When I hear someone reference SkyShowtime, I sometimes forget that it exists. The European-only joint venture between Paramount and Comcast to bring the two flagship services, Paramount+ and the US-only Peacock, together is struggling. This isn’t new. But every other news about the service, not about content, inches closer and closer to them raising the white flags.
Today, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the two companies were reviewing their strategic options for SkyShowtime, including shutting down the service entirely. When the service first launched nearly 5 years ago, Paramount closed Paramount+ in those regions and pushed subscribers to use that service instead.
This news is circulating amid the Warner Bros. merger (still pending legal litigation) and the lack of need for the venture on Paramount’s side. And I agree to that.
Paramount really doesn’t need multiple services worldwide. Just one singular Paramount+ SVOD and Pluto TV for FAST and AVOD. They’ve closed BET+ (and still the content is thriving on P+) and have already discussed integrating HBO Max and Discovery+ once the merger is complete. The same can’t be said for Comcast.
Speaking of them, Comcast is in the middle of a corporate spin-off of NBCUniversal after 15 years together. Not only that, Peacock is not available outside the US as a standalone platform, but only through deals with other services like SkyShowtime to stream their content. Peacock just achieved profitability 6 years after launching.
I do think NBCUniversal will see Paramount’s divestiture in this venture (mind you, SkyShowtime is not profitable), but they’ll continue the service by themselves and merge the soon-to-be-owned ITVX service in the UK and turn that into Peacock for those regions
But as I stated above, Paramount does not need this service to survive. Reuniting the service with Paramount+ will greatly benefit those in the region. Then again, maybe it’s to slowly kill off the Showtime brand.
