ViacomCBS announced Aug. 5 that it is bringing the Paramount+ streaming service to Europe through a collaboration with Sky.
The multi-year distribution agreement includes the extended carriage of ViacomCBS’ portfolio of pay TV channels and the renewal of Sky as an ad sales partner in select markets.
Raffaele Annecchino, ViacomCBS Networks international president and CEO, commented on the partnership.
"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+ to new audiences in all Sky markets, including the UK, Ireland, Italy and Austria," Annecchino said. "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."
Stephen van Rooyen, executive vice president and chief executive for the UK and Europe at Sky shared his excitement with the agreement.
“This is another example of how we are innovating for our customers and further aggregating all the best apps and content together in one place on Sky Q, giving them more great TV to watch than ever before," he said. "Paramount+ is an excellent service with a huge range of fantastic films and TV series, and our new, broader agreement with ViacomCBS will benefit both businesses.”
Paramount+ will use the Sky platform to offer 10,000 hours of content for subscribers in Europe, according to a ViacomCBS press release. By doing this, Paramount+ will be available to consumers in the UK, Italy, Ireland, Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
A number of new titles and programs will be available starting in 2022 for subscribers in those countries including "Halo," "The Offer," "iCarly," "The Man Who Fell to Earth," "Ripley, Super Pumped," "American Gigolo," "Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years," "Star Trek: Prodigy," "MTV Unplugged," and several Paramount+ Originals.