Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial and streaming television. In the United States, subscription television began in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the form of encrypted analog over-the-air broadcast television which could be decrypted with special equipment. The concept rapidly expanded through the multi-channel transition and into the post-network era. Other parts of the world beyond the United States, such as France and Latin America have also offered encrypted analog terrestrial signals available for subscription.
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based at Warner Bros. Discovery's corporate headquarters inside 30 Hudson Yards in Manhattan. Programming featured on the network consists primarily of theatrically released motion pictures and original television programs as well as made-for-cable movies, documentaries, occasional comedy, and concert specials, and periodic interstitial programs.
Alicja Bachleda-Curuś is a Polish actress and singer who has appeared in films including Trade, Ondine and Pan Tadeusz.
Borys Michał Szyc-Michalak is a Polish film and theatre actor and musician. In 2010, he received the Polish Academy Award for Best Actor.
HBO Europe is a premium television group of channels by HBO. It is available as a group of film channels and streaming television services in Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Moldova while VOD-only services with original programming is available in Spain, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Portugal.
Sky Atlantic is a British pay television channel owned by Sky Group Limited broadcast in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is primarily dedicated to imported programmes from the United States, and holds the domestic rights to HBO programming until 2025. It also broadcasts many original British produced Sky dramas. It is exclusively available on the Sky satellite TV platform and Sky's Now TV platform. Unlike the other channels from Sky Group, Sky Atlantic is not on Virgin Media. On 15 January 2024, select programming begun being simulcast on Sky Showcase.
Friends, also known under the original title Przyjaciółki, is a Polish TV-drama which premiered on 6 September 2012 on Polsat.
Crave is a Canadian subscription video on demand service owned by Bell Media. The service competes directly with other subscription-based over-the-top streaming services operating in Canada, primarily against American-based services.
Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures, CBS Studios, Paramount Media Networks, and Paramount Pictures, while also including original series and films, live streaming sports coverage, and in the United States, live streaming of local CBS broadcast stations.
Max, also known as HBO Max, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. It is a proprietary unit of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Games, which is itself a division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The platform offers content from the libraries of Warner Bros., Discovery, HBO, CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Animal Planet, TBS, TNT, Eurosport, and their related brands. Max first launched in the United States on May 27, 2020.
Peacock is an American over-the-top subscription streaming service owned and operated by Peacock TV, LLC, a subsidiary of NBCUniversal Media Group. Named after the NBC logo, the service launched on July 15, 2020.
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It was formed from WarnerMedia's spin-off by AT&T and merger with Discovery, Inc. on April 8, 2022.
Gunpowder & Sky is a Los Angeles–based independent studio that produces feature films, series, short-form content, and podcasts. The company was founded in 2016 by Van Toffler and Floris Bauer. It runs DUST, a sci-fi streaming service featuring short films, series, and behind-the-scenes content, and ALTER, a horror brand that streams on selected TV platforms.
SkyShowtime is a European joint-venture between Comcast and Paramount Global which combines programming from the corporations Peacock and Paramount+ services as well as Sky Studios. SkyShowtime launched in European markets where Sky does not operate their satellite and cable services, with viewers in countries like the United Kingdom and Ireland getting access to both Paramount+ and Peacock on their Sky Q and NOW boxes along with Sky Glass television sets instead.
The Thaw is a Polish crime drama television series created by Marta Szymanek. Set in Szczecin, it tells the story of a detective investigating the murder of a young mother. It began airing on HBO Max on 1 April 2022.
Angel of Death is a Polish crime drama television series based on the novel Szadź by Igor Brejdygant. It began airing on TVN and Player on 30 April 2020.
Codename: Annika is a Finnish-Swedish neo-noir crime drama television series. It was released on SkyShowtime on 30 September 2023 as one of the platform's first original series.
