Sky: ‘Be Brexit compliant or be blacked out”
October 19, 2018
Sky has sent an ultimatum to UK based broadcasters including ITV, Channel 4, Disney and Discovery warning them to get their post-Brexit licensing plans in order by the end of the year, or face being removed off its platform.
The Guardian reports that Sky has sent out letters to broadcasters as it says it needs to know the plans of its channel partners to make sure it abides by European broadcasting regulations in the event of a no-deal Brexit come March 2019.
“We continually work with our partner channels to ensure they have the licences they need to broadcast,” said Sky.
US media companies including Discovery and Disney use the UK as their European broadcasting hubs, while ITV, Channel 4 and UKTV, which are transmitted on Sky under a single UK licence.
But if the government fails to strike a deal to keep EU-wide broadcast rights post-Brexit, companies will have to look to relocate significant parts of their businesses and TV licensing arrangements to other EU countries to continue to transmit across the rest of Europe. This means many channels on Sky’s UK service will need to hold two licences to continue to broadcast legally in both the UK and Ireland. In a no-deal scenario, those partners that do not get licences to broadcast in Europe will be unable to be legally aired in Ireland by Sky UK.