MIPTV HONOURS JEREMY DARROCH AND SKY GROUP WITH INAUGURAL SDG AWARD

Paris, 20 February 2020 - MIPTV today announces Sky as the recipient of its newly created SDG Award which will be presented for the first time at MIPTV 2020.

In support of the United Nations, and in line with the Decade of Action for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Reed MIDEM, a member of the SDG Media Compact*, is launching the annual MIPTV SDG Award to honour media companies for their action and contribution to delivering the Sustainable Development Goals. The first Award will be dedicated to the Climate Action/ Life Below Water Goals.

Jeremy Darroch, Group Chief Executive, Sky, will be presented with the award after a selection process led by Reed MIDEM in consultation with the United Nations.

Jeremy Darroch, Group Chief Executive, Sky, said: Receiving this award at its inaugural presentation is fantastic recognition of our people's passion to implement and deliver the Sustainable Development Goals across the organisation. Business is fundamentally connected to the environment it operates in, which means it has a duty to protect it. That's why at Sky we've set our target to be net zero carbon by 2030. We need to take action now - because the world can't wait.

Laurine Garaude, Director of Television Division, said: Reed MIDEM and our partners at the United Nations are very proud to honour Jeremy Darroch and Sky Group with this inaugural MIPTV SDG Award. The aim of the award is to recognize and encourage media and entertainment companies around the world to leverage their resources and creative talent to advance the Sustainable Development Goals. There is no doubt that the focus and dedication Sky have put behind their campaigning has achieved that.

Sky is a leading voice in tackling global issues and setting the highest standards in sustainability and responsibility and has been instrumental in raising awareness and taking action on environmental issues.

Sky was the first media company in the world to go carbon neutral in 2006 and announced earlier this month the intention to #GoZero achieving net zero carbon by 2030. This commitment means Sky will cut the emissions created by people using its products, its suppliers across the world and from its own business operations, including making every Sky original TV and film production net zero carbon.

Jeremy Darroch, Group CEO of Sky, has spearheaded Sky's industry leading activity in this area. His focus on Sky's responsibility as a business to instigate change and his tenacity in driving it through all areas of the business has been instrumental in delivering tangible action in the sector and beyond

Sky's Rainforest Rescue campaign raised £9m and saved one billion trees in Brazil, while also supporting local people to make a sustainable living from the forest. Sky Ocean Rescue, launched in 2017, has been instrumental in raising awareness and taking action to solve the ocean plastics crisis. More than 50 million people have so far interacted with the campaign and more than 220 MPS and MEPs have signed up to the initiative.

Sky is also on track to have eliminated all single-use plastics from its business by the end of 2020, having removed over 300 tonnes from its operations, products and supply chain. It's also investing in solutions to turn off the plastics tap with £25million impact investment fund, Sky Ocean Ventures, which to date is supporting 18 starts-up with innovative environmental ideas.

The MIPTV SDG Award, one of the highlights of the MIPTV 2020 programme, will take place in the form of a Keynote session to be held in the main Debussy Auditorium on March 31st afternoon.

Notes To Editors:

*The SDG Media Compact is a United Nations initiative designed to encourage media and entertainment companies to help mobilize action on the Sustainable Development Goals. The Compact currently has 90 members from around the world. For more information, see www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sdg-media-compact-about.

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. You can find more information here and on our recent Sky Zero commitments here.

About MIPTV: MIPTV (30 March-2 April 2020, Cannes) is the Global Content Market for the Future. MIPTV 20.20 is a reimagined experience that not only serves the needs of the distribution market today but also helps the content industry to prepare for the future. It will enrich the market experience by connecting people in new ways and presenting fresh content along with exclusi

LINK:	https://pressroom.miptv.com/press-release-en/miptv-honoursnbspjeremy-d...
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