Sky Hands Over Music Channels But Keeps Advertising Sales
BSkyB has agreed to hand control of its beleagured music channels, Flaunt, Scuzz and The Amp, to rival Chart Show Channels following a wide-ranging review of their performance.
The deal will see CSC take charge of the day-to-day running of Flaunt, The Amp and Scuzz, but BSkyB will retain control of advertising sales for the channels and will acquire the sales rights to CSC-owned Chart Show TV, The Vault and B4.
As a result of the agreement, BSkyB’s in house music department, Sky Music, will now be closed and its 13 staff members made redundant. However, the satellite giant claims it will attempt to re-house them elsewhere within the company.
The move follows a comment by Sky Networks managing director, Dawn Airey, at this year’s Edinburgh International Television Festival. Airey categorically denied accusations that the stations would be closed, and while this remains true, some may see the deal as a retreat by Sky from the highly competitive and increasingly cluttered music television market (see Airey Denies Beleagured Music Channels To Close).
A Sky spokesman outlined the implications of the handover, stating: “Sky’s music channels are a distinctive and valued part of our customer proposition. We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Chart Show that will create operational efficiencies and deliver benefits of scale to advertisers.”
The decision to outsource the running of the channels follows a review of their performance earlier this year. The review followed a move by Sky’s then head of music channels, Jo Wallace, to oversee original programming at flagship entertainment channel Sky One (see BSkyB Reviewing Future Of Music Channels After Shake-Up).
Sky: 08702 40 40 40 www.sky.com
Recent Television Stories from NewsLine ITV Reveals Plans To Launch Range Of New Channels Viewers Support Outright Ban On Fast Food Commercials Channel 4 Confirms Intention To Link With BBC
Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive