Sky in talks to bring hit US series ‘Saturday Night Live’ to the UK

Digest opened free editor

Rola Khaleda, FT editor, chooses her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.

British version of the American comedy show Saturday night Live It is scheduled to be made in the United Kingdom for the first time under plans to work between the announcer Sky and American Media Group NBC.

Many people close to talks, which recently celebrated the 50th anniversary in the United States.

The broadcaster confirmed on Thursday the plans, saying that SNL UK will follow the same fast living style that made the exhibition a cultural phenomenon with creative hosts, music guests and a basic group of the funniest British comedians around it.

Sky is looking for more UK’s internal visits to help compensate for the effect of the end of its exclusive deal to show HBO programming, the Warner Bros network owned by Discovery, which ends next year.

Sky agreed on new deals to show the HBO series like succession and White Lotus In the UK via Warner’s broadcast service, which will be included in a subscription in the sky without any additional cost. However, these offers will now be presented directly to consumers on Max and commercial conditions for competing platforms.

British version of Saturday night LiveCreated by TV producer Lauren Michaels in 1975, rumors for many years, but it was absolutely not agreed. In the 1980s, it is called a series Saturday It was broadcast on Channel 4, then on ITV in the nineties. While it was loosely designed at the United States Gallery – helping to build Ben Elton, Harry Infield, Rick Maayel, Stephen Fry and Hyu Lori – there was no official contact.

Executive officials in the media view the UK as a natural epidemic Saturday night Live Given that it contains a firm market for local comic shows and reserve comedy.

Michaels Creator Snl is scheduled to be an executive producer of the Saturday Night Live UK company, as well as continuing SNL executive production on NBC in the United States.

The agreement is the latest sign of a growing relationship between Sky and Media Comcast, which is also the NBC media group, which broadcasts the show in the United States.

Comcast acquired Sky in 2018 for about 30 billion pounds, but she faced questions during the deal in the years that followed, as the UK broadcaster was closed in a battle for viewers with Netflix and other American broadcasting services. It took COMCAST $ 8.6 billion on Sky in 2022, which blamed the “difficult economic environment” in Europe.

However, Sky is closely working to assign and produce offers with COMCAST studios.

Last year, the UK broadcaster commissioned and joint production the The day of Ibn AwiThe British TV series for spying on the basis of Frederick Forseth’s novel, with NBCUNIVERSAL broadcasting service, PEACOCK. The launch of the original drama has become the most viewed for both broadcasters.

Sky and Peacock also collaborated on Lockerbie: Search for Truth Universal Pictures also owns COMCAST rights evilA musician converted into a film filmed at Sky’s Studios in Elstree.

Outside of broadcasts, Sky and ComCast cooperate in developing the technology used in smart TV devices.