• The Guardian, Monday, October 4, 2010 12:21 AM

British fans of "Mad Men" will have to pay to watch the series next year, with satellite broadcaster BSkyB understood to have offered significantly more than the BBC currently pays in an audacious swoop to snatch the show. Currently, the fictional exploits of Don Draper and his colleagues in the New York advertising world of the 1960s are available on free-to-air digital channel BBC4. But Sky is looking to add "Mad Men" to its stable of US imports, which will soon include HBO shows such as Martin Scorsese's critically lauded prohibition era drama "Boardwalk Empire."

BBC4 is currently airing the fourth series of Mad "Men" and the corporation has been in negotiations with the show's producer, Lionsgate, for series five and six. But Sky is understood to have put in a bid worth at least 25% more than the BBC paid for the last deal, committing to show "Mad Men" for as long as creator Matthew Weiner continues making the program. BBC sources claimed Sky was paying four times as much. Estimates of the value of the deal range between £5m and £10m, although the total amount Sky will pay depends on how long the show continues.

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