• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Paramount Plus in Europe

Char Kais

Char Kais

Commander
Red Shirt
What is going on with Paramount Plus in Europe?

After the announcement back in August that Paramount Plus would launch on Sky in Europe, there has been no further information.

Yesterday this article was published:

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/comcast-viacomcbs-skyshowtime-1235170017/

Comcast, ViacomCBS Get Full Regulatory Approval for SkyShowtime Streaming Service

It will launch in Europe later this year.
Details on pricing is still to come.
Click to expand...


The article is about "SkyShowtime" not about "Paramount Plus".

The list of countries where SkyShowtime will roll out does not include the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Ireland and is in line with this list that separates countries with Paramount Plus on Sky and Paramount Plus on SkyShowtime.

h1n6lIW.png

FKrgbOfVcAUoDzZ


Why does ViacomCBS split Paramount Plus in Europe this way?
 
Perhaps, it is to do with different regulations in different parts of Europe, what services are already availble in different parts of Europe.
 
MacLeod said:
Perhaps, it is to do with different regulations in different parts of Europe, what services are already availble in different parts of Europe.
Click to expand...

Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Apple TV don't seem to have these problems.


It is also a strange separation of European countries.

It's not about EU or non-EU membership.
The SkyShowtime region includes a lot of east and southeast European countries, some with EU membership and some without.
The Nordic countries are also in the SkyShowtime region, and again, some with EU and non-EU (Norway) membership.
Two west European countries are in the SkyShowtime region and no information about Greece at all.

What does "regulatory approval" in Norway and Serbia (non-EU countries) have to do with "regulatory approval" in Spain and Sweden (EU countries)?

It's a bizarre list. I can't discern geographic, cultural, economic, or regulatory authority boundaries.
 
Last edited:
Paramount are just so incompetent. Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Apple all manage to do this right. Paramount not only fail miserably in taking peoples money, they region lock their advertising materials!
 
Char Kais said:
Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, and Apple TV don't seem to have these problems.


It is also a strange separation of European countries.

It's not about EU or non-EU membership.
The SkyShowtime region includes a lot of east and southeast European countries, some with EU membership and some without.
The Nordic countries are also in the SkyShowtime region, and again, some with EU and non-EU (Norway) membership.
Two west European countries are in the SkyShowtime region and no information about Greece at all.

What does "regulatory approval" in Norway and Serbia (non-EU countries) have to do with "regulatory approval" in Spain and Sweden (EU countries)?

It's a bizarre list. I can't discern geographic, cultural, economic, or regulatory authority boundaries.
Click to expand...

Each country with Europe will also likely have its own regulatory body, for example in the UK TV would fall under Ofcom.
 
Paul Weaver said:
they region lock their advertising materials!
Click to expand...

This one really bugs me. It's a 30-second promo! What's the big deal? You may not have the rights to broadcast the show here, but I've never before experienced geoblocked commercials!
 
I think it's simply a matter of (existing) distribution rights or distribution contracts.

American production companies have contracts with different providers in different countries. For example, HBO has exclusive contracts with Sky in the UK and Germany (until 2025). That's why HBO Max is also available in various European countries, but not in the UK and Germany. Switzerland, for example, is quite funny here. While Westworld or Game of Thrones were only available on Sky in the German-speaking part, they were on free TV in the French-speaking part.
Even on Netflix, non-originals series and movies (so I don't mean Netflix's own productions.) are not available in all countries. For example, certain movies or series (in German) are available on Netflix Germany, but not on Netflix Switzerland and vice versa.

Sky is available in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. However, Sky is not on the market in France, Scandinavia, etc. This explains why Paramount splits the European countries in this way.

So I understand a little bit that it's not that easy to build up a new service (because they can't just offer Star Trek for a new streaming service, they have to have other content as well). Still, I don't quite understand why it's taking a long time. If Paramount has contracts for certain series in certain countries, they could activate (or de-activate9 the series country-specific like Netflix.

I strongly expect Paramount Plus to be available on Sky with the launch of Strange New Worlds. Otherwise, I really don't understand CBS Viacom's management.
 
The Paramount+ rollout in NZ was announced alongside Australia before being cancelled. Go figure.

We were lucky to be one of the first countries to get Disney+. Given the time difference all the new Star Wars and Marvel content drop at prime time here. :techman:
 
Char Kais said:
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/b...anal-plus-viacomcbs-showtime-home-1235093065/
ViacomCBS will launch its Paramount+ streaming service in France late this year as part of a long-term strategic partnership with Vivendi’s Canal+ Group
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

You left out:

ViacomCBS Networks International last year struck a similar deal with Comcast’s Sky to launch Paramount+ on Sky platforms in the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria this year as part of a new multi-year distribution agreement.
Click to expand...
 
Noname Given said:
You left out:
Click to expand...

Ahem, no.
That is old news from last August (Maybe you should read the thread).

No updates about the launch of Paramount Plus in the rest of Europe, which is supposed to happen early this year.
The new information from this article is that in France Paramount Plus is going to launch late this year.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top