Is Sky Atlantic bad for British television?

  • The Observer,
  • Jump to comments ()
Boardwalk Empire
Boardwalk Empire, one of Sky Atlantic's plum purchases.

YES – says Imogen Carter, Observer arts writer

Since my first sighting of Don Draper supping a scotch I've been hooked on US TV drama. Surely then I should be toasting the arrival of Sky Atlantic, the channel's purchase of all of HBO's content and virtually every other hot US show, with a little tipple of my own? I confess, my initial response after the press launch last month was to tell my other half we were upgrading our Virgin TV package. Like thousands of others I soon discovered that I couldn't get Sky Atlantic on Virgin. Nor could I fall in with Sky's masterplan and switch – there isn't a dish on our block of flats and I don't have time to lobby my fellow residents to get one (I checked, you need several takers in a block). Besides, we rent so could get booted out any day.

For millions, just as high quality US drama has become as much a part of our culture as American pop music, films and fast food, the supply across our core TV channels has, in the main, been cut off. Given the content of such drama, many of its most devoted followers are young professionals or students, some of them, like me, not in a position to get Sky. Previously at least, those who didn't subscribe to FX, or didn't have Freeview, knew that the best stuff would end up on terrestrial later. Every TV viewer got a slice of the pie eventually.

Many fans will shrug at this new development and sit tight for the box sets. Others, like me, have become accustomed to joining the post-show chatter at work, the pub, on Facebook and Twitter. Sky Atlantic's promise to make UK transmissions closer to the US ones only adds to my desire to watch with the masses. I'm absolutely not advocating piracy, but I can't imagine this move will help the fight against illegal downloading.

Of course it all comes down to money. These slick dramas obviously cost a lot to make so naturally US TV execs are chasing big bucks when they sell the shows overseas. But just as it's done with sports broadcasting, Sky is pricing all other bidders out of the market. Presumably Mad Men's maker AMC was happy with the BBC's fee until Sky offered more cash. So what next? Will Sky subscribers eventually be paying extra for the most premium US imports?

Call me old fashioned but I'm not even sure I want all the prime cuts of TV programming – drama, sport, comedy – segregated off. I enjoy having a range of output across each channel, making the odd accidental discovery of a new US drama. I still love British TV but, let's be honest, a sprinkling of American glamour across our channels somehow made them all a bit sexier.

One could argue we're all winners in the long run. Now the BBC and Channel 4 have more money to pump into British drama and HBO has enough in the coffers to fund ever more ambitious output. Dig deeper, though, and you may start to feel like more of a loser. Sky subscribers have to sit through endless advertisements while the same programming isn't interrupted on HBO. What's more, our finest British dramas aren't safe from being poached – Sky Atlantic will also commission "new UK programming" from some of our best writers such as Paul Abbott (Shameless, State of Play). Abbott has been commissioned to write a new series, Hit and Miss, which sounds brilliant. Clearly Sky is on a mission to hoover up all the slickest drama and talent until we are all living under the shadow of a big white bowl – well, those of us that can.

NO – says Andrew Anthony, Observer TV critic

Imagine that there was a foreign food manufacturer that produced many of your favourite upmarket delicacies. And imagine that only a few of them were stocked at major supermarkets, and only occasionally, and in ever-changing and inconvenient aisle positions. Then one day a British chain announced that it had struck an exclusive deal with the foreign manufacturer and it was going to open a delicatessen dedicated to its brands. However, it was going to charge extra for its effort.

Now there are many things you could say about that situation, but you couldn't really say that it would be bad for British gastronomy. And that, in effect, is what has taken place with Sky Atlantic. Most of the top American dramas are produced by the cable TV company HBO. They're expensive to make and it's no surprise that HBO should seek to offset costs by selling to the highest bidder. And equally it's no surprise that Sky, in its exclusive deal with HBO, should seek to protect its investment by denying screening rights to terrestrial channels.

Suggesting that Sky Atlantic will have a negative impact on British TV is just the kind of excuse British TV needs to avoid making. The relevant question is not whether it's bad for British TV, but "Is it bad for the British viewer?" Previously top-rated shows like The Wire were literally lost on channels such as FX. Let's not forget that one of the most critically acclaimed series in TV history drew an average British audience of around 30,000 for several seasons. It was years before the BBC finally got round to broadcasting the whole thing. And even shows that did make it straight on to terrestrial TV, like The Sopranos, were buried away in shifting late-night schedules. Is that a model that worked well? Was the viewer well served?

The truth is that, from a commercial perspective, the most lauded American shows are not attractive propositions to free-to-air broadcasters. That's why they seldom land plum scheduling spots, but are instead often placed on satellite overflow channels, like the new series featuring Laura Linney, The Big C, which is stuck away on More 4.

Nor, as a result, should the BBC be expected to spend public money on subsidising the American television industry. Surely a more sensible and viable approach for British TV would be to look at the giant strides made by American drama (in particular from HBO) in the last decade or so and set about reaching those standards itself. Rather than fret about access to American TV, the focus should be on the success of British TV.

And for that to happen, investment needs to be made in writers, in long-term planning, and in developing confidence in the intelligence of the audience. At the moment it's American high-concept, not high-quality, TV that has most influence on British production. The slick populism of the CSI franchise has been repeatedly aped in shows like Spooks, Hustle and Silent Witness. But where is the British The Wire or Six Feet Under?

One only has to look at the Danish series The Killing to see that original, smart, contemporary drama is not the preserve of the American model. And, of course, that's currently showing on BBC4, so it's not as if Sky Atlantic has a monopoly on quality.

The arrival of this new satellite channel should not be the cue for another anti-Murdoch rant but instead recognised as an opportunity. If there's now going to be a shortage of well-made drama on British TV, it's high time British TV filled the gap.

Today's best video

Today in pictures

More from The debate