On Mon, Jan 26, 2009 at 4:33 PM, Mark J. <[email protected]> wrote: > > As in the U.S., the audience was down from last year's fourth season > premiere. Does C4 still have the terrestrial rights to the series in > the UK?
Nope. Basically, after the first season (for which Channel 4 had this excellent promo made - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgI5t7Tn9Q0) it disappeared from terrestrial screens. That year C4 had lucked into buying both Lost and Desperate Housewives, but they neglected to do a "life of series" deal which meant that when Sky One came calling they could either match the silly money that Sky was offering or bow out. They instead spent their cash on Desperate Housewives which they still show. As a result, Lost is popularly a "DVD boxset show" in the UK. The same is true for 24 which Sky pinched from the BBC after a couple of seasons. Sky promotes these series like mad but the truth is that they wouldn't be big here had they not been seen on a broader scale on a terrestrial channel at least once first. Of course there's a certain amount of downloading, hence Sky One is currently showing 24, Lost and Battlestar Galactica all within a few days of their US airings. The BBC does the same for Heroes - another popularly download show. Damages season two doesn't start until next month however. Adam --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ TV or Not TV .... Smart (TV) People on Ice! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
