MUMBAI: Sky Studios, the production arm of Comcast-owned European pay TV giant Sky, has confirmed that its chief executive officer Gary Davey would step down next year.

In the meantime, he will continue to lead the team until a new CEO is appointed and leave the company next summer.

"I wanted to let you know that I have decided to step down as CEO of Sky Studios in 2021. When we launched Sky Studios last June, I could not have dreamed where we would be right now. And I don’t just mean Covid2019. In 18 short months, we have created a strong, creative organisation that has broken the mould of how studio businesses work in Europe,” said Gary Davey.

He added: "We have produced ambitious, original series that are loved by our customers and viewers around the world. The fact that nine of the top 10 shows viewed on Sky in the UK this year are Sky Originals, speaks for itself. At the same time, this year we have delivered 29 series to 15 US networks and platforms."

Davey further mentioned, "not every show has been a ratings hit, but looking back, I have no regrets for any of our green-lights."

In his note, he also revealed that "next year Sky Studios will become profitable," noting that "the year after we will open the doors to Sky Studios Elstree, a huge, long-term investment in Sky’s original content ambition, enabling us to truly fulfil our potential as we look to more than double our investment by 2024."

Sky group CEO Jeremy Darroch in an internal note praised Davey for his distinguished career. Said he: "He has uniquely worked across all of our markets, having led the successful launch of Sky Italia’s terrestrial TV network, cielo, in 2009 before joining Sky Deutschland as executive VP, programming in 2011. Gary returned to Sky UK in 2015 as managing director of content, transforming our push into bold, original programming, and in 2019 took on a new challenge as CEO of Sky Studios."