Paramount Plus

**Paramount + (or Paramount Plus)** is an american streaming service owned by Paramount Global.

The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Media Networks and ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks), and Paramount Pictures, while also including original series and films, live streaming sports coverage, and in the U.S., live streaming of local CBS broadcast stations.

The service was first launched in the United States on October 28, 2014 as **CBS All Access**; the service initially focused on the live streaming of CBS programming from its local affiliates, as well as on-demand access to CBS programs and library content. The service began to expand into original programming in 2016, beginning with spin-offs of CBS programs such as *Big Brother,* *The Good Fight*, and the new *Star Trek* television series *Star Trek: Discovery*. The service also began to expand into other markets, including Canada and Australia (the latter in conjunction with CBS's recently-acquired Network 10).

In November 2019, CBS merged back into Viacom to form ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global); over 2020, plans were announced for content from Viacom Media Networks brands (including Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon, among others) and Paramount Pictures to be integrated into CBS All Access, wider international expansion and a larger slate of original programming, and to eventually relaunch the service to reflect its wider scope. In September 2020, it was officially announced that the service would relaunch as Paramount+ in 2021, taking its name from the Paramount Pictures film studio.

The rebranding took effect on March 4, 2021, concurrent with wider expansion into Latin America, and later Europe. The service is also available in all U.S. territories, except for Puerto Rico. The service was launched in South Korea on June 16, 2022, and launched in the United Kingdom and Ireland on June 21, 2022—a day earlier than expected—where it is also available on the Amazon Prime Video platform as well as its standalone app, with further launches planned in Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria in the second half of the year. Paramount+ will later be replaced in Nordic Europe by SkyShowtime, a joint venture with Comcast that also includes Sky Studios and NBCUniversal content.

## History

### As CBS All Access

CBS All Access was launched on October 28, 2014, priced at US$5.99 per month with advertising and $9.99 per month without. Announced on October 16, 2014, as the first over-the-top (OTT) offering by an American broadcast television network, the service initially encompassed the network's existing streaming portal at CBS.com and its mobile app for smartphones and tablet computers; CBS All Access became available on Roku on April 7, 2015, and on Chromecast on May 14, 2015. In addition to providing full-length episodes of past and present of CBS programs, the service allows live programming streams of local CBS affiliates in 194 markets reaching 92% of the United States (including stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, Hearst Television, Tegna Media, Nexstar Media Group, Meredith Corporation, Griffin Communications, Gray Television, Weigel Broadcasting and Cox Media Group and the launch group of CBS Television Stations), including SEC sports and the NFL; however due to the absence of streaming rights, a few sports events are not streamed on the service (mainly involving PGA Tour events, some locally programmed NFL preseason games, and select brokered shows through *CBS Sports Spectacular*), along with limited syndicated and paid programming where only a local broadcast license to carry the program is allowed and web airing rights are retained by the syndicator or infomercial producer. By the very nature of its being live, streaming of a local affiliate does include all advertising, even with the commercial-free plan.

On December 1, 2016, CBS announced an agreement with the NFL to allow clearance of regional NFL games carried by CBS on CBS All Access from Week 13 of the 2016 NFL season on. At the time, the games were blacked out on non–Verizon Wireless mobile devices due to that provider's exclusivity agreement as the official wireless sponsor of the league. In the 2018 NFL season, a new agreement with Verizon ending that exclusivity began to allow CBS All Access to stream games to all mobile devices; Super Bowl games run on CBS All Access without the need for any authentication.

As of February 2017, the service had nearly 1.5 million subscribers. In August of the same year, CBS unveiled plans to expand CBS All Access to markets outside the United States. Canada was announced as the first international market to receive the service. Plans to launch in Australia quickly followed, resulting from CBS's purchase of free-to-air broadcaster Network 10.

In September 2017, *Star Trek: Discovery* premiered on CBS All Access, with its first episode also airing on the CBS broadcast network to promote the service. CBS reported that the premiere had driven its largest single-day increase in new subscribers since the Grammy Awards. Along with *Star Trek*, *Big Brother 19* and the start of the 2017 NFL season had also driven major increases in growth that month.

Buoyed by *Star Trek: Discovery*, CBS All Access reached over 2 million subscribers by early 2018. The 60th Annual Grammy Awards also provided a boost to sign-ups, marking the second largest day for new subscriptions after the Discovery premiere. In April 2018, CBS All Access was made available outside the United States for the first time when it was launched in Canada.

The service launched in Australia in December 2018 as 10 All Access. It operated alongside 10's free catch up and live streaming service 10 Play and contains a mixture of Network 10 and CBS programming. CBS shows are made available on All Access prior to being broadcast on 10's channels. 10 All Access is commercial-free and, unlike CBS All Access, has only one pricing tier.

In January 2019, CBS reported its largest increase in subscribers over a weekend—a 72% increase over the premiere of *Discovery*, crediting the premiere of season 2 of the series and that week's AFC Championship Game (which also brought the service its largest streaming audience for a football game). Super Bowl LIII would surpass this record only a few weeks later, with CBS reporting an 84% increase in new subscribers.

### Re-merger of CBS and Viacom

On November 25, 2019, as part of the re-merger between CBS Corporation and Viacom, CBS All Access announced the inclusion of programming from Nickelodeon, as part of the wider launch of children's programming on the service, with other partners including Boat Rocker Studios and WildBrain.

In January 2020, CBS All Access became available on the Xfinity Flex platform, followed by the X1 platform in December.

On February 6, 2020, CNBC reported that ViacomCBS was in discussions to launch a larger premium streaming offering, combining CBS All Access with content from Paramount Pictures, the Domestic Media Networks division, and Pluto TV. The service would include an ad-free tier, and a premium tier that includes Showtime's streaming service. The company would maintain its existing streaming platforms, while marketing the new service to users of these other services. ViacomCBS partially outlined these plans in a corporate earnings call on February 20, 2020, stating that the expanded All Access service would take a "house of brands" approach to content and serve as a mid-tier offering complementing Pluto TV (which would remain a free service) and the Showtime OTT service by "adding a broad pay offering, built on All Access's foundation." The expanded service will include content from MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, and Smithsonian Channel, as well as a library of 30,000 television series episodes and up to 1,000 film titles from Paramount's film and television divisions and CBS Media Ventures, and expanded live news and sports offerings. No pricing plan or firm dates for content expansion were disclosed, though a "soft relaunch" will occur later in 2020. ViacomCBS will also continue to license its TV and film content to competing streaming platforms.

On May 7, 2020, CBS All Access began adding more films to the service, starting with more than 100 from Paramount Pictures, and ViacomCBS announced that CBS All Access will expand internationally within twelve months. On July 30, 2020, CBS All Access added several shows from ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks, introduced a new user interface with "hubs" for different brands, and revealed that *Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years* (previously planned to air on Nickelodeon) would debut on the service in 2021. With the expansion, it was also announced that the service would rebrand in early-2021 to separate itself from CBS's platforms, and that there were plans to add multiple user profiles and parental controls later in 2020.

### Relaunch as Paramount+

On September 15, 2020, it was announced that CBS All Access would rebrand as **Paramount+** in 2021, and that it planned to perform more international expansion under the new name. ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish stated Paramount was "an iconic and storied brand beloved by consumers all over the world, and it is synonymous with quality, integrity and world-class storytelling".

On January 19, 2021, it was announced that Paramount+ would launch on March 4, 2021, with information being released on February 24, 2021 during an investor event. The company announced that no updates will be provided for apps on second or third generation Apple TV once the service relaunches. ViacomCBS announced during their investor event on February 24 that Paramount+ would premiere new 2021 theatrical releases from Paramount Pictures (such as *A Quiet Place Part II*, *Scream* and *Top Gun: Maverick*) 45 days after their theatrical release, *PAW Patrol: The Movie* and *Clifford the Big Red Dog* received simultaneous theatrical and Paramount+ releases on August 20 and November 10, 2021 respectively, while other future theatrical releases from Paramount would premiere on the service either after their theatrical run or after their run on Epix (which reached a new deal with ViacomCBS that same day to provide content for Paramount+, allowing recent releases from Paramount to be available on the service among other titles).

The relaunch occurred as announced on March 4, 2021, with additional streaming content being launched and further rebranding efforts taking place at that time. In August 2021, it was announced that Paramount+ would be shut down in Nordic Europe in 2022 in favor of SkyShowtime, a joint venture with Comcast-owned Sky Group that would also include content from Showtime, Sky Studios, and NBCUniversal.

In September 2021, it was announced that Showtime's direct-to-consumer service would be offered as part of a bundle with Paramount+. Showtime content must still be accessed via the Showtime app and website; plans were announced for Showtime content to be accessible within the Paramount+ apps for its DTC subscribers later in 2022.

## Subscribers

 Around 1.2 million
 Nearly 1.5 million
 Over 2 million
 2.5 million
 4 million
 Around 8 million
 32.8 million
 39.6 million

## Launch

**CBS All Access** was first launched in the United States on October 28, 2014. The service would receive its first International expansion on April 23, 2018, when CBS All Access expanded to Canada. Australia received its own version of the service, named **10 All Access**, on December 4, 2018.

In August 2020, ViacomCBS announced plans to launch an expanded international streaming service using the CBS All Access technical architecture, but under the new **Paramount+** name (revealed in September) in 2021; the Paramount+ name would also be applied to the American replacement to CBS All Access. The service features original programming from CBS All Access as well as Showtime, plus additional programming including Paramount Pictures films which may vary by market. The service would initially launch in the Nordics and Latin America, replacing an existing service of the same name, with additional markets to follow. In Australia, while the relaunched service will premiere all new Showtime original programs going forward, currently-airing series will remain on Stan until their conclusion under an existing deal.

The Paramount+ brand itself was originated as a subscription video on demand film service, first launching in the Nordics in 2017, and then in Hungary, Latin America, and Russia in the following three years. The current iteration of Paramount+ in the Nordics and Latin America was preceded by this service.

Outside the United States, Paramount+ is currently available in Australia, Canada, Latin America, Middle East (as a pay TV channel), Nordics, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Additionally, the Paramount+ SVOD service is still active in Poland (as **Paramount Play**), Hungary, and Russia (as **Okko Paramount+**), though the current streaming service is unavailable in said regions. Due to program rights and existing content deals, several programs are not available on local versions, or have delayed availability for new episodes. For example, *Star Trek: Discovery* and all others from the franchise are licensed to Bell Media in Canada for their CTV Sci-Fi (in English) and Z (in French) channels and streaming service Crave. As another example, selected Paramount+ original kids and family programming such as *Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years* and *Rugrats* are licensed to Corus Entertainment for their YTV and Treehouse networks and Nick+ streaming service in 2021, in part due to pre-existing agreements between Corus and Paramount Global. Star Trek: Prodigy is currently the only show of the genre to be available on neither Corus services or Paramount+. Instead, it airs in Canada on the CTV Sci-Fi Channel.

A localized version of Paramount+ operates in the Middle East as a premium offering on pay-TV provider OSN, replacing the now-defunct Paramount Channel. It features content from the aforementioned channel, as well as Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV.

In India, Paramount+ original programming, along with Showtime and CBS programming were made available under Voot Select in Viacom18's Voot, a joint venture between Paramount Global and Network 18, beginning in early 2021.

In August 2021, Comcast announced an agreement with Paramount Global to launch SkyShowtime, a joint streaming service combining programming from the Paramount Global, Sky, and NBCUniversal libraries as well as original programming from Peacock and Paramount+. The service is expected to be available in 20 smaller European territories, including four Nordic countries along with Hungary and Poland where it will replace Paramount+, instead of Paramount+ and Peacock operating separately in those markets.

In November 2021, it was announced that *Star Trek: Discovery* would be pulled from Netflix in all countries outside the United States and Canada (for which Bell Media retained the license for the entire *Star Trek* libraries) and moved to Paramount+ for international release. Also reported were plans for its 2022 global rollout, starting with its launch in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Austria via Sky Group and South Korean entertainment and media conglomerate CJ ENM to launch Paramount+ as a content hub on TVING (similar to Disney+'s Star), marking the first Asian region to launch the streaming platform; the partnership also includes a joint venture for future content, including English adaptations of tvN drama series which has produced by CJ's production house Studio Dragon. During the earning call on May 3, 2022, Paramount+ was set to be launched in the United Kingdom and Ireland on June 22, 2022, while the South Korean content hub launch was on June 16, 2022. Paramount also announced that Paramount+ would launch in India from Viacom18 in 2023. It is yet to be announced on whether it will replace Voot.

On February 15, 2022, during its annual investor presentation, French media conglomerate and cable operator Canal+ Group announced that Paramount+ will be launching in France in December of that year, followed by the announcement that the streamer will also expand into the Caribbean also due in the end of the year, and in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Africa, and the MENA in 2023.

On March 28, 2022, Caribbean cable operator FLOW announced that Paramount+ will be launching in the Caribbean via the cable company's video on demand platform.

 Available

 Confirmed launch

 Third-party distribution

 SkyShowtime Region (in 2022)

 Paramount+ region that will become SkyShowtime (in 2022)

 Confirmed launch; content currently available through affiliated service Voot