It is time for one more streaming service—form of. ViacomCBS has introduced that Paramount+ will launch on March 4, however it’s extra of an evolution than an entirely new service, because it replaces and expands upon the corporate’s earlier service, CBS All Entry.
The transfer to exchange CBS All Entry was introduced a number of months in the past. It is largely a results of the completion of the merger between CBS and Viacom, as CBS All Entry launched earlier than that merger, however the merger significantly elevated the content material library that could possibly be placed on a streaming service run by the corporate.
Along with reveals related to the CBS TV community, Paramount+ will embody content material from properties Viacom dropped at the combo, together with MTV, BET, Comedy Central, VH1, and Nickelodeon, in addition to theatrically launched movies from Paramount Photos.
Past the myriad Star Trek reveals that CBS All Entry has already provided, deliberate unique sequence for Paramount+ embody a sequence based mostly on The Godfather in addition to a revival of VH1’s Behind the Music.
The sizzle trailer for Paramount+.
March 4 is the deliberate launch day within the US and Latin America, and a launch is deliberate in Nordic nations on March 25, in addition to Australia across the center of the 12 months. Canada may also obtain the service someday this 12 months, however a date has not been named—nonetheless, CBS All Entry will likely be rebranded to Paramount+ instantly in that nation even earlier than new content material is launched.
Earlier than this level, CBS All Entry was arguably greatest identified for its numerous Star Trek packages; it included all of the Star Trek TV sequence that aired on broadcast TV prior to now, plus new Trek sequence like Discovery, Picard, and Decrease Decks. It didn’t, nonetheless, have the Star Trek motion pictures at first, as these have been owned by Paramount. The merger introduced all Star Trek TV and film content material beneath one company roof.
CBS All Entry additionally aired stay TV, sports activities programming, and a few extra reveals just like the critically acclaimed The Good Struggle. These will proceed beneath Paramount+.
The previous 12 months and a half has seen quite a few new streaming networks launch, together with Peacock (NBC Common), Disney+, and HBO Max, amongst others.
The onslaught has upset those that anticipated a service like Netflix or Hulu to supply just about all content material for a flat $10-per-month payment, however that was by no means going to be economically viable, particularly as manufacturing prices for TV sequence have risen lately as viewers have responded to extra lavishly produced reveals—one thing the trade refers to as “status TV.”
The brand new regular for TV seems to be related in some respects to cable, with every media firm delivering a channel that primarily consists of the corporate’s personal content material, plus small quantities of licensed content material.
Nonetheless, there are some vital variations within the new regular as in comparison with how TV used to work, even past the truth that the content material is now delivered over the Web. For instance, the companies aren’t bundled, so viewers can choose and select which channels to pay for, and there are far fewer (and in some circumstances, no) commercials.
