Television
October 19, 2020
Virgin Media Television’s LIVING Is New UK Home to “Supernatural”
(July 27, 2009 – London and Burbank, CA) – Virgin Media Television (VMTV)–owned LIVING has won exclusive linear and digital broadcast rights for season five and a future season six of the hit US series “Supernatural” (22 X 60), and VMTV’s Virgin1 has picked up season three and a future season four of “Chuck,” in a deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution. The announcement was made today by Amy Barham, Head of Acquisitions, Virgin Media Television, and Jeffrey R. Schlesinger, President, Warner Bros. International Television.
As part of a multi-season commitment for VMTV, season five and a future season six of “Supernatural” will premiere exclusively in the UK on LIVING, with a second run on VMTV-owned Virgin1, along with a back catalogue of the first four seasons. (Previously, seasons one–four aired on ITV2.) The deal marks Virgin Media Television’s strategy to become the exclusive UK broadcast home for “Supernatural,” joining LIVING’s other hit paranormal US drama, “Ghost Whisperer,” and cementing the channel’s reputation as the home of paranormal.
From 1 August 2009, seasons one through four of “Supernatural” will play out on LIVING for the first time ever. Season five (and a future season six) will play out from 2010.
As part of the deal, Virgin1 has also extended its license to season three and a future season four of the action comedy “Chuck.”
Amy Barham said: “As a strong and rapidly growing brand both in the US and the UK, ‘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 storylines, 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 UK home.”
Jeffrey Schlesinger added: “While we do not usually like to switch our programs from one channel to another, 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 UK a big event for its viewing audience.”
“Supernatural” is a series that keeps getting stronger. Season four on ITV2 achieved an average audience of 870,000, which was a +11.5% increase on season three. In the US, “Supernatural” ranks as The CW’s #1 scripted series among teens (12–17), averaging 3.2 million viewers, up +16% year to year. Furthermore, the series ranks as #2 behind “Smallville” among M18–34, M18–49 and M25–54. Picking up steam in the ratings, season four was up +11% in average households and +10% among total individuals.
Already one of V1’s highest-rating one-hour series, “Chuck” averaged an audience of 325,000 adults for season one, and season two premiered at +51% with 419,000 adults.
Starring Jared Padalecki (“Gilmore Girls,” “Friday the 13th”) and Jensen Ackles (“Smallville,” “My Bloody Valentine 3D”), “Supernatural” chronicles the adventures of brothers Sam and Dean Winchester as they hunt demons and other mysterious and demonic forces. The series was created by Eric Kripke, who executive produces along with McG, Robert Singer, Ben Edlund and Sera Gamble. “Supernatural” is a production of Wonderland Sound and Vision, in association with Warner Bros. Television.
“Chuck” stars Zachary Levi (“Less than Perfect”) as a charming computer store geek turned unlikely government secret agent. The series also stars Yvonne Strahovski (“I Love You, Too”), Joshua Gomez (“Without a Trace”), Ryan McPartlin (“Super Capers”), Mark Christopher Lawrence (“The Pursuit of Happyness”), Vik Sahay (“This Is Wonderland”), Scott Krinsky (“The O.C.”), Julia Ling (“ER”) with Sarah Lancaster (“Everwood”) and Adam Baldwin (“Serenity,” “Full Metal Jacket”). The series was created by Josh Schwartz & Chris Fedak, who executive produce along with McG and Scott Rosenbaum. Chuck is a production of College Hill Pictures, Wonderland Sound and Vision in association with Warner Bros. Television.
About LIVING
LIVING is the ultimate entertainment destination on TV, full of guilty pleasures and trashy glamour. Hugely successful commissions like Britain’s Next Top Model, Dirty Dancing: The Time of Your Life, Living with … Jade Goody and Pop Goes the Band have emerged as some of the UK’s most talked-about programmes. LIVING has also built a reputation for cleverly identifying and out-maneuvering its rivals to the best acquired shows out there to be the home of the best American content, Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Ghost Whisperer, America’s Next Top Model and new additions Private Practice and, from Sex and the City author Candace Bushnell, Lipstick Jungle, starring Brook Shields. LIVING is also the home of the paranormal, airing cult phenomena Most Haunted and the hugely successful Most Haunted Live.
About Virgin Media Television (VMtv) Virgin Media Television (VMtv) has eight wholly-owned channels, some of the strongest entertainment brands in UK multichannel television: LIVING, LIVING2, Bravo, Bravo 2, Challenge, Challenge Jackpot, Trouble and Virgin1. The portfolio spans pay and free-to-air television – reaching over 24 million adult viewers each month – and has a growing presence on broadband, mobile and on-demand platforms. VMtv is also BBC Worldwide’s 50% partner in the UKTV portfolio of ten channels.
VMtv is part of Virgin Media, the innovative and pioneering UK entertainment and communications business. Virgin Media offers consumers everything they need from one company – the UK's only quad-play of TV, broadband, phone and mobile, plus the most advanced TV on demand service – all delivered through its unique fibre-optic cable network.
Virgin Media is the largest Virgin company in the world and has almost 10 million customers.
About Warner Bros. International Television Distribution
Warner Bros. International Television Distribution is one of the world’s largest distributors of feature films, television programs and animation to the international television marketplace (broadcast, pay cable, basic cable, satellite, pay-per-view, video-on-demand, digital platforms, etc.). It licenses some 50,000 hours of programming (including more than 6,000 features and 70+ current series), dubbed or subtitled in more than 40 languages, to telecasters and cablecasters in more than 175 countries. # # #