It's a complicated thing to launch a new live TV show in the current streaming economy. People aren't necessarily all that used to tuning in at a given time any more, which makes the catch-up game fairly massive, as Sky doubtless knew when it first commissioned and then extended a run of episodes for Saturday Night Live UK.
This is a major moment in UK TV – the first time in a while that I can remember an institution like this coming over from the US to be replicated the way UK comedy wants to do it. SNL has been an icon in the States, but there's no pretending it's always on top of the world, so to launch it in the UK is a bold move.
