Early reports suggest that satellite broadcaster Sky has snatched the rights to show the third series of Lost from under the nose of Channel 4, the current home to the sci-fi show.

“Sky has just poached Lost from Channel 4,” an insider at Broadcast magazine told Absolute Gadget.

“It will start showing season three ‘very soon’." 

The move will delight fans of the show who have a Sky subscription, as Channel 4 had been delaying its broadcast until well after the US series had aired.

Episode one of series three was shown last week on America’s ABC network, but would most likely not have started until next spring on Channel 4.

Eager UK viewers unhappy with that delay have been flocking to BitTorrent websites to keep up to date with the US audience, making it the most downloaded show on most Torrent sites.

However, losing the show to Sky means it may take even longer for Lost to reach UK terrestrial viewers.

UPDATE: Sky's website confirms that Lost series three will air in November.

"The new series of the massively popular, award-winning series LOST debuts this November on Sky One," the story says.