ITV

Tag: Gary Davey

  • Sky Studios CEO Gary Davey to step down by next summer

    Sky Studios CEO Gary Davey to step down by next summer

    MUMBAI: Sky Studios, the production arm of Comcast-owned European pay TV giant Sky, has confirmed that its chief executive officer Gary Davey would step down next year.

    In the meantime, he will continue to lead the team until a new CEO is appointed and leave the company next summer.

    "I wanted to let you know that I have decided to step down as CEO of Sky Studios in 2021. When we launched Sky Studios last June, I could not have dreamed where we would be right now. And I don’t just mean Covid2019. In 18 short months, we have created a strong, creative organisation that has broken the mould of how studio businesses work in Europe,” said Gary Davey.

    He added: "We have produced ambitious, original series that are loved by our customers and viewers around the world. The fact that nine of the top 10 shows viewed on Sky in the UK this year are Sky Originals, speaks for itself. At the same time, this year we have delivered 29 series to 15 US networks and platforms."

    Davey further mentioned, "not every show has been a ratings hit, but looking back, I have no regrets for any of our green-lights."

    In his note, he also revealed that "next year Sky Studios will become profitable," noting that "the year after we will open the doors to Sky Studios Elstree, a huge, long-term investment in Sky’s original content ambition, enabling us to truly fulfil our potential as we look to more than double our investment by 2024."

    Sky group CEO Jeremy Darroch in an internal note praised Davey for his distinguished career. Said he: "He has uniquely worked across all of our markets, having led the successful launch of Sky Italia’s terrestrial TV network, cielo, in 2009 before joining Sky Deutschland as executive VP, programming in 2011. Gary returned to Sky UK in 2015 as managing director of content, transforming our push into bold, original programming, and in 2019 took on a new challenge as CEO of Sky Studios."

  • Warner Bros and Sky Deutschland extend movie rights contract

    Warner Bros and Sky Deutschland extend movie rights contract

    BENGALURU:  Sky Deutschland and Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD) announced that they have agreed to an early extension of their cooperation for several more years. The long-term contract between Sky and Germany’s top film distributor includes on demand rights for all current new movies during the pay-TV window as well as exclusive pay-TV rights to all Warner movies across several platforms. Film fans will be able to continue enjoying exclusive access to the most recent cinema blockbusters from Warner as television premieres on Sky. Upcoming highlights include films such as “Interstellar”, “Horrible Bosses 2”, “Magic in the Moonlight”, “Mad Max: Fury Road” , and “Der Nanny” from Matthias Schweighöfer.

     

    Content will also be available whenever and wherever subscribers want it via non-linear services Sky Go and Sky Anytime. In addition to current first broadcasting rights, Sky is acquiring exclusive pay-TV rights to a comprehensive package of high quality library films including rights for Sky Go and Sky Anytime.

     

    Sky Deutschland executive vice president, programming Gary Davey said, “Warner Bros. has been one of Sky’s closest and strongest partners for years. And now we’re pleased to announce a multi-year extension. We would like to thank Warner for its trust and look forward to continuing this successful cooperation. In the future, film fans will be able to keep on enjoying the wide-ranging movie offering that is only available on Sky.”

     

    “We are incredibly pleased to be continuing our long-standing relationship with Sky Deutschland,” said WBITD president Jeffrey R. Schlesinger. “As our television business continues to evolve and consumer behaviours shift to include more options for viewing our content, it is important to have a smart, sophisticated and marketing-savvy partner like Sky in Germany and Austria to showcase our films in the first pay TV window. “

     

    Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox is in the process of selling its majority stake in Sky Deutschland to UK based BskyB which is also taking full control of Fox’s Sky Italia and will combine the three pay-TV groups to form Europe’s largest pay-TV service with 20 million subscribers.

  • MIPCOM 2014: What do buyers want in 4K?

    MIPCOM 2014: What do buyers want in 4K?

    MUMBAI: 4K is on everyone’s mind. Even when Indian direct to home (DTH) players, Videocon d2h and Tata Sky launched their 4K set top boxes (STBs), everyone questioned if there was enough content available in 4K. The same was discussed even at the just concluded MIPCOM 2014 at Cannes in the session ‘What do buyers want in 4K?’

     

    The session which saw Sky Deutschland EVP programming Gary Davey, France Télévisions director of future media Eric Scherer, Atlantic Productions director of operations Ruth Sessions and Red Bull Media House head of commercial distribution Bernhard Hafenscher speaking on the issue which was moderated by journalist & industry consultant Chris Forrester.

     

    Talking about the general prospect for 4K in the world, Davey said that a platform like Sky Deutschland is excited about the sea change that content is set to witness. “We will be very active on 4K. While we haven’t decided a launch date as yet, we are committed to it,” said Davey.

     

    What is interesting is that the take-up for 4K has outperformed even high definition (HD). So, is it the broadcasting push, the industry push or the consumer pull? Said Davey, “According to me, people just love the idea of big screen viewing with higher resolution.”

     

    For Sessions, content creators today are telling stories for multiple platforms and so a lot of them are filming it in 4K. Atlantic Productions has been filming in 4K for the past four years. “We have always been hungry for resolution and I believe in future proofing. So for the right projects, where we thought that stories that we are saying today will be relevant for the next 10-15 years, we film in 4K,” said Sessions adding that stories benefit when told in 4K.

     

    Television today has the risk of being over passed by new barbarians-Netflix and by millennial kids. “France TV too, have decided to test with 4K,” added Scherer.

     

    During the discussion, one thing which came out clearly was that it is sports and sports events which will be most important in 4K. “People can become a part of the sport, when they watch it in 4K. Once the market grows, we will have a lot of content in 4K,” said Hafenscher.

     

    The other content created in 4K will include high end documentary movies and arts content. “You have to pick the projects for 4K. It needs to mean something and add value,” informed Davey.

    In 3D and 4K quality, there is a lot of information in every shot. “There is so much going on in the image, because of the depth,” said Sessions.

     

    While content creators are excited about filming in 4K, the extremely high production cost is what keeps them on their toes. “The cost depends on the category of the content. It is expensive, but not multiple of costs. The cost increases also because of multiple use of cameras,” informed Scherer.

     

    So will 4K percolate to broadcasters? “It will take a little longer than people expect. For a long time, we will be cherry picking the content in 4K. In fact all the promise that ultra HD had made has not been realised as yet,” informed Davey.

     

    According to the panel, in the next five years, the world could see two-three 4K channels, which would start as special events and then move to a full-fledged channel.