Sky Donates £500,000 to Film and TV Charity

Sky has today committed to donate £500,000 to the emergency relief fund recently established to support the UK’s creative community in the wake of COVID-19.

The new COVID-19 Film and TV Emergency Relief Fund, set up by the Film and TV Charity in partnership with the BFI using National Lottery funding, is providing much needed grants to the many thousands of active workers and freelancers who have been directly affected by the suspension of productions across the UK.

These funds will go directly to eligible workers and freelancers across film, TV and cinema. One-off grants of between £500 and £2,500 will be awarded based on need.

Sky joined the Film and TV Charity’s Taskforce on Mental Health at the beginning of the year and is committed to supporting the long-term wellbeing of the industry workforce as part of the charity’s strategy for better mental health through the Whole Picture Programme.

Gary Davey CEO of Sky Studios said: ‘Those who work behind the scenes are the backbone of TV and film production in the UK. At this incredibly difficult time, it’s important that we do all we can to support our freelance colleagues who are most in need and we hope that this donation will help to alleviate some of the immediate financial challenges many of them are facing over the coming weeks and months.’

Sky has made a number of commitments to help the UK through this challenging period including supporting NHS frontline staff with unlimited access to data and calls; prioritising the vulnerable and those self-isolating with alternative methods of communication where we cannot carry out critical repairs and prioritising the needs of vulnerable customers and key workers through our contact centres. Sky Group Chief Executive, Jeremy Darroch, will also donate 100% of his salary to COVID-19-related charities for the duration of the crisis.

Note to Editors

For more information, please contact: skypress@sky.uk

About Sky

With 24 million customers across seven countries, Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. Our 32,000 employees help connect our customers to the very best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own local, original content.

Following the success of Sky originals like Chernobyl, we plan to double our investment in original content by 2024. We’re also developing a new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which is expected to lead to the creation of over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in UK creative sector in the first five years alone.

Our technology allows customers to watch what they want, when they want, how they want, and as we connect millions of families to content they love, we believe it is our responsibility to do it safely. That’s why we offer services like Sky Broadband Buddy and the Sky Kids app. And our online streaming service, NOW TV, brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service.

We also believe that a company of our scale has a responsibility that goes beyond our business, and into the community. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 – two decades before we have to – and we’re an inclusive employer recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity.