Stuart Murphy
Director of Entertainment @ Sky UK
London, United Kingdom
Stuart Murphy is a Series A investor at Sky UK in London focused on Content and Software. Stuart Murphy has been Director, Sky Entertainment Channels since 2013, with overall responsibility for Sky1, Sky Living, Sky Atlantic, Sky Arts, Challenge and Pick TV, as well as the commissioning teams in Comedy, Drama, Factual and Entertainment. He is a board member of Jaunt, a tech start up in San Francisco.Stuart joined Sky as Director ofProgrammes, Sky1 in May 2009. He reduced the number of shows on Sky1 by a third, increased the cost per hour and as a result improved peak ratings in the first 12 months by 37%. He moved the channel in favour of commissions over US shows, and Sky1 now commissions more hours of drama than Channel4. Sky1 hits included Got To Dance (which sold to 8 territories including CBS), An Idiot Abroad (now in 37 territories and the third highest rating show on Sky1 in 20 years), BAFTA winning A League Of Their Own (in season 8), Stella (the highest rating UK comedy in Pay TV and BAFTA nominated), Mad Dogs (BAFTA nominated), Pineapple Dance Studios (BAFTA nominated), Moone Boy (winner of an International Emmy Award and 3 IFTA’s) and Modern Family. Strike Back, An Idiot Abroad and Treasure Island were the first Sky originations to be nominated for Emmy’s. In 2011 Sky1 won Channel of the Year for the first time ever.In September 2010 he was made Director of Commissioning, responsible for originations across the Sky wholly owned channel portfolio.In February 2011 he launched Sky Atlantic, the result of a multi year exclusive output deal between Sky and HBO. He commissioned Hunderby (winner 2 British Comedy Awards and BAFTA nominated), Paul Abbott drama Hit + Miss starring Chloe Sevigny, and Steve Coogan’s Places Of My Life (BAFTA winning). Within a year Sky Atlantic became responsible for 15% of all new subscribers joining Sky.In April 2012, he was appointed Director, Entertainment Channels. In this period, Sky Living comedy Doll and Em became the first Sky show ever to be sold to HBO, A Touch of Cloth won Best Comedy at the Broadcast Awards, A Young Doctor’s Notebook Best Multichannel Programme and An Act of Killing won a BAFTA Film Award as well as being nominated for an Oscar, David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive won a BAFTA and The Green Prince doc opened Sundance.Previous roles Stuart has held include Creative Director at Twofour Productions; Creative Director at RDF and the first Controller of BBC Three, commissioning Little Britain, Gavin and Stacey, Torchwood, Nighty Night, Bodies and parenting shows. Under his Controllership, BBC Three won Broadcast and MGEITF Channel of the Year. Before then he ran BBC Choice, UK Play and worked on shows such as The Sunday Show, Great Railway Journeys, The Big Breakfast and Reportage.He went to school in Leeds, studied Geography at Clare College, Cambridge, has two sons, and boxes.
- Total investments:
- 3
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 33%
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries Stuart Murphy invests in
Stages Stuart Murphy invests in
Countries Stuart Murphy invests in
Investment Focus
Industry
- Content 1 (33%)
- Software 1 (33%)
- Digital Media 1 (33%)
- Virtual Reality 1 (33%)
- Enterprise Software 1 (33%)
Stage
- Series A 1 (33%)
- Series B 1 (33%)
- Series C 1 (33%)
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
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Jaunt is developing the software, tools, and applications to enable cinematic VR and put the power of virtual reality in the hands of today’s best content creators. Jaunt’s proprietary algorithms for complex computational photography allow content producers to create incredible immersive cinematic VR experiences using existing production software.The company’s investors include The Walt Disney Company, Highland Capital Partners, Google Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Peter Gotcher, Blake Krikorian, and British Sky Broadcasting (corporate.sky.com). Experience more at www.jauntvr.com. | $65M / Series C / Sep 21, 2015 | |
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Jaunt is developing the software, tools, and applications to enable cinematic VR and put the power of virtual reality in the hands of today’s best content creators. Jaunt’s proprietary algorithms for complex computational photography allow content producers to create incredible immersive cinematic VR experiences using existing production software.The company’s investors include The Walt Disney Company, Highland Capital Partners, Google Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Peter Gotcher, Blake Krikorian, and British Sky Broadcasting (corporate.sky.com). Experience more at www.jauntvr.com. | $27.8M / Series B / Aug 21, 2014 | |
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Jaunt is developing the software, tools, and applications to enable cinematic VR and put the power of virtual reality in the hands of today’s best content creators. Jaunt’s proprietary algorithms for complex computational photography allow content producers to create incredible immersive cinematic VR experiences using existing production software.The company’s investors include The Walt Disney Company, Highland Capital Partners, Google Ventures, Redpoint Ventures, Peter Gotcher, Blake Krikorian, and British Sky Broadcasting (corporate.sky.com). Experience more at www.jauntvr.com. | $6.8M / Series A / Apr 03, 2014 |
Co-Investors
About Sky UK
Sky is Europe’s leading Entertainment Company, serving 22 million customers across satellite, OTT and broadband in five countries: Italy, Germany, Austria, the UK and Ireland. Sky offers the best and broadest range of content, deliver market-leading customer service and use innovative new technology to give customers a better TV experience,whenever and wherever they choose.
Sky UK Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
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Andrew Olson
Executive Vice President
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Jeremy Darroch
Group Chief Executive
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Stuart Murphy
Director of Entertainment
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Andrew Griffith
Chief Financial Officer
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FAQ
What does Stuart Murphy invest in?
Stuart Murphy invests primarily in Content, Software and Digital Media startups, most often at Series A and Series B stage. Most of the 3 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
When did Stuart Murphy last invest?
The most recent investment recorded for Stuart Murphy closed in Sep 2015. Shizune tracks 3 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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