Paramount, Comcast streamer SkyShowtime hires execs from Disney+, Netflix and Max

SkyShowtime, the European streaming joint venture set up by Paramount Global and Comcast, has hired three executives from rival streamers Disney+, Netflix and Max.

Hristina Georgieva

CEO Monty Sarhan has appointed Disney executive Hristina Georgieva as chief business officer. Reporting to Sarhan, Georgieva will lead the distribution and partnerships function at SkyShowtime and have profit and loss responsibility for all business-to-business (B2B) revenue.

In this new role, Georgieva will oversee and lead new business development and partnerships with cable, satellite and telco distributors as well as platforms, device manufacturers and other partners, including retailers and consumer products and services.

Georgieva was previously VP of affiliate distribution and commercial development at Disney for four years and was part of the team that launched Disney+ across EMEA, negotiating its first deals with cable, satellite and telco partners, including in many of SkyShowtime’s territories.

Georgieva has spent her media career driving distribution and revenue. Prior to Disney, she held senior roles at Fox Networks Group and Discovery, where she led pan-European commercial strategies, partnerships and distribution. Georgieva will be based in London and joins the SkyShowtime team later this year.

The new streaming service, which launched recently in more than 20 European markets, continues to expand its teams across its offices in Amsterdam, Budapest, Denmark, London, Madrid, Stockholm and Warsaw.

Sarhan also announced the appointment of two additional senior staff who will be joining SkyShowtime from other major streaming services. Both are part of the newly formed strategy team and report to chief strategy officer Roberto Soto, who joined SkyShowtime late last year from HBO Max.

Brett Horowitz has been named VP of commercial strategy, overseeing subscriber growth strategy across the direct-to-consumer and B2B segments and supporting the marketing and distribution and partnerships teams.

He joins SkyShowtime from Warner Bros Discovery’s Max where he served in a number of roles including head of data, insights and planning and, prior to that, was chief financial officer at HBO Nordics for over seven years. He began his career in media and entertainment as a member of HBO’s finance team in New York.

Finally, Anazia Budhwar joins as director of content strategy, working with SkyShowtime’s programming team to optimise acquisition and originals strategies and drive engagement. She joins from Netflix where she was strategy and planning lead for over three years. Before that, she worked at NBCUniversal in London.