BSkyB has bought the independent international distribution and multimedia rights management company Parthenon Media Group in order for BSkyB to aggressive start marketing and selling the international rights to its original British content.
With heavy investment in local production for several of the Sky TV channels, BSkyB has been mulling either the creation of its own distribution arm or the acquisition of an existing one. It chose the latter.
BSkyB wants to increase its investment in local and original content, and can do so if its revenue from selling this new content wider, increases. Productions on TV channels such as Sky Living and Sky Arts are just two of the several TV channels in the Sky stable which has seen significant investment in production content, and has shows and content which could easily be shown in South Africa if sold to broadcasters here.
"As we continue to increase investment in UK production, this is a natural step in the evolution of Sky's content business," says Sophie Turner Laing, Sky's managing director for entertainment, news and broadcast operations in a statement announcing the acquisition of Parthenon Media Group.
"We are producing world class television - innovative, creatively ambitious and, in many cases, on an epic scale. It's only right that we match this with world class aspirations for how we rake this content to as wide an international audience as possible," says Sophie Turner Laing.
