In a not particularly surprising move given their schedule is routinely punctuated by repeats of SG-1 and Atlantis, Sky1 have bought the UK rights to Stargate Universe. The deal gives them the broadcast rights to Universe, plus non-exclusive Video on Demand and download to own rights to the entire Stargate franchise.
In other news, a mysterious ion cloud suddenly congealed around the Sky1 studios. Reports of 'reaver' activity are unconfirmed.
No, Sky1 is included with basic subscription satellite (Sky Digital) and cable (Virgin Media) services. They have the rights to other things like Lost, 24, Battlestar Galactica, Prison Break etc as well. Think of them as equivalent to a channel on basic cable in the US. Sky1 (or Sky One as they used to be known) have had the first run rights to every Stargate series. SG-1 and Atlantis are a big part of their schedule, they show at least one episode almost every day, and those repeats typically perform well for them. Sky do sell on the rights to show episodes to broadcast channels. In the past Channel 4 have shown Stargate SG-1 and Five showed Atlantis but neither performed particularly well. Generally, people who want to watch the show aren't going to wait for terrestrial repeats anyway.
^Most likely very close to the original US air dates. Sky1 try to air shows within a week because otherwise people just pirate them or buy the DVDs.
They sound more clever than tv elsewhere in Europe. Probably it is the language but if those who produce the different series thought even a bit about the matter they would ask scifi to be shown at the same time as in us since otherwise those who most like them, will always use torrents or newzleech.
^They don't need to do much to a show to air it soon after the US airing. With most US shows, the old NTSC->PAL issue doesn't apply because everything's in HD and there's no issue with dubbing the show in to another language.
Well Channel Five decided to show half of Atlantis at 1 am, so bad ratings arent surprising. No one should get their hopes up about seeing Universe on Channel 4 either. MGM were not happy when the dribbling Morons that present T4 decided to take the piss out of SG-1 after each episode.
Nor was I. If anyone wants evidence of how dumbed down British television is getting, just watch Channel 4 during the early afternoon on a weekend.
Off topic to a point, but it reminds me of when some moron on that music show they have on T4 was interviewing Shakira a few years ago. He called her a "Colombian sex pot" straight after saying hello, which she is, but she's way too classy to just say that too her, and then he went on and on about how someone from some crappy group called Blue had been sitting there just last week, and Shakira, being the polite lady she is just sat and smiled. But god, do I hate T4 and all their crappy and moronic presenters.