Twenty-Five years making its debut in the UK through a joint venture between A+E Networks UK and Sky, HISTORY is changing its name to Sky HISTORY as part of what the two broadcasters are calling a “strengthening of their partnership.
The co-branding will begin in the Spring, no date has been confirmed but the new Sky Documentaries channel is slated to launch on April 7th, according to Sky Media.
During 2019 HISTORY has seen its UK audience share grow by 11%, following continuing success for long-running franchises like Curse of Oak Island and new hit series such as UnXplained with William Shatner. There has also been greater investment in local commissions, including innovative talent-led UK programming; Damian Lewis: Spy Wars and James Nesbitt: Disasters That Changed Britain.
“We are delighted to be deepening our partnership with Sky,” said Dean Possenniskie, Managing Director of A+E Networks® UK. “It is exciting to be taking the HISTORY brand to a new level in the U.K. with greater commissioning investment and broader reach. Our joint venture with Sky has been a long-standing success—this innovative brand partnership further strengthens its future.”
The channel will be available on linear TV and on demand in the UK and Ireland and will also be available on streaming service NOW TV for the first time.
Zai Bennett, Managing Director of Content at Sky, said: “The launch of Sky HISTORY will build on our existing channel portfolio and complement new channel brands Sky Documentaries and Sky Nature, which will also be coming in Spring 2020.”
A+E Networks suite of channels also includes Sky HISTORY2 (the former HISTORY2), Lifetime and BLAZE.
All channels will continue to broadcast on Sky, Virgin Media, BT and TalkTalk and be managed and operated by the A+E Networks UK team from their Hammersmith offices.
