BSkyB extends Disney relationship with new movie channel

Pay-TV and broadband group British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) is looking to take advantage of the school holidays at Easter with the launch of its new Sky Movies Disney channel next month.

The company said on Thursday that it has agreed with Disney to launch the new channel in the UK and Ireland on March 28th, which will be home exclusively to newly-released Disney and Disney/Pixar films, as well as a library of older titles.

In its first pay-TV window, Sky Movies Disney will be showing recent hits such as Brave, Tinker Bell: Secret of the Wings and Wreck-It Ralph. While the latter is still on at the cinema, BSkyB said that new movie titles will be available on the channel from around six months after they have finished showing at movie theatres.

BSkyB, which already runs a Disney channel through Sky, said that this is the first time that Disney has been involved in a co-branded linear movie channel.

Meanwhile, the companies have signed an agreement to give Sky Movies the first subscription pay-TV movie rights in the UK and Ireland to other Disney titles.

"The launch of Sky Movies Disney is great news for our customers and builds on the strong relationship that Sky and Disney have enjoyed for more than 20 years," said Sky's Chief Executive Jeremy Darroch.

"We're delighted that an entertainment company of Disney's international stature has chosen to work with Sky on its first co-branded linear movie channel. This is a world-first collaboration that will excite millions of families and further strengthen our market-leading movies service."