After Bob Bakish yesterday said said Paramount+ was performing “above expectations” in the UK and Ireland, the streamer has stocked its cupboards with a series of exclusive scripted acquisitions for those countries’ subscribers.
The deal have been struck with Lionsate, NBCUniversal Global Distribution, Sony Pictures Television and Dynamic Television and the shows will join the service from this month. “We are working hard to make Paramount+ the exclusive home of premium content from around the world – Paramount+ already brings together entertainment’s biggest names but we’ll keep building our offering to make the service completely irresistible to audiences,” said Anna-Belen Dunlop, Senior Director, Acquisitions at Paramount UK.
From Lionsgate are adult siblings comedy Home Economics, which stars Topher Grace is a co-pro with ABC Signature; 1970s-set erotic women’s magazine series Minx, which counts Feigco Entertainment among is producers; and Son of a Critch, the CBC coming-of-age sitcom from Mark Critch and Tim McAuliffe (The Office).
From NBCU comes La Brea the NBC adventure drama set around the aftermath of a massive sinkhole opening in LA. David Appelbaum is writer and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, produces in association with Keshet Studios. Another NBC series, the Renée Zellweger-starring true crime drama The Thing About Pam went live on Paramount+ in the UK and Ireland last month. It comes from Blumhouse Television, NBC News Studios and Big Picture Co.
A deal with Sony adds Epix period drama Chapelwaite. Based on Stephen King’s short story, Jerusalem’s Lot, the series stars Adrien Brody and Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek), while another with indie Dynamic for Australian mystery drama Savage River rounds out the acquisitions. It comes from Aquarius Films, in partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Paramount+ launched in the UK and Ireland in June. The service added nearly 5M million worldwide subs in Q2 and Paramount President and CEO Bakish yesterday predicted a “big year” for it in Western Europe, with launches incoming in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France via hard bundles on Sky and Canal+ for France.
Last week, Paramount promoted Pam Kaufman to effectively replace Raffaele Annecchino and oversee international, including Paramount+’s rollout, after Annecchino was placed “on leave” by Bakish several weeks ago.
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