Company Announcements

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02 May 2019

STV LAUNCHES FIRST FULLY REGIONALISED HD SERVICE ON SKY

STV has today launched as the UK's first fully regionalised HD public service broadcaster on the Sky platform giving viewers in Scotland an enhanced viewing experience. 

From today, HD will be the default choice at 103 for Sky HD customers in all four STV regions across Scotland, providing viewers with all of STV's regional programming including popular STV News at Six, which continues to grow its audience share.

This announcement follows confirmation earlier this year of a five-year strategic partnership between STV and Sky which will give Sky viewers across Scotland even better access to STV's hit shows whenever and wherever they want them. 

Bobby Hain, STV's Managing Director, Broadcast, said: "We're delighted STV viewers will be the first to enjoy a fully regionalised service on Sky.

"Sky is a hugely popular platform in Scotland, meaning more viewers will now be able to access their local news, more relevant advertising and programming, all in glorious HD. 

"We are pleased to be able to deliver this ahead of the planned launch having worked in close collaboration with Sky."

Jon Simkin, Director of Channels and Operations at Sky said: "We're always looking to give our customers the best possible viewing experience and are pleased to have collaborated with STV to bring Sky customers in Scotland all their favourite STV programmes in full HD."

All Sky HD customers will benefit from the enhanced service across both Sky Q and Sky+ set top boxes. While no retuning is required, there may be a requirement to reset any series links to record their favourite STV programmes.

The launch of a fully regionalised HD service on Sky follows STV's multi-million pound investment in new HD studio facilities, with the Aberdeen studio now operational and plans in place across studios in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. 

Sky customers will receive further improved access to STV later this year when leading VOD service - STV Player - is made available on their set top boxes for the first time. This will enable Sky customers in STV's broadcast licence areas to catch up on their favourite STV programmes - including Coronation Street and Britain's Got Talent and classic shows from the STV archives - on Sky Q and Sky+ set top boxes.

Ends

For further information, please contact:

STV

Katie Martin

0141 300 3109

katie.martin@stv.tv 

Anna Hendry

0141 300 3830

anna.hendry@stv.tv 

Sky

Harrison Kelly

+44 (0) 7817 476365

Harrison.Kelly@sky.uk 

NOTES TO EDITORS

About STV

STV is Scotland's home of news and entertainment, serving audiences with quality content on air, online and on demand. 

STV's broadcast channel, accessible free-to-air on all the main TV platforms in Scotland, reaches 3.5 million viewers each month and is home to some of the biggest and most popular show on television.

The channel's first-class content includes soaps Emmerdale and Coronation Street, big drama productions, entertainment hits Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor, strong home-grown productions and Scotland's best, most comprehensive and most trusted news service. Flagship news programme STV News at Six continues to prove popular, continuing its growth in audience share.

The STV Player, STV's online VoD service, allows consumers in STV's broadcast licence areas to enjoy their favourite STV shows live or on demand. With almost 3m registered users, the STV Player is one of the fastest growing on-demand platforms in the UK.

The recently launched ad-free subscription version, STV Player+, offers an opportunity to watch STV programming without the adverts, download shows for offline viewing and watch abroad for the first time.

STV Productions is one of the UK's leading content businesses with ambitious plans for domestic and international growth.

The company has an impressive track-record of success across genres including drama, entertainment and factual, with commissions from a wide range of broadcasters. 

Highlights include iconic game show Catchphrase for ITV, ratings winner Antiques Road Trip for BBC One, peak-time entertainment show Sex Tape, soon to be aired on Channel 4, and documentaries Ross Kemp Behind Bars-Inside Barlinnie for ITV and Scotland and the Battle for Britain for BBC Two. In drama, critically-acclaimed, four-part thriller The Victim recently aired on BBC One, and STV Productions has also confirmed a second BBC commission - 90 minute drama Elizabeth is Missing.

About Sky

With 23 million customers across seven countries, Sky is Europe's leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group.

We have 31,000 colleagues and together we want to connect our customers to more of what they love, including our award-winning original productions, like Patrick Melrose and Save Me, and great shows from our partners including HBO, Showtime and Warner Bros. And our ever improving technology makes it even easier for customers to watch more of the shows they love with personalised recommendations and voice control and, our online streaming service, NOW TV, brings all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract free service.

We treat our customers better than anyone else in our field, as Ofcom's complaints data shows, and we look after our staff too. Sky is one of The Times Top 50 employers for women and we're in Stonewall's list of Top 50 LGBT-Inclusive employers.

We also use our position as the leading entertainment business in Europe to do the right thing. As part of Sky Ocean Rescue campaign we're committing to be completely single-use plastic free by 2020, we're investing £25million over five years in ocean-saving tech and we're supporting the WWF to protect our oceans with designated Marine Protected Areas.