SkyShowtime reveals key execs as Paramount & Sky streamer preps for launch

Star Trek: Discovery

SkyShowtime, the soon-to-launch joint venture streamer from Comcast and Paramount, has revealed its senior management team, including the appointment of regional chiefs in CEE and Northern Europe.

Henriette Petersen has been named regional GM for Northern Europe and joins from Paramount, where she was director of marketing and helped to launch Paramount+ in the Nordics. She will lead the distribution and partnership team and work closely on marketing and content in the region.

Gabor Harsanyi takes the same role in Central and Eastern Europe, and also joins from Paramount, where he was GM for CEE, Austria and Switzerland. Harsanyi’s remit covers business development and negotiation of SkyShowtime partnerships across the region, including with distributors and third parties.

He previously worked at HBO and will report to CEO Monty Sarhan, who was appointed earlier this year.

Team structure

Other key appointments include NBCUniversal (NBCU) exec Josh Snow taking the chief product officer role.

Monty Sarhan

He previously worked on NBCU’s US streamer Peacock, on which SkyShowtime is based, and will lead the product, data and customer service teams for the streamer, which gained EU regulatory approval earlier this year.

Sky duo Francesca Pierce and Jen McAleer become CFO and chief brand officer respectively, while Richard Howard joins as chief marketing officer. He was most recently at NBCU, where he was SVP of marketing for its reality steamer Hayu.

Snow, Pierce and McAleer report into Sarhan, while Howard reports into McAleer.

Background

SkyShowtime was first revealed in mid-2021 and will offer TV, movies and original series from the NBCUniversal, Sky and Paramount portfolio of brands, including titles from Showtime, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, Paramount+ Originals, Sky Studios, Universal Pictures, and Peacock.

It will launch in markets outside of Sky’s existing pay TV and OTT footprint, with most of the focus to be placed on Eastern and Northern Europe.

This includes: 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.

Sarhan said: “These talented individuals bring a wealth of expertise from across the industry and will play a critical role in the success of SkyShowtime. I know all of them will work passionately and enthusiastically to drive our business forward as we gear up for our upcoming launches across Europe.”

Pricing and launch dates will be announced at a later date.