SkyShowtime will complete its European roll-out this month with two remaining launches in Spain and Andorra, Variety can reveal.
The two markets, which will launch on Feb. 28, take SkyShowtime’s footprint to over 20 markets and completes its European configuration, allowing the platform to now focus on building out a premium content offering that will help it compete with Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+ in Europe.
The service is also establishing itself amid a turbulent time for one of its namesake brands. Paramount Global revealed earlier this month that legacy brand Showtime will be renamed as “Paramount+ With Showtime” in a bid to integrate streaming service Paramount+ across both linear and streaming platforms. Showtime co-presidents Gary Levine and Jana Winograde are also exiting their current posts amid the shake-up at the pay-TV channel.
But don’t expect the Showtime brand to disappear from the European streaming service anytime soon. SkyShowtime CEO Monty Sarhan tells Variety that the “Showtime” component of his streamer is here to stay.
“The way I see it is that, as part of the joint venture, these two companies gave us two of their most premium brands,” says Sarhan. “The Sky brand is premium, and Showtime is a premium brand. So we’re extremely proud of the SkyShowtime brand.”
While the exec wouldn’t comment on Paramount Global’s decision to integrate the brands, he noted that “Showtime will continue to create great, amazing series, and we’re going to be the home for that.”
Sarhan joined SkyShowtime as CEO in February 2022, shortly after the service received regulatory approval in Europe. The exec has experience with both Comcast and Paramount Global over the course of his career: he joined Comcast Cable in December 2019 as senior VP of content acquisition, where he was responsible for a multi-billion-dollar content budget. Prior to that, he was executive VP and general manager at MGM’s Epix, which began life as a ViacomCBS joint venture.
First announced in August 2021, SkyShowtime was positioned as a streaming solution for both Comcast and Paramount Global that would target the European markets that weren’t already being served, respectively, by Now TV and Peacock or Paramount+.
The streamer’s roll-out began in September 2022 when the service debuted in the Nordics, launching across Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, followed by the Netherlands and Portugal in October. SkyShowtime ended 2022 by entering Central and Eastern Europe for the first time.
On Tuesday, the service launches across the rest of its CEE markets, including Albania, Czechia, Hungary, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. Sarhan was speaking to Variety from Warsaw, Poland, where preparations were underway for the Tuesday launch. Meanwhile, the final Spain and Andorra launches will take place on Feb. 28.
Sarhan credits the Peacock platform, which is based on Comcast technology, for the company’s ability to launch in 20-plus markets in just over five months. “It’s a really stable, scalable platform. It’s one of the best streaming [services] out there. We’re talking about a platform that was able to have two of the largest sporting events [the Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl in February 2022] on at the same time, on the same night.”
Sarhan’s team struck a major content deal in January when it acquired 21 European HBO Max originals spanning 168 episodes of local original scripted shows, including three series that hadn’t even launched yet. These will now be labelled as SkyShowtime originals. The shows include “ID” (Finland and Sweden), “The Winner” (Czechia and Slovakia), and “Warszawianka” (Poland). Additionally, the second season of “Por H o Por B” (Spain) will also premiere on SkyShowtime.
Discussing the deal, the executive said talks began with Warner Bros. Discovery “early on” but wouldn’t specify a timeframe. (As revealed by Variety in July, WBD restructured its ambitions for European originals as part of a major shake-up of its local commissioning strategy.)
“As a service that was created for these markets, it’s incredibly important for us that we connect with audiences in all of our markets,” says Sarhan. “We have six offices throughout Europe; we have local teams on the ground that cover marketing, distribution, partnerships, programming, PR — all of it. And part of being connected to these markets is having local, original programming that speaks to them.”
The exec added that the three never-before-seen programs that are becoming automatic SkyShowtime originals were a real “driver” for the deal.
“This deal was a way for us to really accelerate our entry into original programming by several years,” Sarhan explains. “If we hadn’t gone into original programming through acquisitions, we wouldn’t probably be premiering original programming for at least two to three years. So this really accelerated our plans in a big and significant way.”
Sarhan notes that original programming from SkyShowtime — rather than premium fare shared from Paramount+, Showtime or Sky — will be a growing focus in the future in order to speak directly to the distinct European markets the streamer is operating in.
“We’re ramping up our programming team, and there’s going to be people throughout each of our markets,” says Sarhan. “We will be talking to writers and producers and start to evaluate projects and put things into development.”
