A quick initial look at SkyShowtime, the Paramount and NBCUniversal platform that hits our screens today, yields the expected result. No stridency, no surprises: (almost everything) the announced catalog and just the occasional pleasant novelty that we had been misleda large number of juicy exclusives, some conspicuous absences… nothing revolutionary (or disappointing) for a service that is just starting out.
The first steps are as easy as you would expect: signing up, entering payment details and choosing a subscription takes just a few minutes. After that, choose an avatar from the typical selection of iconic characters on the platform, with the possibility of creating a child’s account (nothing unusual on a platform that has Nickelodeon as one of its core brands) and we would be ready.
A first walk on the platform
Any user accustomed to browsing streaming platforms will feel at home on SkyShowtime, and In this sense, there is little to add: a superior carousel with outstanding content from the platform. (from ‘Yellowstone’ to ‘In Search of the Lost Ark’, through ‘Minions’) and some main menus with direct access to the categories of movies, series and user lists (particular hobbies and that reveal that the platform likes shoot remains in some respects: cannot remove items from personal list).
Going down on the home page, we find the typical categories of all kinds: exclusive content, “continue watching”, sagas packs, marathon series, movies and series categorized by genre, and lastly, movies and series from A to Z , from where we can access (in theory) the complete catalogues. Simple, direct and without dramas. Some little problems start to appear when we delve into the searches and the catalog.
Regarding the searches, we will be able to find content by searching by actors, by genres, by original and dubbed titles, even by approximate terms (which is sometimes imprecise: the search for “temple” returns ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’, yes, but also ‘Tremors’ and ‘Temple’). Undoubtedly the great “must” of this effective and simple search engine is that we will not find movies and series by its technical team, which is curious: we cannot know how many films there are directed by Tarantino, but we do know how many he appears in as an actor. Curious, we say, because the platform itself is in charge of dedicating a category to Spielberg films (they have 13), but the search returns zero results.
Finally, catalog theme: there are notable absences, both in available seasons of series and in movies that should be and are not. In the first case, there are complete series, of course (from the most novelties and exclusives, which only have a season or two to classics like ‘The Office’ or ‘Parks and Recreation’, also complete). But there are series of which there are only a few seasons, which affects above all animation (in case there are completists of ‘Rugrats’ or ‘The Fairly OddParents’) and some from the back of the catalog like ‘Grimm’ or ‘Heroes’ the one that is missing seasons. And some novelties, like ‘1923’ or ‘Tulsa King’ only show three episodes of their only season, so no marathons with some premieres.
More striking is the absence of films that leave those attractive packs of sagas that are announced from the home. There are complete ones (‘Fast & Furious’, Indiana Jones, ‘Mission Impossible’) and there are incomplete ones (‘Jurassic Park’). It should be noted, however, that in the course of writing this post some that were incomplete, such as ‘Back to the Future’ or ‘Star Trek’ have been completed, so we do not rule out that they continue to rise in the next few hours. In fact, some series announced as ‘Frasier’ or ‘Twin Peaks’ are not yet available.
this is how it looks
Our tests in terms of image quality have been quite satisfactory. There is no 4K in any case, which is always a problem if you are looking for good quality in recent productions, but we have 1080p with a good bitrate, with peaks of 10 Mbps in some cases (more than double and triple that of HBO before its last wash of face). We have, yes, the H264 codec instead of H265, which is the one used by new platforms and which gives better image quality.
The immediate conclusion is obvious: OK in terms of handling, performance and capabilities. The key to SkyShowtime’s appeal is a matter of catalog and what each viewer thinks they are going to need.: Personally, I’m going to gobble up the Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series and there’s a stimulating catalog of recent-but-not-much movies ideal for snacking and filling in holes. Locating them can be a problem, yes (do you know how many Hitchcock movies there are? Me neither: the search engine doesn’t tell you). By boat soon, it would be said that the catalog of films is more interesting than that of series (especially having funds from Universal and Paramount at its disposal), but recognizable brands owned by NBC such as MTV or Nickelodeon can provide surprises.
The exclusive and recent series are powerful enough to pique the curiosity of some series fan, but… can it withstand the stake and the weight of the catalog of monsters like Disney+, Netflix and HBO Max? At the level of exclusives it may not be, but as the viewers who elevate ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ to the most viewed streaming month after month know, the rabid news is not everything.
