Sky Atlantic HD will exclusively house HBO’s new slate as well as HBO Originals.
Sky today announced plans to launch Sky Atlantic HD, a new entertainment channel, in early 2011. Sky Atlantic will provide an exclusive home to some of the most hotly anticipated shows in television to customers throughout the UK and Ireland.
Following Sky and HBO’s multi-year output deal announced in July, Sky Atlantic HD will air all of HBO’s new series exclusively in the UK and Ireland including the already critically acclaimed Boardwalk Empire. The Prohibition-era drama from acclaimed director and Oscar® winner Martin Scorsese and The Sopranos’ Emmy® Award winning writer Terence Winter features an all-star cast including Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt and Kelly Macdonald. Boardwalk Empire made its US debut on HBO on September 19, 2010 and a UK and Ireland premiere is scheduled for February 2011. The series has already been green lit for a second season after scoring HBO’s best premiere audience for over six years.
Other upcoming HBO productions to be broadcast by Sky Atlantic HD include the fantasy drama Game of Thrones, based on the series of books A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin, Luck, executive produced by David Milch and Michael Mann and starring two time Oscar® winner Dustin Hoffman, Mildred Pierce starring Oscar® winner Kate Winslet and the new series from David Simon (The Wire), the New Orleans set Treme, which chronicles the rebuilding of the city following the historic devastation at the hands of Hurricane Katrina. In addition, future seasons of existing HBO shows – such as Entourage and Big Love – will be broadcast exclusively on Sky Atlantic in the UK and Ireland. Furthermore, some of the most critically lauded series of recent times including The Sopranos, The Wire, Six Feet Under and Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ The Pacific will also air on the channel. The content will also be offered to Sky customers via Sky’s on-demand platforms, including the soon-to-launch Sky Anytime+ service.
Upcoming premieres on Sky Atlantic HD will include Boardwalk Empire (February), Mildred Pierce, Game of Thrones and Treme (all 2011).
Sophie Turner Laing, Sky’s Managing Director, Entertainment, News & Broadcast Operations said: “Sky Atlantic HD will be an extraordinary TV channel. It will have compulsive television that pushes creative boundaries and tells great stories.
“The addition of Sky Atlantic completes a fantastic portfolio of entertainment channels including Sky 1 HD, Sky Arts, Living and Sky Movies. Together, our channels will bring customers high-quality programming that is worth paying for.”

Sky Atlantic forms part of Sky’s Variety Pack of basic channels.

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