That's what I thought. If Comcast/NBCUniversal has Fox, they would be at least be as competitive to Warner Bros' HBO Max. As it stands, they currently lack any comic book superhero movies or adult-animated shows like Simpsons or Rick & Morty, both things that the general audiences loves. I still can't believe they deliberately choose Sky (a foreign pay TV with no effect outside Europe) over Fox (contents with popular appeal and where everyone in the world loves), when they were almost close to leverage its position in convincing Fox shareholders to go to them instead of Disney. To this day, I still don't understand why Comcast/NBCU just gave up the quest for Fox in favor of Sky.
You know studios make money from things other than just the shows they air right? A big and easy way for Comcast to make money is from formats. So for instance, take the Voice....now every country that airs their version of the Voice you get a cut of profit from. That's something that Sky gives them. They owned the most popular show in the UK rights with The Great British Bakeoff which makes them bank monthly.
Because they have their own HBO level production plan. They are producing shows with HBO which will give them stuff for their streaming service.
Comcast forked out $40 billion for Sky and is now backing its CEO Jeremy Darroch’s plan to turbo-charge its pipeline of originals. It has created
Sky Studios and will double its programming outlay in a plan that insiders tell
Variety will see it spend £1 billion ($1.2 billion) a year on original programming within five years. Gary Davey,
Sky Studios CEO, and Jane Millichip, chief commercial officer, are tasked with executing the plan.
“We’ll certainly be the biggest European TV producer in Europe,” Davey says.
Sky is already flying high after “Chernobyl.” The co-production with HBO won acclaim and viewers on home turf and triumphed in the U.S. at the Emmys, taking home the second-most number of trophies for a series (with 10, including the coveted limited series statue).
“It wasn’t obvious that a drama about a nuclear disaster would be successful,” Davey says. “I was confident we would get a lot of positive reviews, but I assumed its audience performance would be modest. I was completely wrong about that; that was a happy surprise.”
The challenge for the newly minted Sky Studios is to deliver more watercooler series that will win and retain subscribers for the European pay-TV heavyweight.
“The magic sauce is deep local insight combined with the scale of the group. That’s what makes us unique. We can go more local than an international streamer and we can go more global and have more scale than a local broadcaster,” Davey says.
Sky has 34 dramas and 18 comedies in the works as it embarks upon the next phase of its production mission, including the high-finance drama “Devils” with Patrick Dempsey, out of Italy — the third of its big European bases — as well as the Jude Law-starrer “The New Pope,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Its recent German-originated series include “Das Boot.”
Sky Studios - Wikipedia
HBO and UK's Sky Extend Carriage and Co-Production Deal
Inside Sky Studios’ Plan to Be the ‘Biggest European TV Producer’ – Variety
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Going back to Peacock...Comcast says they will reach a profit in 5 years and will invest $2 billion for content the first two years.
Peacock To Get $2B Investment In First Two Years, Turn Profit In Year 5, Comcast CFO Says – Deadline
Peacock, Cavanagh said, would not be a risky venture. “We’re not looking to play somebody else’s hand. I think our approach to Peacock is a thoughtful consideration of our strengths and opportunities to put together a plan that, in success, will put us in a really good place. Success is ours if we get it right and it’s worth pursuing.”