LIVING Bags Rights to Supernatural

LONDON/BURBANK: Virgin Media Television picked up the exclusive linear and digital broadcast rights for season five and future sixth season of Supernatural for LIVING in the U.K., and also went for a third season and future fourth season of Chuck for Virgin1 in a deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITD).

As part of multi-season commitment, a fifth and sixth season of The CW series Supernatural will premiere exclusively in the U.K. on LIVING, with a second run on Virgin1, along with a back catalogue of seasons one through four. Starting August 1, the first four seasons of Supernatural will air on LIVING for the first time, with seasons five and six to air from 2010. As part of the deal, Virgin1 also extend its license to seasons three and four of Chuck.

Amy Barham, the head of acquisitions for Virgin Media Television, said: “As a strong and rapidly growing brand both in the U.S. and the U.K., Supernatural has had an awful lot of interest and, as the home of the best in paranormal drama, we’re thrilled to have secured it for LIVING. With its action-packed story lines, the show will be the perfect addition to our existing paranormal line up, and we now want to focus on building the show’s success in its new U.K. home.”

Jeffrey Schlesinger, the president of Warner Bros. International Television, added: “LIVING’s enthusiasm to add Supernatural to its schedule convinced us that this would be a good move. Being able to schedule both the new episodes and the prior seasons already telecast simultaneously will allow LIVING to make the relaunch of the series in the U.K. a big event for its viewing audience.”