Sky To Include Disney+ In Millions Of Sky TV Subscriptions In The UK
Disney has announced that it has entered into a new multi-year agreement with Sky, to bring Disney+ to millions of new customers in the UK and Ireland
As part of this new agreement, Disney+ Standard with Ads will be included in eligible Sky TV packages from March 2026. Sky customers will be able to enjoy all of Disney+’s iconic stories, across a brilliant slate of blockbuster movies such as Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch” and Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”, classic TV shows such as “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Modern Family” and “The Simpsons”, and exclusive Originals such as FX’s “The Bear”, Lucasfilm’s “Andor”, “High Potential” and “Rivals”, all under one Sky subscription.
In addition, Sky will be launching a brand new Disney+ Cinema linear channel for Sky Cinema customers, which offers a taste of the movies available on Disney+.
Disney+ programmes will be promoted alongside Sky’s own content on the Continue Watching rail and in recommendations for what to watch, making it even easier for Sky customers to find and watch incredible shows and movies. Sky subscribers can activate Disney+ through their Sky Q, Sky Glass or Sky Stream, and existing Disney+ customers can move their account and profiles seamlessly to Sky.
Karl Holmes, General Manager, Disney+, The Walt Disney Company EMEA, said:
“We’ve grown Disney+ in the UK into our largest market across Europe over the past six years, and Sky is the perfect partner for our next wave of growth in the UK and Ireland. This agreement gives millions of Sky customers a simple, seamless way to enjoy all the great stories that Disney+ offers, and opens up a substantial new audience for content creators and advertisers.”
Sophia Ahmad, Chief Consumer Officer at Sky, commented:
“We’re focused on giving Sky customers the best content, in the best experience, at the best value, which is why we are delighted to be integrating the Disney+ app into Sky’s market leading technology through a single, simple subscription. Together with our unrivalled entertainment offering – spanning Sky Originals and exclusives, premium sports and standout content across the best global partners – this agreement reinforces our focus on making it easier than ever for customers to enjoy the very best entertainment, all in one place.”
Sky already has access to a number of linear channels from Disney, including National Geographic and the Disney Jr channel.
Roger’s Take: This is an interesting deal, as it’ll continue to boost the availability of Disney+ content to a larger audience in the UK and also result in Disney securing more long-running subscriptions, similar to other deals it has done with US cable networks.
From Sky’s point of view, this is something they desperately need to do, as offering a bundle of different streaming services is likely the only way to keep customers in the long run, as linear television habits continue to shift to streaming.
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