Sky One Acquires Exclusive Rights to Prison Break

LONDON, June 5: BSkyB’s
pay-TV entertainment channel Sky One has secured the exclusive rights to the
series Prison Break from rival
terrestrial broadcaster Five, for premiere this fall.

Sky One beat out Five for
the rights to the third season of Prison Break. It is reported that Sky One paid around £500,000 an
episode for the series, while Five had been paying around £400,000 per episode.
The series is currently airing on Five, which will air the last episode of the
second season next week.

In
addition, Sky One has also acquired the rights to the first two seasons of the
new U.S. drama Journeyman, which features actor Kevin Kidd (Trainspotting, Dog Soldiers and Rome).

Prison
Break averaged about a 9-percent
audience share in its first season on Five last year and has been running at
around 8.5 percent so far during the second season. The series follows the
story of Michael Scofield and his attempts to prove his brother Lincoln
Burrows' innocence after he is framed and put on death row for murdering the
U.S. president.

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