Last night's penultimate episode attracted 1.2m viewers and a 6.6% share. Meanwhile, the last series of Lost on C4 did 2.8m and 16% share, but the most recent series on Sky One did 0.8m and 5.5% share.

Journeyman, which stars Brit actor Kevin McKidd (Trainspotting, Rome) as a former gambling addict who can travel back in time to rectify mistakes in his life, was last month tipped by C21 to be picked up by Sky. It is produced by 20th Century Fox Television for NBC.

Smyth said: "Prison Break, originally launched in 2005, instantly became a global success, captivating audiences with its plot twists. The edge-of-the-seat drama is the perfect addition to our must-see slate of US programming.

"The Journeyman pilot was a stand-out pilot at the LA Screenings and we're confident that the series will resonate with Sky One's audience, aided by a knock-out performance from British actor Kevin McKidd."

Mossy Monk

Will Prison Break be shown within a week of it's US airing like Lost and 24 I wonder.

SoSueMe

Mossy Monk wrote:

Will Prison Break be shown within a week of it's US airing like Lost and 24 I wonder.

Yes and in HD.

Mossy Monk

Cool.

Killaqueen!!!

Brilliant! Wont have to wait for RTE to get season 3 now! Only just started season 2 now..ridiculous!

qwertplaywert

brillant!wont have to watch in crappy channel 5 blurry quality anymore!
frakking a!


btw:this is the final season?has that been confirmed?

irish_bob

i must say i thought prison break would struggle to maintain itself in series 2 but having seen the 1st eppisode of the new series last night , i think it has perhaps got even better, the fbi detective is intellectually equal to scofield
and he is clearly a central figure in this series

i came across the 1st series by accident right from the start last year and was completely blown away , it is the best tv show on the box right now in my opinion ( well apart from the sopranos but that is in a different league to anything so its unfair to compare great shows to fat tonys family

prison break is amasing

Our man in Havana

Has Channel 5 shown S2 yet?

standbyme

Bond-007 wrote:

Has Channel 5 shown S2 yet?

originally posted by SoSueMe
the second season, which concludes next week on Five, followed the escaped prisoners attempts to avoid capture.

Sky One negotiated the deal to air Prison Break and Journeyman with 20th Century Fox Television Distribution, which is a subsidiary of News Corporation, the largest shareholder in BSkyB.

Wouldnt they have first preferences with their affiliation to each other ?

Originally Posted by Mossy Monk
Will Prison Break be shown within a week of it's US airing like Lost and 24 I wonder.

Yes and in HD.

Thank god for that ! as i hate watchin christmas episodes in March :mad:
eg. ER's episode a week ago.

Thats my little rant over

Mossy Monk

standbyme wrote:

Wouldnt they have first preferences with their affiliation to each other ?

No, that is illegal.

Also Starring LeVar Burton

irish_bob wrote:

i must say i thought prison break would struggle to maintain itself in series 2 but having seen the 1st eppisode of the new series last night , i think it has perhaps got even better, the fbi detective is intellectually equal to scofield
and he is clearly a central figure in this series

i came across the 1st series by accident right from the start last year and was completely blown away , it is the best tv show on the box right now in my opinion ( well apart from the sopranos but that is in a different league to anything so its unfair to compare great shows to fat tonys family

prison break is amasing

Having seen the entire series, I'm pretty sure it's much better than season 1 and has set up for season 3 quite nicely. You'll spend the last few episodes of season 3 asking yourself how the hell can they have another season of this only to have the question answered in the last 30 seconds.

Killaqueen!!!

Wow...a lot of people are saying season 2 is just as good if not better than season 2! Even though it's not based in the prison? For some reason I just love tv/films which are based in prisons.

I'm giving season 2 a chance but I'm gonna judge harshly!

Also Starring LeVar Burton

Killaqueen!!! wrote:

Wow...a lot of people are saying season 2 is just as good if not better than season 2! Even though it's not based in the prison? For some reason I just love tv/films which are based in prisons.

I'm giving season 2 a chance but I'm gonna judge harshly!

Have you seen the second season yet or are you just beginning your journey into the unknown? It really is good, despite the fact it's not based in the prison.

qwertplaywert

its surprising, that its good, its still not a patch on some of the season 1 eps though imo

Piste

So will Season 3 be shown after Season 2 on RTE ends?