As part of the deal, effective from January 1 2007, Sky Media will extend sales targeting young audiences. Following the addition of Sci-Fi to its client list, Sky Media's portfolio will account for 13.1% of the adult market, rising to more than 15% among 16- to 34-year-olds.
Richard Hawking, Sky Media's operations director, said: "As one of the most distinctive brands in the multichannel world, Sci-Fi makes a great addition to the Sky Media portfolio and a strong fit with our own offering. This agreement further strengthens our delivery of key audiences after a year of significant growth of our third-party sales business."
Sci-Fi attracts an audience of about 3m viewers a week. It is owned by NBC Universal Global Networks, a division of NBC Universal. In the UK, its programmes include 'Robot Wars', 'Roswell' and the hit show 'Medium', which stars Patricia Arquette. In the US, the network is behind the hit 'Stargate: SG1' and the critically acclaimed re-imagining of 'Battlestar Galactica'.
Nick Betts, Sci-Fi's managing director, said: "Sci-Fi has built a phenomenal reputation over the last 10 years and has delivered a unique and valuable audience to advertisers. I have no doubt that the channel will be a valuable addition to the Sky Media portfolio and have every confidence that they will be able to build on the excellent work done by our in-house sales team to date."
Since the beginning of 2006, Sky Media has won a number of third-party sales contracts. They are: At The Races, Eat Cinema, Extreme Sports Channel, Horror Channel, Reality TV and ESPN Classic. The firm also represents Discovery, Emap, National Geographic, History Channel, Chart Show TV, MUTV, Hallmark, FX, and Fashion TV.
In the first nine months of the year, Sky Media's market grew by 7%, compared with a growth rate of 2% for the overall TV advertising market.
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