Prime Video Series Night Sky Reaches For The Stars With First-Ever Intergalactic Premiere. #NightSky
Prime Video, in conjunction with Amazon Web Services (AWS), SES, and Intelsat, beamed the first episode of the sci-fi drama series from Legendary Television into outer space just in time for the series premiere.
This marks not only the farthest distance from earth that a TV series has been distributed but also makes Prime Video the first streamer to distribute its content directly into space.
CULVER CITY, California — May 20, 2022 —Today, Prime Video, Amazon Web Services (AWS), satellite services providers SES and Intelsat “beamed” the first episode of the new sci-fi drama series Night Skyfrom Legendary Television into outer space, marking the first-ever intergalactic premiere for a TV series. Intelsat and SES leveraged AWS modernized cloud infrastructures to securely receive a pre-release of the first episode and their vast ground stations and geostationary satellite fleets to do a 360-degree broadcast of the show’s first episode into space. While broadcast signals sent out by ground stations are typically received and sent back by the satellites orbiting the Earth, this transmission will not and instead will continue to travel onwards to the outer reaches of the galaxy. Theoretically, this makes the broadcast available to anyone open to receiving satellite signals 384,000 kilometers away from earth and beyond — the equivalent distance from earth to the moon. This marks not only the farthest distance that a TV series has been intentionally distributed, but also makes Prime Video the first streamer to distribute its content directly into space.
Co-stars Chai Hansen and Kiah McKirnan virtually welcomed viewers to the intergalactic experience and encouraged anyone in the audience (that resides in one of Prime Video’s 240 countries and territories) to tune in to the show on May 20. The broadcast will occur in Ku- and C-band, common frequencies for satellite TV, media distribution, and communications.
“Night Sky is all about appreciating both the magical and the mundane in our everyday world. To be able to share this poignant story and amazing performances with those in the larger universe seems like the perfect way to launch this show,” said Vernon Sanders, Amazon Studios TV Head.
Spanning space and time, Night Sky follows Irene (Sissy Spacek) and Franklin York (J.K. Simmons), a couple who, years ago, discovered a chamber buried in their backyard which inexplicably leads to a strange, deserted planet. They’ve carefully guarded their secret ever since, but when an enigmatic young man (Chai Hansen) enters their lives, the Yorks’ quiet existence is quickly upended… and the mystifying chamber they thought they knew so well turns out to be much more than they could ever have imagined.
Night Sky is a co-production of Amazon Studios and Legendary Television (Carnival Row, Paper Girls) and is created and co-executive produced by Holden Miller, with Daniel C. Connolly serving as showrunner and executive producer. Mosaic’s Jimmy Miller and Sam Hansen serve as executive producers, along with Emmy- and BAFTA Award-winner Philip Martin (The Crown).
