Kai Finke, chief content officer at SkyShowtime, eyes coproductions and joint commissions with local broadcasters as part of a broader content strategy in CEE.

In February, SkyShowtime announced its first original commission, Sleboda, a Polish series based on critically acclaimed crime novels by Malgorzata Fugiel-Kuźmińska and Michał Kuźmiński.

At the time, SkyShowtime chief content officer Kai Finke said it marked the company’s “continued commitment to delivering high-quality local entertainment to our members.”

The commission came less than a year after SkyShowtime extended its pan-European streaming service into Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It was also less than six months after Finke’s appointment as CCO at “Europe’s newest streaming service,” which was launched as a joint venture by Comcast and Paramount Global in September 2022.

For the exec, whose focus at the time of his appointment was on “growing SkyShowtime originals,” the Sleboda commission underscores this statement of intent.

It wasn’t that SkyShowtime hadn’t previously announced CEE originals, but, unlike Sleboda, they were part of a package the streamer acquired from Warner Bros Discovery-owned HBO Max after the latter rethought its local originals strategy.

Among the shows was Warszawianka, unveiled in April 2023 as the “first Polish-language original series” to premiere exclusively on SkyShowtime, and Czech and Slovak six-parter The Winner, also an original series. Other titles presented as ‘exclusives’ but not original included Croatian series Success; Hungarian drama The Informant; Czech shows Czech It Out! and The Sleepers; and Romanian series Hackerville, Tuff Money, Ruxx and One True Singer.

For German-born Finke, who grew up watching Danish television with English subtitles on the Frisian island of Sylt in the North Sea, understanding and addressing the local content issue in Europe is key. “If you want to be successful in Europe, and you’re a streaming service that has been created specifically to entertain European audiences, you also have to make available locally authentic stories,” he explains. “Acquiring a package of projects from HBO gave us a really early opportunity to accelerate local programming.”

Prior to joining SkyShowtime the exec spent nine years at Netflix, most recently as director of content for EMEA, where he says he “negotiated some of the very first Eastern European deals” for the streamer, including licensing Netflix’s first Croatian-language drama, The Paper (Novine), produced by Drugi Plan for local public broadcaster HRT.

But acquisitions are only part of SkyShowtime’s content strategy, says Finke: “You cannot rely on licensing potential first-run shows forever. You have to make that push into original commissions.”

For the 20-plus years Finke has been in the content industry, he says he has worked “across production, distribution and overall programming, including acquisitions and coproductions.” During his time at Netflix he “always covered a pan-regional footprint,” he notes, overseeing coproductions with European broadcasters.

“It really connected me to the creative industries and ecosystems across our footprint, and that really set me up for the role here at SkyShowtime,” he says.

Today, Finke works out of the Netherlands and manages a team of programmers based in Warsaw, as well as Stockholm and Madrid. “We are pursuing opportunities in licensing, but we are also looking into coproduction opportunities with broadcasters throughout our footprint, and into commissioning originals,” says the exec.

Distinguishing Sleboda “as a true original,” Finke says: “It’s something we’re extremely excited about and proud of because we believe, being an IP-based show, that it can really generate a lot of viewing, and a lot of increased brand awareness for SkyShowtime.”

SkyShowtime is developing Sleboda with producer Magdalena Szwedkowicz (Forgotten Love) and director Michal Gazda (The Pack, Forgotten Love). Finke estimates production will “kick off” in the second quarter of 2024 with a planned release in the 2024/25 winter season.

“That could be Q4 or Q1 next year,” he says. “The intention is not only to launch it in Poland; we have plans to make it available throughout our footprint.”

As the newest kid on the streaming block – but with Warner Bros Discovery’s Max set to launch in Europe from May 21  – generating brand awareness is critical for SkyShowtime as it seeks to solidify its position in the European streaming market.

With no fewer than 14 of the 22 territories in which SkyShowtime is currently available falling within CEE, it is easy to see why this region has an important part to play in the streamer’s European ambitions.

Within CEE, SkyShowtime is currently present in the Balkan countries of Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia, as well as Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland in Central Europe.

“For us, it’s really important that with the local-language content we are programming across our footprint, we’re programming stories that super-serve our audiences in the country of origin, or the region of origin,” says Finke.

He describes SkyShowtime’s CEE content strategy as informed, on the one hand, by the “aspirational escapism” that global entertainment – and “US entertainment in particular” – offers audiences and, on the other hand, by “very distinct viewing preferences” within a “fragmented” region.

“A big part of our programming strategy is to make global Hollywood entertainment available to Eastern European households,” explains Finke, pointing to shows such as Yellowstone and its spin-offs 1883 and 1923, Halo and Mary & George. But he adds: “We do not just want to be that streamer that is representing the content of our shareholders.”

Noting “the amazing writing talent,” the “incredible creative talent” and “very, very talented actors and actresses that can bring stories to life” in the CEE region, Finke continues: “We also want to be the home of entertainment for some compelling and locally authentic stories, which is why we have to liaise with and engage with the local production community. And we are doing that with a growing slate of original content.”

Finke reveals that this year the company will probably be “announcing another eight to 10 SkyShowtime originals. That growing slate of originals is a testament to our dedication, our commitment to European storytelling and the continued commitment to Eastern European producers.”

Reaffirming what he expressed when keynoting alongside SkyShowtime CEO Monty Sarhan at Content London in November, Finke says his programming team is taking a flexible and accommodating approach that includes being open to copros with local partners.

“We need to embrace that there’s already an existing creative ecosystem and an industry in the territories that we’ve launched in, and we just want to embrace it and engage with all the partners throughout that ecosystem,” he says, adding that in CEE, coproductions are unlikely to be across more than one territory because of the fragmented market.

“It has been done in, for example, the Benelux region with Belgian and Dutch or Belgian and French stories, but in Eastern Europe, for now we would be targeting coproductions with a single broadcasting partner,” notes Finke.

Another driver to working with local partners in CEE is financial. “We’re having very active conversations with broadcasters to potentially join forces on co-financing and coproducing – or co-commissioning – projects that could be windowed. The shows could live on multiple services at the same time, which would allow us to not just split the bill but also, more importantly, grow audiences together. And in this current environment of increasing budgets, it is important to look into all sorts of almost creative ways of financing stories and enabling great projects.”

When it comes to doing business in CEE, Finke says SkyShowtime is committed to the region because of its combination of professionalism and talent for storytelling.

“It’s a market with great writing talent and very high production values and a fantastic work ethic and delivering projects within timelines and within budget. So for a commissioning editor or somebody overseeing programming holistically, it’s a region where you can rely on your partners to deliver the best possible version of whatever idea you once got very excited about,” he explains.

“It’s the variety of stories, it’s the excitement for local storytelling, the pride also for local, authentic storytelling. For us, it’s a region we would definitely be making a continued commitment to and push in terms of commissioning.”

What of the specific challenges in the region?

“For a streaming service that is still in growth mode, there’s a lot that we are doing for the very first time,” says Finke. “I wouldn’t call it a challenge. Maybe it is a challenge, but we take it on.

“I think we need to be paying close attention to the needs of our partners and consumers across this big region. If you’re operating a footprint from Poland in the north all the way down south to the Adriatic coastline, there’s a lot that, as an organisation, you still have to learn and embrace. We’re aware of that and we take it on as a challenge.”