Prison Break Escapes To Sky One

After its acquisition of hit Aussie soap Neighbours, Five has lost one of its successful US imports, Prison Break, to Sky One.

The digital only channel has acquired the exclusive rights to the next series of the show and is understood to have paid around £500,000 per episode, topping Five, which was paying around £400,000 per episode.

David Smyth, the head of acquisitions for Sky One, Two and Three, described the shows as a “perfect addition” to its US programming schedule.

A Five spokesman said: “In the light of Prison Break‘s declining ratings we didn’t feel the asking price for season three represented good value.”

Last night’s episode had an average of 1.1 million adult viewers, giving Five around a 6% audience share between 10pm and 11pm, up against Big Brother over on Channel 4 (with more than 3.3 million).

Last October, Sky One took the third series of Lost from Channel 4 for an estimated £20 million (see Sky One Poaches Lost From Channel 4), whilst in 2004 it acquired the rights to air 24 from series three onwards (see Sky One Unveils Dramatic Winter Schedule). The show was originally shown on the BBC.

Five won the bidding war for long-running soap Neighbours last month, after the BBC decided not to pay the programme’s distributor, FremantleMedia, £300 million for the eight-year deal (see Five Takes Neighbours From BBC One For £300m).

The commercial channel’s top rating imports include CSI and House.

Five: 020 7550 5555 www.five.tv BSkyB: 020 7705 3000 www.sky.com