Slawomir Cyra unpacks his international scripted strategy and the success of The Farm
With NEM Dubrovnik fast approaching, Slawomir Cyra, director of programming at Polish giant Cyfrowy Polsat, tells Broadcast International about his SVoD rights requirements and his need for compelling scripted series
Tell us about your company and remit.
Cyfrowy Polsat is the largest media group in Poland. Within the group, we operate pay TV services under the Polsat Box and Netia brands. We also own Telewizja Polsat and Eleven Sports, which produce and broadcast a wide range of linear channels across different genres. Our portfolio includes Polsat Box Go, our key OTT platform, as well as Polkomtel, one of Poland’s leading mobile operators, providing voice, data, and broadband services.
What types of shows are you looking for at NEM Dubrovnik?
My responsibilities include carriage deals for linear channels, partnerships with SVOD services, and content acquisitions for our OTT platform. As always, at NEM I am open to hearing about new, original linear channel concepts.
In terms of OTT acquisitions, we focus primarily on scripted content - especially feature films and drama series - which perform best for us in the international content category. I hope to discover fresh and compelling titles in Dubrovnik.
What are your key rights requirements?
We are primarily looking for SVOD rights, including first-run titles or fresh library content, ideally localised with a Polish-language version.
Tell us about a few recently acquired shows that performed well for you and why.
Our strongest and most consistent performance comes from content produced within the Polsat Plus Group, which we commission directly from Telewizja Polsat. In addition to evergreen titles that continue to perform very well season after season, the latest season of the Polish reality format Farma is delivering excellent results. The show is based on the Swedish format The Farm and has been broadcast since 2022.
When it comes to external acquisitions, we have licensed series such as The Fall, Bron, and Victor Lessard, as well as films including Law Abiding Citizen, The Bank Job, and Shaun the Sheep.
At the same time, we continue to strengthen our offer with ambitious, auteur-driven cinema. Our viewers can enjoy works by renowned directors such as Agnieszka Holland, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Bernardo Bertolucci, Abel Ferrara, Steven Spielberg, Gaspar Noé, and Arthur Penn. As you can see, our catalogue is quite diverse - we offer, for example, curated collections dedicated to Jason Statham, the Oscars, or Quentin Tarantino.
If I were to highlight the best-performing content outside of Telewizja Polsat productions, it would undoubtedly be premium sports, including the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League, Formula 1 and the Bundesliga.
Are you interested in co-productions and, if so, what types of shows?
At this stage, we do not engage in co-productions exclusively for OTT. However, my colleagues from Telewizja Polsat are present at the market, so I would encourage you to speak with them about such opportunities. A recent example of a group co-production is Genialna M., created in partnership with SkyShowtime. It is the Polish adaptation of the well-known drama series format High Potential (originally HPI, Haut Potentiel Intellectuel).
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