Spooks - International Broadcasts and DVD Sales

International Broadcasts and DVD Sales

All of the programmes were filmed on Super 16 and are not available in HD/Blu-ray.

In the United States, the commercial-free and viewer-supported Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) began airing the show under the title MI-5 in January 2009, beginning with Series 1. For the first time, the episodes are being broadcast full-length and in widescreen (1.78:1) format. This is the third network to attempt a successful airing of the show. Series 1 – 4 were broadcast on cable channel A&E from 2003 to 2006, however ratings were poor, and after a marathon showing of Series 4, the show was removed from the schedule. In 2007 and 2008, BBC America aired MI-5, withdrawing the show from its schedule mid-Series 4, again a victim of ratings. Due to the need to insert commercial breaks, the episodes broadcast on commercial stations (A&E and BBC America) in the U.S. were edited for time, with each 59-minute installment edited down to roughly 45 minutes, and were presented in full screen (1.33:1) format. The full-length episodes were broadcast on some cable "On Demand" services and are available on DVD.

In Canada the series was also screened uncut and unedited on BBC Canada, a speciality digital cable channel, under its original BBC title Spooks. However, this was stopped after Series 3 because the U.S. A&E channel had exclusive rights to future viewings in Canada and was showing the episodes as well. Since then, BBC Canada has resumed showing the series and began showing Series 5 to Canadian viewers on 26 August 2007.

BBC shows Spooks on its entertainment channel BBC Prime in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The programme is also aired as Spooks in Australia and New Zealand on ABC and TVNZ respectively. It is syndicated on the Foxtel Pay-TV channel UKTV. In New Zealand Spooks has since 2008 being broadcast on Sky Network Television at 9:30 pm Tuesday, and is presently up to Series 9 as of Tuesday 26 April 2011. Season 9 begins on the ABC on Saturday 2 April.

In Sweden it airs as Spooks on Kanal 9. As of winter 2010 both series 1 and 7 are broadcast. (Though the first two series were broadcast by SVT1 or SVT2, the Swedish commercial-free public service channels.)

In France the programme is called MI-5 and broadcast on Canal Plus, France 2 and France 4.

In Denmark several series have been aired on the DR2 public channel, under its original name, Spooks.

In Finland the show is called Erikoisjoukkue and it was first aired on YLE TV1 (Series 1 and 2) and then MTV3 started airing the programme from Series 1.

In Belgium Spooks was broadcast on the Flemish public channel Canvas (Series 1-4) and on the French Belgian channel RTBF. The Flemish channel Acht (only for Digital TV subscribers) broadcasted series 5 till 8, series 9 is to be broadcasted from November 2011.

In the Netherlands Spooks is aired on the channel Nederland 3.

In the Czech Republic it is called MI5 and is aired on ČT1.

In Israel the first two series were aired under the name spooks in Hebrew ("HAMERAGLIM") on Channel 2; later on, a few more series were aired on the cable TV ("HOT 3" channel) under the name MI-5. The educational national TV ("HINUCHIT 23", 23 channel) aired the show from the first series to the 9th. The 10th series hasn't yet been shown in Israel.

In Slovenia it was aired on Kanal A as Tajni agenti, with Slovene subtitles.

In Croatia on HRT 2 as Obavještajci, (Intelligence Agents). It is broadcast in English with Croatian subtitles as opposed to being dubbed.

In Southeast Asia Spooks is aired through the Hallmark Channel.

In India Spooks is aired on the channel BBC Entertainment.

In Brazil the series is screened on People + Arts, cable channel, under the title Dupla Identidade (Double Identity). In Argentina the same channel screens it as Doble Identidad (also Double Identity).

In Iceland the series is shown on RUV (The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service) on Tuesdays at 22:25 as Spooks.

Spooks is shown in Hungary under Titkosszolgálat – MI5 (Secret Service – MI5) on Hungarian Television (channel: M1).

In Germany the series began airing under the title Spooks – Im Visier des MI5 on pay television on the German Fox Channel on 3 September 2008 with new episodes Thursdays and repeats through the following days. On 2 September 2009 the new digital free-to-air channel ZDFneo began airing the series on Monday night with a repeat on Tuesday night on the parent channel ZDF.

In Mexico the series is shown on BBC Entertainment on the SKY México satellite network under the title MI-5.

In Bulgaria the series is shown on Bulgarian National Television Channel 1 (Bulgarian: БНТ Канал 1) as Phantoms (Bulgarian: Фантоми). As of January 2010 series 7 is being aired.

In Serbia, the show airs on FOX Serbia.