Malcolm in the middle now on fiver

I noticed malcolm in the middle has moved to fiver at various times so I guess sky only wants the similar programme " the middle" shown on sky now.
fiver has a habit of picking up other stations programmes it airs " 8 simple rules " from defunct abc`1 and "2 guys and a girl" from defunct trouble also "dharma and greg" .
so yippe to freeview viewers can now watch malcolm in the middle if they didn't have sky one when it was on there.

8 Simple Rules (for Dating My Teenage Daughter) has been on Fiver for at least 2 years
Dharma & Greg was added I think mid- last year
Malcolm in the middle started at the start of this year

Its sort of refreshed the afternoon block they have monday - friday

yeah I noticed 8 simple rules on there last year only noticed malcolm was on fiver gone from sky. so do sky sell malcolm to fiver or do fiver get it from malcolm in the middle makers or what.

They seem to be showing the first series of Malcolm in the Middle in 4:3. Even though I think it is available in 16:9. I don't know if this is the 'correct' way to show these episodes or not.

I'd assume that Sky held the rights for MITM but no longer wanted them, henceforth why Fiver picked them up from 20th Century Fox. It's the same with Channel 4 and Friends, the right to show them is expiring, C4 didn't want it so Comedy Central have picked the rights up from Warner Brothers Television.

I guess with the content changing of the main Sky channels that's going on at the moment it's probably safe to bet that some shows would disappear, especially ones like MITM that are no longer in production either.

Malcolm started in 4:3 - I remember reading somewhere perhaps DS that Sky used to/did broadcast it in the wrong ratio for a while, also something to do with the opening titles which were changed for UK broadcasting because of the content - not sure/cannot remember what it was. The opening titles did stay the same throughout which means it had to be stretched later on

Sky has played it from the start to the end at least 2 times since it finished and slowly moved it about , last year it must have had a final run in the afternoons about 4 or 5pm but I don't remember seeing the last series get another outing

EDIT: FIVER I think are showing it zoomed in to get a 16:9

Once a show moves from being available to all (Analogue/ DTT) to Satelite / Cable only, does this have a bearing on production of future series?

The 90's Superman series was originally on BBC One, apart from the final series which debuted on SKY One then followed a few weeks later on BBC One.

The same happened with the X Files.

I can understand the likes of SKY having the first run rights, but is any traditional terrestrial channel ever interested in the secondary rights thesedays?

What series no longer have a terrestrial screening, where they used to have one at some point?

Futurama springs to mind, it used to be on Channel 4 and Sky3 showed it for a while, but it's exclusive to Sky1 and Sky2 now.

They are not getting 16:9. They are showing it in 4:3. I think a 16:9 version exists though.

wow thanks for the info

Its full screen though so its not being played out the way it was intended and it doesn't look stretched

By 'full screen', I am assuming you mean full 16:9 screen. Are you sure your TV is set up to display 4:3 properly? The three episodes I caught a glimpse of on Fiver/Fiver+1 this afternoon were all in 4:3.