You can now access the content packed into Paramount Plus and Showtime from a single app. First bundled as a subscription last September, Paramount and Showtime’s catalogs have been separated between two apps for viewers in the US, but viewers can now access the full roster of TV shows and films from the Paramount Plus app.
For new subscribers, the Paramount Plus and Showtime bundle is available at a discounted rate until October 2nd, at $7.99 per month for the Essential plan (which includes ad breaks) with Showtime and $12.99 per month for the Premium plan with Showtime that adds more sports, live broadcasts of your local CBS station, and downloads for offline viewing on mobile, and mostly removes ads, except on live TV and certain shows. After October 2nd, the regular pricing resumes with the combined Essential tier at $11.99 per month and the Premium plan for $14.99 monthly.
Paramount Plus as a standalone service will continue to be available on two subscription tiers without Showtime: the ad-supported Essential plan ($4.99 per month) and the ad-free Premium tier ($9.99 per month).
“This singular user experience streamlines sign-up and enhances discovery, and this lower price will allow more households to enjoy with exceptional entertainment offering,” Paramount Global Streaming president Tom Ryan said in a press release announcing the new service.
In case you haven’t been streaming Star Trek and Halo TV shows for the past few years, here’s the rundown on what these apps are. Paramount Plus is the rebranded version of CBS All Access. Its parent company, ViacomCBS, rebranded to Paramount earlier this year to further focus its attention on streaming. In May, Paramount Plus reported that its subscriber count grew to almost 40 million during its first quarter, and in June, Paramount Plus said it planned “to commission” 150 international original series, adding more to its current roster.
In mid-August, the streaming service partnered with Walmart to bundle its service with Walmart Plus, and it has been included in other packages like this one with T-Mobile’s wireless service. These bundles don’t cost quite as much as cable once did, but pulling the offerings closer together is similar to Disney’s approach with the combination of Disney Plus, Hulu, and ESPN Plus, while HBO Max will be absorbed into a new combo app with Discovery Plus in 2023. Netflix, meanwhile, is going it alone but has plans to roll out an ad-supported streaming package, and has started to offer games as an added feature for your subscription fee.