Plans large-scale shows to promote environmental message

Sky is planning “big set pieces” on climate change as part of its natural history and environmental programming slate, according to chief executive Jeremy Darroch.

Darroch said the pay-TV giant has “got to provide big moments” for its audiences on the pressing subject, as well as making it a “big strand” of its holistic output, including news.

“Big moments get us to big productions – whether it’s a film about the Nile [referring to Sky Documentaries’ The Plastic Nile - pictured] or other climate change programming,” said Darroch, who was delivering a keynote address at this week’s Wildscreen Festival.

“We can market them and create big moments that people can be drawn to.”

Darroch, who was in conversation with presenter Steve Backshall, also expanded on the Sky Nature channel, which he described as a “big pillar of content” as well as a key part of the company’s sustainability drive.

Earlier this year, Broadcast revealed that Sky was in discussions with key supplier Blue Ant Media over seven-figure-budget shows for the channel.

Darroch expanded: “Five years from now, I hope we’ll see a whole body of great work that we’ve helped great programme-makers create, which has been good for our business but also had an impact on understanding the natural world and planet.”

The exec said that changing people’s mind on environmental issues via Sky Nature and divisive subjects such as climate change mean that programming has to “convince people”.

“Perhaps a criticism of all broadcasters is that from time-to-time we can become a bit preachy,” he added.

“The job for us is to be optimistic: these issues are solvable. If all we do is layer after layer of what’s wrong [with the world], we shouldn’t be surprised that that’s pushing the wrong buttons.”

Darroch reiterated his conviction from last week’s keynote at Mipcom that media companies and big business have a responsibility in helping on environmental challenges. In a hardening of his rhetoric, the Sky chief described himself as “militant” about the cause.

“This issue is too big and the stakes are too high,” he concluded

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