Munich, 27 May 2009. On Saturday, 4 July 2009 at 0:00h, the new Sky TV entertainment service will launch on-screen, offering German and Austrian families more choice of quality programming at better value.
The Sky service will launch with a new general entertainment package, Sky Welt. This comprises 20 channels that offer the best of local and international programming, including great entertainment from Sky Krimi, Fox, and TNT Serie. The expanded documentary line-up will include Motorvision TV, Spiegel Geschichte, Discovery Channel, National Geographic Channel and National Geo-graphic Wild. The package also has kids programming for all age groups with the Disney Channel, Playhouse Disney, Jetix and Junior.
The new service will also offer German and Austrian customers the first comprehensive HD service with six channels available at launch: Sky Cinema HD, Disney Cinemagic HD, Sky Sport HD, National Geographic HD, History HD and Discovery HD.
Additionally, Sky will launch with an all-new package for movie lovers, Sky Film, the most comprehensive sports package on German-language TV with Sky Sport and the best Bundesliga coverage with the Sky Fußball Bundesliga package.
Today’s announcement will have no effect on existing subscriber contracts. Nevertheless, all existing customers will have the opportunity to adopt the new services when Sky launches in July.
Mark Williams, CEO of Premiere AG, said: “Sky is all about entertaining, exciting and inspiring our customers with an unrivaled choice of great TV. The launch of the new Sky service on 4 July marks the start of a whole new approach to pay-TV in Germany and Austria. We promise to provide our customers with more quality, more choice and better service at great value. And we commit to continue to innovate and introduce new services – to set a new standard for TV entertainment in our markets.”
Sky Welt – brand new general entertainment package
At the heart of the new service is Sky Welt, a general entertainment package with 20 great channels covering the best of local and international programming.
Sky Welt includes something for every member of the family with two brand new channels, exclusive to the service: Motorvision TV, the first German channel dedicated to cars and motorbikes, and Spiegel Geschichte, offering the best historical programmes from a local perspective. Other documentary channels include The National Geographic Channel, the Discovery Channel and National Geographic Wild.
For kids, there is an expanded choice of channels for all age-groups including the Disney Channel, Junior, Playhouse Disney and Jetix.
In general entertainment, Sky Welt offers the best quality programming including, Fox, Sky Krimi, TNT Serie and SciFi.
Once subscribed to Sky Welt, customers can then select additional premium packages according to their interests: Sky Film, Sky Sport and Sky Fußball Bundesliga along with the most comprehensive selection of HD channels ever launched in Germany.
Sky Welt Extra will be available as the additional bonus package to all sat-ellite customers choosing at least one additional premium package. It will offer a greater variety of quality entertainment channels, further supple-menting the breadth and depth of Sky Welt. New channels will include History and the The Biography channel. These will sit alongside local channels such as Romance TV and Kinowelt TV as well as international brands like Turner Classic Movies, MTV and ESPN America.
Sky HD – the first comprehensive HD offer in Germany and Austria
The new Sky service will offer customers the first comprehensive HD ser-vice in Germany and Austria with six channels available at launch in July.
The sharper images, more vibrant colours and up to four times the picture detail in HD, coupled with Dolby Digital sound, will bring a cinema-like experience into the home.
The Sky Cinema HD channel will offer the best current movies in HD with 25 premieres each month, aired for the first time on German-language television. Disney Cinemagic HD offers the wonderful world of Disney with the latest Disney and Pixar titles including “Wall-E”, “Ratatouille” and “Cars” – all in brilliant HD quality.
Sky Sport HD will offer live HD coverage at every Bundesliga kick-off time, Champions League on every match night, the top 2nd Division Bundesliga match on Monday nights, golf, hockey, Formula 1 and other selected ma-jor sporting events. All games from the FIFA World Cup 2010 will also be broadcast in HD.
Customers can also watch the best documentaries available in HD with Discovery HD, National Geographic HD and History HD.
Sky Film - the must-have package for movie fans
The Sky Film package will offer 10 channels, including eight Sky channels, showing 80 movies a day and 25 blockbuster premieres, aired for the first time on German-language TV. All current movies will be broadcast in 16:9-format, Dolby Digital and a wide selection will also be available with the original language soundtrack. The new channel names will also reflect their content more clearly making it easier for the customer to choose the film that they want at the time that they want it.
The Sky Cinema channel will offer the latest movies broadcast for the first time on German-language TV. Time-shifted channels will ensure that customers have more opportunities to see the films they want to see – Sky Cinema +1 will show the movies shifted by one hour and Sky Cinema +24 will show the movies 24 hours later.
Sky Cinema will show the two strongest movies of the week on weekend prime-time and the movie of the week on Sunday.
The Sky Action channel will provide the strongest adrenalin rush on Ger-man TV with more than 30 action-movies per month.
At the Sky Comedy channel, viewers will always have something to laugh about. Suitable for all ages, it will offer films ranging from funny animation to knee-slapping comedy.
The Sky Emotion channel will present involving, emotional stories that touch the heart and challenge the head 24 hours a day.
The Sky Nostalgie channel will offer the best classics in film history with big stars and never-forgotten names.
The Sky Cinema Hits channel will feature big blockbusters around the clock, before they appear on German and Austrian free-to-air TV.
The MGM Channel will bring Hollywood flair into the living room from one of the world’s largest movie libraries.
The Disney Cinemagic channel is a completely new channel offering the wonderful world of Disney on one channel with the latest Disney and Pixar titles, such as “Wall-E”, Ratatouille” and “Cars”, along with blockbusters and Disney clas-sic animated movies.
Upcoming highlights of the Sky Film package include: “The Dark Knight”, Nim’s Island”, “No Country for Old Men”, “Mamma Mia”, “Horton hears a Who!”, “Kung Fu Panda”, “Iron Man” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”
Nicola Bamford, Senior Vice President of Programming: “The Sky Film package will be a must-have for film lovers, providing movies to match every mood at great value. The new service will offer 25 top movie pre-mieres a month backed by a broad selection of other films across chan-nels that are named and scheduled to make it easier to find the movies you want to watch.”
Sky Sport – the most comprehensive sports package on German-language TV
The Sky Sport package offers an exciting range of sports including international football, Formula 1 and other race series, as well as golf, hockey, tennis, wrestling and extreme sports over two dedicated full-time sports channels with an additional dedicated Austrian sports channel.
All 146 games of the UEFA Champions League will be shown live and in conference mode with 128 being shown exclusively. One game per Champions League matchday will be broadcast in HD quality. Additionally Sky Sport, will cover all 63 games of the DFB Cup live, exclusive and in conference mode. Furthermore, Sky Sport will broadcast top games of other European leagues including the English Premier League as well as other international football.
Besides football, the Sky Sport package has the best content from the world of sports. Fans of Formula 1 will be able to enjoy Europe’s most comprehensive coverage with selectable camera perspectives and no advertising breaks. Further race coverage will include the Indy Racing League, GP2 and the Porsche Supercup.
Golf enthusiasts will benefit from the best golf coverage in Germany and Austrian TV with exclusive live broadcasts of the US PGA Tour, the Euro-pean PGA Tour, the Ryder Cup and all Majors. All top games of the Ger-man ice hockey league (DEL) will be shown live and exclusive on Sky Sport. The channel will also broadcast coverage from Wimbledon and wrestling as well as the world of extreme sports.
The Sky Sport Austria package offers Austrian sports fans exclusive live coverage of the national top leagues. All 378 games of the Austrian foot-ball league will be shown live and in conference mode. Austria’s only live football talkshow, “Talk und Tore”, will feature controversial live discus-sions and behind-the-scenes footage. Additionally, Sky Sport Austria will present all top games of the Austrian ice hockey and basketball leagues.
Sky Fußball Bundesliga – Bundesliga around the clock seven days a week
Sky Fußball Bundesliga is the package for Fußball Bundesliga fans with coverage around the clock, seven days a week, 365 days a year. It offers all Bundesliga and 2nd division Bundesliga games in Germany and Austria live, in conference mode and guaranteed until 2013.
From the new season, football coverage on Sky Fußball Bundesliga will increase significantly the choice and value for customers. Sky Sport HD coverage is guaranteed at six kick-off times, all five kick-offs from the first Bundesliga and the Monday game from the 2nd Bundesliga. The service will provide the viewers with greater convenience by providing more oppor-tunities to view pre- and postgame coverage, as well as re-runs of games and summaries. The new “Match of the Week” will become the highlight on Saturday evenings and will be shown live on Sky Fußball Bundesliga at 6.30pm.
On every weekend, the football coverage on Sky Fußball Bundesliga will bring more than 20 hours live action from Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga to German and Austrian customers. Franz Beckenbauer will lead the talent line up of first class experts, hosts and commentators and will be exclusively with Sky Fußball Bundesliga.
Carsten Schmidt, Chief Sports Officer, said: “We will provide a new di-mension of choice and live action for sports fans in Germany and Austria. Sky will bring more than 1,000 live matches to the fans of the game of football per year and the most comprehensive HD offer on the market. And, as the Official Partner of Bundesliga, we are closer to the Bundesliga action than anyone else. The new scheduling flexibility will guarantee maximum excitement and choice for all Bundesliga fans subscribing to our Sky Fußball Bundesliga package.”
Sky packaging and pricing
Sky Welt will be offered at €16.90 per month. Customers will be able to add Sky Film, Sky Sport and Sky Fußball Bundesliga packages to their subscription according to the following price scheme:
Sky Welt
16,90 EUR/month + 10 EUR HD
Sky Welt + Sky Film
32,90 EUR/month + 10 EUR HD
Sky Welt + Sky Sport
32,90 EUR/month + 10 EUR HD
Sky Welt + Sky Fußball Bundesliga
32,90 EUR/month + 10 EUR HD
Sky Welt + Sky Film + Sky Sport
44,90 EUR/month + 5 EUR HD
Sky Welt + Sky Film + Sky Fußball Bundesliga
44,90 EUR/month + 5 EUR HD
Sky Welt + Sky Sport + Sky Fußball Bundesliga
44,90 EUR/month + 5 EUR HD
Sky Welt + Sky Film + Sky Sport + Sky Fußball Bundesliga
54,90 EUR/month + 5 EUR HD
The subscription to certain HD channels requires a subscription to the cor-responding standard definition package: Sky Cinema HD and Disney Cinemagic HD will be available to customers with the Sky Film package; and Sky Sport HD will be available to customers with either the Sky Sport or the Sky Fußball Bundesliga packages.
Initially, cable customers will only be able to view the number of HD chan-nels supported by existing cable capacity on their respective networks. Typically this will be two channels: Discovery HD and Sky Sport HD.
Sky Welt Extra will be available as the additional bonus package to all satellite customers choosing at least one additional premium package.
Contact for press:
Torsten Fricke
Vice President Corporate Communications
Tel.: +49 89/99 58-63 50
torsten.fricke@premiere.de
Contact for investors and analysts:
Christine Scheil
Vice President Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 89/99 58-10 10
christine.scheil@premiere.de
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