SkyShowtime to sell originals as Mediawan strikes first pact

Codename: Annika (Source: SkyShowtime)

SkyShowtime has started selling rights to its originals by striking a distribution deal with Mediawan Rights for its Swedish-Finnish drama Codename: Annika.

The show was among a package of series picked up from Warner Bros. Discovery last year, after the US studio dropped a host of programming originally destined for its HBO Max streamer.

Mediawan will sell all rights to the show outside of SkyShowtime’s existing footprint, which includes the Nordics, Spain and the Netherlands, as well as second window rights in countries where the streamer is available.

The French firm claimed the deal marked a “new stage” in its international expansion strategy.

Codename: Annika tracks how a Finnish investigator specialising in art crime gets caught up in an undercover mission that proves more dangerous than expected. The six-part series, created by Mia Ylönen and Aleksi Bardy, was produced by Helsinki Filmi.

Kai Finke, the former Netflix exec who joined as chief content officer at SkyShowtime last year, said the pact “marks our first distribution deal and highlights the strength and caliber of SkyShowtime original series, as well as the demand for our original programming worldwide.”