MUMBAI: The Home of Box Office certainly wants to live up to its name. In a recent development Sky and HBO have extended their original drama commitment and output deal to at least 2020.

Under the new agreement, BSkyB and HBO will work together to develop and produce new drama series for broadcast on their networks in the UK, Ireland and US. Their goal will be to identify projects with the potential to run for multiple seasons and to commission these shows, with production to be jointly funded by the two companies.

The collaboration includes an extended content output deal to ensure that Sky Atlantic remains the exclusive home of first-run HBO programmes in Britain and Ireland through 2020.

The co-production agreement builds on the partnership that Sky and HBO have enjoyed since 2010. With the extended output deal, new HBO programmes - including True Detective and Looking - will continue to premiere exclusively on Sky Atlantic along with the return of award-winning shows such as Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire and Girls.

Sky Atlantic has become one of the strongest channel brands in British television in just three years since its launch and is currently rated among one of the top three must-have pay TV networks according to Sky customers.