Exclusive: SkyShowtime CEO Monty Sarhan on windows, originals & parental responsibilities

A Town Called Malice will head to SkyShowtime when existing contacts expire

SkyShowtime is the new(ish) kid on the streaming block in Europe. Irene Jiménez speaks to CEO Monty Sarhan about parental responsibilities, windowing & local programming potential

Created for the European market, SkyShowtime is in some ways the streamer of our times – a pragmatic product from parents, Comcast and Paramount Global.

The streamer completed its roll-out in late February by launching in Spain and Andorra, with a footprint that now stetches far and wide: from Albania, Croatia and Poland in the East; to Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland in the North; and the Netherlands and Portugal further West and South. In total, it reaches more than 90 million households across 20 countries.

The catalogue is based on series and movies from Comcast and Paramount-owned entities, including Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures, but also Paramount+, Showtime, Sky Studios and Peacock.

For SkyShowtime’s CEO Monty Sarhan, the “breadth and depth” of shows from the Comcast and Paramount-owned catalogues is key, with the streamer’s chief reeling off US titles such as Yellowstone, Tulsa King and Halo among available IP.

“Building an audience over time and creating conversation happens when you drop one episode per week – not dropping the entire series all at once” Monty Sarhan, SkyShowtime

But local originals also have a big part to play and are in the works under former BBC Studios exec Jon Farrar, whose team is expanding. Sarhan has been touring Europe over recent months to launch the service and his last stop was Madrid, where the local team, led by VP & regional GM of Iberia, Raquel Berzosa, threw a party around Bosé, the biopic of famous Spanish author and singer Miguel Bosé. It was first launched on Paramount+ in the US in November but has also been labelled as a SkyShowtime original.

“We feel that local originals are incredibly important,” Sarhan tells TBI, “especially because we are a service created for Europe and dedicated to these markets. People want stories that they can relate to, that are meaningful, that are authentic.”

Original visions

The CEO, who was previously SVP of content acquisitions at Comcast Cable, adds that it is “too early” to say how many exclusive productions SkyShowtime will produce and launch per year. The platform is, he adds, “in the process of ramping up, we are building the teams across our seven offices and we will have original programming executives throughout Europe committed to bringing the best content. We are already speaking to production companies, writers and showrunners about bringing original series to market.”

Among the companies belonging to Comcast and Paramount Global is US-based Spanish-language brand Telemundo and Sarhan says the streamer is “talking to them about projects.” There also conversations being held with VIS (ViacomCBS International Studios), which produces in Spain, Italy, Germany, the UK and the US, and the CEO talks up the considerable production might at his disposal.

“We are incredible lucky to have shareholders that are two of the largest production companies in the world and which produce content not only in the US and UK, but throughout the world,”, says Sarhan.

All genres are of interest, the exec continues, adding that he is open to different models. “When you are launching a new service, it is more about finding the best stories. Some of these stories may be co-productions, some may be developed in-house and there might be acquisitions. We are less focused on what the business model is and more focused on storytelling.”

Picking up HBO’s baton

Underlining SkyShowtime’s pragmatic approach to deal-making was its eyebrow-raising acquisition of 21 HBO Max Europe originals earlier this year (totalling 168 episodes that run to 150+ hours). Shows are being rebranded as SkyShowtime originals and include three brand-new series that have completed production and will have their world premiere on the service in 2023: ID (Finland and Sweden), The Winner (Czech Republic and Slovakia), and Warszawianka (Poland).

The second season of Spanish comedy series Por H O Por B was also included and, for Sarhan, it was a “landmark deal”, which also hands SkyShowtime the option to acquire worldwide rights on any renewed shows as well as an option on new seasons for several series.

Yet the existence of the streamer is set to fragment the content offering across Europe even more: dramas such as Showtime’s Yellowjackets and Nickelodeon’s kids series Paw Patrol are available in Europe through different pay-TV services and channels at present, but, when the pre-existing contractual agreements expire, SkyShowtime will become the home for programming from Paramount+, Peacock, Sky Studios, Showtime, and other labels. It means another influx of programming, ranging from Sky’s A Town Called Malice to Paramount+ film adaptation Fatal Attraction, as well as Grease: Rise Of The Pink Ladies, Lioness and Rabbit Hole.

Original series Bosé first launched on Paramount+ in the US

‘Create conversation, build interest’

There will also be less binging with SkyShowtime and more considered consumption, and the aim, Sarhan says, is to premiere episodes for new shows on a weekly basis.

“There might be some cases when we may drop two episodes at launch, but we believe in building an audience over time and growing the audience, creating conversation and generating interest,” he explains of the strategy. “And that happens when you drop one episode per week versus dropping the entire series all at once.”

As part of the launch campaign, SkyShowtime has also offered a ‘half-price for life’ discount for a limited time. In the case of the Spanish market, it meant a competitive fee of €2.99 ($3.26) per month, the cheapest SVOD monthly subscription in the country, where Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max, Disney+, AMC+, Apple TV+ and numerous other national platforms operate.

“The discount is performing tremendously well so far,” Sarhan says. “Our everyday price is lower that Netflix’s, Disney+’s, HBO Max’s.”
London-based Sarhan is also clear when asked about the volume business – the pillar of many streaming platforms, at least, so far.

“We are all about quality – quality trumps quantity. Richard Plepler [former chairman & CEO at HBO] used to say, ‘more is not better, only better is better’.

“We subscribe to that same philosophy, especially nowadays, when we are living in an attention economy where people spend countless hours looking for something to watch.

“SkyShowtime wants to be the place that welcomes audiences because they know that they can find something of quality to watch. It is about curation, about content that is meaningful to audiences. We don’t want to be in the volume business. We just want to be the home for great content and stories.”