ViacomCBS and Comcast Corporation’s Sky Group have signed a distribution agreement that will allow Sky subscribers in the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe to access the blockbuster streaming service Paramount Plus.
The deal announced on Thursday will give Sky’s satellite and broadband customers in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy first bite at more than 10,000 hours of content from across the ViacomCBS portfolio of network, including the CBS network, MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, Showtime and Paramount Pictures.
The Paramount Plus app will be distributed through Sky Q, the smart television operating platform accessible through Sky’s line of Internet-connected set-top boxes. In the future, Paramount Plus will also be available on Apple and Android-powered devices.
“We are thrilled to expand our long-standing partnership with Sky to continue delivering ViacomCBS’ leading portfolio of premium entertainment brands to Sky customers and importantly bring Paramount Plus to new audiences in all Sky markets,” Raffaele Annecchino, the executive in charge of ViacomCBS’ international networks, said in a press release on Thursday. “This transformative distribution deal is key to accelerating our global ambitions in streaming while also supporting Sky’s strategic objectives to better serve audiences with greater flexibility in how they consume our content across all platforms.”
In the United Kingdom, Sky customers who subscribe to the premium multiplex movie network Sky Cinema will be able to access Paramount Plus for free.
Pricing information for other Sky subscribers was not revealed, with ViacomCBS said an announcement on that front would be made at a later date . In the United States, Paramount Plus costs $6 a month with advertisements or $10 a month for a commercial-free experience.
Also on Thursday, ViacomCBS and Comcast announced they had reached an agreement to continue distributing linear channels through Sky satellite and the streaming service Now TV.
Those channels include regional variants of Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon as well as the British TV network Channel 5.
Sky Group will also continue to serve as a video advertisement partner for ViacomCBS across all of its channels and platforms in the United Kingdom and Italy, the companies said.
