I recall the early discussions that the BBC would be involved, which I had a mixed reaction to. It was the BBC's involvement in co-funding ROME and then pulling out which triggered the sequence of events that led to the show being cancelled before its time, plus they completely butchered the series, cut and edited badly, and showed it months and months after US transmission. Last year they also didn't do a great job showing THE WIRE, hiding it near midnight on BBC-2.

All of that said, the thought of GAME OF THRONES airing on prime-time BBC-1 where it would be exposed to a massive audience was very encouraging.

Whilst Sky will undoubtedly treat the show with a lot of respect, show it at a good time and so on, the profile of the series in the UK when it airs will now be a lot lower, due to Sky's much smaller audience. However, the final and best thing this news means is that THRONES should air in the UK almost immediately after the US. Sky are very hot on showing US shows within days of US transmission to beat the downloaders, and in fact simulcast the LOST series finale for UK die-hard fans (at 5am in the morning!). So that is very good news :)

I glad for the uk people, that sky will show game of throne... but do you have some information if there is a plan to show it also in germany?

hope sun is coming out, that you do not need to shovel as much snow as before ;)

excellent news! I also thought it would be the BBC, but Sky is much more reliable.

I agree, that on the whole the series is better with Sky as they will show it immediately in conjunction with the US. The BBC do good work and it would get a more mainstream audience, but only if it was shown in a suitable time slot. I missed the 1st 2 series of The Wire because it was tucked away after midnight.

Also Sky will not edit as the BBC would have done if shown in the regular slot anyway, plus we will get (sometimes annoyingly) continuous repeats on Sky2 & 3

Hugely relieved, I'd prefer a BBC showing for the lack of adverts mainly but am really really pleased that the UK will be getting GoT.
Hurrah for this news!

Cable/satellite only then, alas.

BBC-HBO co production! The Beeb should be showing it. The beeb are the best even if they do make some silly mistakes. Come on auntie beeb, get your finger out and broadcast this already. My parents didn't pay work hard all their life just so Sky could make off with the most eagerly anticipated fantasy show in the history of history.

I thought it was a BBC co-Production.

Well I guess I was almost certainly buying the DVDs anyhow.

Gah, damn you Murdoch!

woo hoo

Yay yay! That's great news - I was getting very jealous. ;)

A real disappointment. No fault of yours, Mr. Martin, but I was hoping to see GoT without adverts and having to pay extortionate subscription fees. This will kill any chance of the show taking off in a serious way in the UK. Just try and make sure the DVD boxed set comes out ASAP after the show airs.

I have to say, I'm really disappointed by this. I too had heard about the BBC's apparent involvement, and couldn't wait to watch it! Now, like Stargate Universe, I have the horrible feeling that Game of Thrones is going to be one more sci-fi/fantasy show that I've gotten massively overexcited about, and won't get a chance to see until it comes out as a massively-overpriced DVD. The overpriced isn't a dig at you, but Sky. I can't afford to buy Stargate. Now I can't afford to buy Game of Thrones either :(

*sobs and wanders away sadly*

Well, a bit of a shame it's Sky, but at least it'll be over here. The Sky subscription is too high, so I'll just buy the episodes from iTunes when they become available. :)

Good news!!!