What are the prospects for the new international streaming service SkyShowtime in Central and Eastern Europe?
It’s now 15 months since it was announced that Comcast had entered into a partnership with ViacomCBS to launch the service, which it was planned would be made available in 22 European markets. It finally made its debut in the Nordics on September 20 this year, followed by the Netherlands and Portugal on October 25. Now we have learned that its rollout into the remaining markets, almost all of which are in the CEE region, will be undertaken in two stages, on December 14 and in Q1 2023.
Earlier this week I spoke with Monty Sarhan, the CEO of SkyShowtime, about the service and why he believes it will prove a success in CEE. In his view, this will be first and foremost because of its compelling content, being the home, for instance, for Paramount Pictures and Universal Pictures first releases.
SkyShowtime will also be affordable, with the service committed to deliver the most value for consumers. It is already priced below Netflix, HBO Max and Disney+ and in the case of CEE its cost will be different from territory to territory.
Sarhan said he disagreed with the view that the streaming market in CEE is already crowded. Streaming has only been around for 15 years and the region’s markets are still growing.
He also said that SkyShowtime is committed to local productions and will be launching in markets where Paramount+ is not available. The service is part of Sky’s, and indeed Paramount’s, expansion into what are non-Sky markets.
There is a clear focus on localisation in the 22 markets SkyShowtime will eventually be available – Sarhan said there are at present no plans for further expansion in Europe – with the service supporting 18 languages and dubbed into four others, including Polish.
While it is hard to predict how SkyShowtime will perform in CEE, it will certainly offer something different. Priced correctly, it should be able to establish itself in even the region’s most competitive streaming markets.
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