British Sky Broadcasting Group plc : NFTS launches new Digital Content & Formats in partnership with Sky

The National Film and Television School has partnered with Sky to deliver a new 12 month diploma course on Digital Content & Formats.

Starting in September 2014, the course will take place both at the NFTS and Sky with students taught by leading industry tutors responsible for some of the UK's most cutting edge multi-platform projects including Got to Dance, Million Pound Drop, The Voice, The X Factor, Misfits and Embarrassing Bodies.

The course will look at how to build and engage audiences around films, television programmes and formats. Students will create standalone digital projects and also work alongside students from Documentary, Comedy and Television Entertainment to create extensions to linear television programmes. Sky is committed to awarding a paid contract to one of the graduates from this new course.

Nik Powell, NFTS Director, says the course has been developed to meet an industry need: "Sky is a key partner for the NFTS and has played a pivotal role for almost 20 years. We're launching this course together in recognition that the film and television industry needs people who have 'interactive' and 'new media' skills in order to maximise the potential of their films and television programmes and formats across platforms."

Emma Lloyd, Director of Corporate Business Development at Sky: "At Sky we understand the value of building skills and nurturing talent and are pleased to be continuing our longstanding partnership with the NFTS through our support for this new course."

"We look forward to sharing the passion and expertise of Sky's own people with students and ensuring that anyone attending this course leaves with a deep understanding of what it takes to succeed in TV's rapidly changing digital ecosystem. This promises to be a fantastic opportunity for emerging talent in this space."

In February 2014 Sky will announce details of scholarships that will be available for this course as part of the new Sky Academy, a series of initiatives to inspire young people and support emerging talent, creating opportunities for 1 million young people by 2020. For more information, go to www.sky.com/academy.

Sky is also the industry partner on the NFTS Broadcast Production diploma course that launched in January 2013.  This course provides training for vision mixers, sound, lighting and camera specialists, some of the highly sought after television craft skills. The broadcaster has recently awarded six of the students on the course paid contracts, despite being originally committed to provide only one contract to a graduate from this Broadcast Production course.

For more information and to apply for this course go to the NFTS website www.nfts.co.uk

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Media enquiries: Hannah Smith 0207 0326791 hannah.smith@bskyb.com

Notes to editor:

The course advisory board includes:

- Matt Locke - Storythings
- Rosie Allimonos - You Tube
- Martin Tricky - Head of Digital Shed
- Jody Smith - Channel 4
-- Justin Gayner- Channel Flip
- Kat Hebden - Syco Entertainment
- John Aird - BBC Comedy
- Emma Lloyd - Sky
- Gareth Capon - Sky

The course curriculum includes:

- Audience Behaviour across Genres
- Social Media - sharing, visibility and discoverability
- Second Screen apps
- Rapid Prototyping and Wireframes
- User testing
- Project Management
- Creative Problem Solving
- Branding and Communication
- Harnessing Digital Technologies to support Film and Television
- User Experience: human interaction, design and research
- Digital Workflows - end to end
- Understand Data and Metrics

Students graduate able to:

• Develop and pitch projects to industry professionals
• Build and manage cross platform teams
• Produce multi-platform production projects
• Exploit the opportunities presented by digital media

About Sky

Sky is the UK and Ireland's leading home entertainment and communications company.  Around 40% of all homes have a direct relationship with Sky through its range of TV, broadband and home telephony services.

Sky is the UK's biggest investor in television content, investing more than £2.5 billion a year in channels such as Sky 1, Sky Atlantic, Sky Living, Sky Arts, Sky Sports, Sky Movies and Sky News.   Around two-thirds of Sky's content spend is invested in the UK and Sky is the fastest-growing source of investment in original British programmes.  More than 30 million people watch Sky content each week.<_o3a_p>

Alongside its commitment to offering customers a greater choice of high-quality content, Sky is a leading innovator.  Customers enjoy total control and flexibility over their favourite TV through Sky+, watch TV on the move through Sky Go, and enjoy the best quality TV experience at home through High Definition and 3D.

Sky distributes its content broadly over several platforms, including satellite, cable, IPTV, mobile and WiFi.  NOW TV, Sky's second consumer brand, builds on the company's leadership in internet TV.  Sky is also the UK's fastest-growing home communications company and favourite 'triple-play' provider of TV, broadband and home phone.

Sky believes in making a wider contribution to the communities in which it operates by taking positive action on the environment, supporting grassroots sports and increasing access to, and participation in, the arts.  Sky employs 24,000 people, has annual revenues of £7.2 billion and is estimated to support a £5.9 billion contribution to UK GDP.  Sky is listed on the London Stock Exchange (BSY).