by Thinus Ferreira
America's Comcast pay-TV operator that owns Sky in the United Kingdom, and ViacomCBS announced on Wednesday afternoon that they will be launching SkyShowtime as a new video streaming service across Europe as a new joint venture.
SkyShowtime will launch in 2022 in more than 20 European countries, including Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Kosovo, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden, reaching around 90 million homes.
"SkyShowtime will bring together decades of direct-to-consumer experience and the very best entertainment, movies, and original series from the NBCUniversal, Sky and ViacomCBS portfolio of brands, including titles from Showtime, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+ Originals, Sky Studios, Universal Pictures, and Peacock," Comcast,Sky Group and ViacomCBS said in a joint statement.
"The service's vast slate will span all genres and audience categories, including scripted dramas, kids and family, key franchises, premiere movies, local programming, documentaries/factual content and more."
"SkyShowtime will be home to 10 000+ hours of entertainment from some of the top creators and most beloved content from around the world.
Raffaele Annecchino, president and CEO of ViacomCBS Networks International, in the statement says "With the launch of SkyShowtime we are well-positioned to utilise our global content engine to create a compelling streaming offering, quickly and at scale, with a smart strategic phased investment".
"As a complement to our recently announced Paramount+ partnership with Sky in the United Kingdom, Italy, and Germany, SkyShowtime represents a huge opportunity to accelerate our market expansion and build a leadership position in SVOD in Europe."
Dana Strong, Sky CEO, says "Our new streaming service, SkyShowtime, will combine the best of the United States and Europe with iconic brands and world-class entertainment for millions of consumers in more than 20 new markets in Europe".
"On the heels of Peacock coming to Sky, this partnership provides an innovative approach to quickly scale internationally and monetise content across Europe."
"Drawing on the strength of the incredible programming from NBCUniversal, Sky and ViacomCBS, and powered by Peacock's platform technology, SkyShowtime will provide a truly compelling lineup for the whole family and strong brand recognition across these regions."
South African consumers and viewers across sub-Saharan Africa are still waiting for possible local launches like international streamers like Paramount+, HBO Max, Peacock, and Discovery+,with the Walt Disney Company that announced last week that it will launch Disney+ in South Africa from around June 2022.
BritBox SA just launched, together with South Africa's eMedia launching e.tv's streamer eVOD, with both joining the existing Netflix SA, MultiChoice's Showmax, Amazon Prime Video, TelkomONE, Apple TV+, AcornTV, Vodacom's Video Play and a few smaller streaming services.
MultiChoice offers Netflix and Amazon Prime Video as integrated streaming partner apps on its DStv Explora Ultra decoder but is far behind the streaming app services offered by Sky to its subscribers in the United Kingdom.
