Comcast and Paramount Global’s streaming joint venture Sky Showtime officially debuted this week in a handful of countries, offering a single service to consume content from the libraries of both brands.
The service rolled out in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, where it replaced Paramount’s direct-to-consumer service Paramount Plus.
Sky Showtime offers blockbuster movies and television shows from Comcast’s NBC, Universal Pictures, Peacock and Dreamworks brands as well as Paramount’s Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Showtime, CBS, Paramount Pictures and MTV.
At launch, Sky Showtime will offer European television viewers access to thousands of hours of Comcast and Paramount movies and series, including “Yellowstone,” “Dexter,” “The Office,” “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” and “Halo.” Movies slated for debut on the service include “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Ambulance” and “Jurassic World: Dominion.”
“We’re excited for our customers to have exclusive access to the latest series and movie premieres from our iconic and world-renowned studios,” Monty Sarhan, the chief executive officer of Sky Showtime, said in a statement. “We look forward to sharing further details about launch dates for our other markets and bringing Sky Showtime to even more people across Europe.”
The service operates using the technical infrastructure of Comcast’s Peacock streaming service, which debuted in the United States two years ago. It is primarily available in European countries where Comcast does not offer Sky satellite service and where Paramount does not offer many linear pay television channels, if any.
At launch, the service will €7 a month in countries that use the Euro, and about the same in countries with local currencies. Some pay television companies are partnering with Comcast and Paramount to offer Sky Showtime at a reduced price or for free as part of a customer’s service, though this will vary between services and countries.
Sky Showtime is not expected to come to countries where Comcast operates the Sky satellite service. Instead, those countries will get localized version of Peacock and Paramount Plus. The company says Sky Showtime will be available in 18 languages across 20 European countries.
Other countries that are expected to get localized versions of Sky Showtime include Bulgaria, Hungary, Kosovo, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Spain. Both companies are rolling out the service to different parts of Europe over the coming months.
The Sky Showtime app will be available for Apple iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Android phones, Android tablets and Android TV (Google TV). The service will also be distributed as an app through some local cable and satellite providers.
