The Italian channel also premieres Sky Originals produced in the country, like The Young Pope and Gomorrah.

Sky Atlantic relies heavily on screenings of US television programmes, with more than 50% of all programming coming from HBO.

[25][26] The launch of Sky Atlantic in 2011 followed the broadcaster's £150m,[27] five-year deal to buy exclusive UK and Irish TV rights to HBO's entire archive, new HBO programming and a first-look deal on all co-productions.

[28] Although it has been renewed since, the exclusivity deal with HBO is currently set to expire by the end of 2025,[29] allowing for the launch of Max in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Italy in 2026.

[30] Despite this, Sky planned to acquire new and returning series via separate agreements on a programme-by-programme basis,[31] including House of the Dragon, The Last of Us, The White Lotus and Euphoria.

Discovery that extended Sky's distribution of HBO original programming until Max launched in the United Kingdom and Ireland in early 2026.

[33] In January 2016, Sky expanded the acquired programming on Atlantic after purchasing the broadcast rights to Showtime programming; however, Sky Atlantic does not broadcast all Showtime programmes, as some series would later air on Channel 4 as part of a separate deal.

[34] The deal with Showtime expired in December 2021, with all future series becoming exclusive to Paramount+, while a separate agreement allowed Billions to continue on Sky.

[35] The following is a list of the ten most watched programmes on Sky Atlantic (all of them being episodes of Game of Thrones), based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB up to 20 May 2019.