SkyShowtime Appoints BBC Select’s Jon Farrar as Head of Programming (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Manori Ravindran International EditorSkyShowtime — the joint venture between Comcast and Paramount Global — has unveiled key hires for the European streaming service, including its head of programming.BBC Select executive Jon Farrar has been named head of programming, Variety can reveal.

The executive joins from BBC Studios, where he led the direct-to-consumer programming strategy in his dual role as global VOD director and editor-in-chief of North American SVOD service BBC Select.Farrar was also part of the team that developed BritBox, the streaming joint venture between BBC Studios and ITV.Reporting into SkyShowtime CEO Monty Sarhan, Farrar will be responsible for programming strategy, overseeing the platform’s pipeline of studio content, and building a programming team across SkyShowtime’s 20 markets to develop original and local content.

Farrar will also lead the acquisitions, scheduling and editorial, as well as content operations functions. First unveiled in August 2021, SkyShowtime is intended to sit in the European markets that aren’t already serviced by Paramount Plus, which will be in the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

The streaming service, which is set to launch in Europe later this year, will feature the TV premieres of first-run theatrical films from Paramount and Universal; new scripted series from Showtime, Paramount+, Sky Studios and Peacock; local original programming; and kids and family programming from Nickelodeon, DreamWorks and Illumination.Farrar said: “I am so thrilled to be taking up this role which, for a fan of great program, is the most exciting job in European streaming.