Another streaming platform, another day. This time around, Viacom CBS’s current CBS All Access service has been renamed Paramount Plus. It will include all pre-existing content from CBS All Access as well as a slew of on-demand movies and shows from Viacom’s various holdings, including BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, and Smithsonian Channel, packaged alongside local broadcast news and live sports. Paramount Plus expects to have up to 30,000 episodes and 2,500 films available, with 36 originals planned to launch later in the year and more in the future. Such the Frasier relaunch starring Kelsey Grammer, the Halo TV series, and a new Beavis and Butthead film, maybe the most appealing to prospective subscribers.
While you wait for more new shows, new users get immediate access to plenty of outstanding original series. Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, the upcoming version of The Stand, as well as network series including Clarice and The Good Fight, have been moved from the CBS All Access site.
However, once the bigger originals begin to be released, this may change.
What we will see here?
The interface of Paramount plus
Most of the best streaming providers now have relatively similar user interfaces. The service is similar to Netflix, Disney Plus, and Peacock. A big display of featured content and a menu of important Paramount brands can be seen at the top.
Subscribers of other streaming services will be familiar with most of these. The Movies and Shows hubs both feature “popular” titles as well as subgenres. The A-Z lists for these parts are really useful (and something competitors could stand to add).
The Live TV section of Paramount Plus, which looks like a cable TV grid, stands out. Channels such as CBS, CBS News, and ET Live are available for viewing. Various soccer streams, such as the Champions League and Europa League, are also available on live TV. It’s also one of the few streaming services that show both March Madness and Selection Sunday.
A note of warning: live TV is, well, live. You can’t rewind, fast forward, or even pause (Peacock has the same issue). Watching the live CBS stream while unable to perform any of those acts transported me back to my youth. If You utilize a subscription to watch the next season of Survivor. You’ll have to rush to the restroom between commercial breaks.
Price and availability
There are two tiers of service provided by Amount Plus. The $4.99 per month (or $49.99 per year) Essential Plan includes play advertisements. The subscription does not offer a live local CBS station stream. But it does include NFL on CBS and UEFA Champions League access.
The Premium Plan (formerly known as Commercial-Free) costs $9.99 per month (or $99.99 per year) and includes largely ad-free streaming. You can watch your local CBS station, but advertising will appear on the live broadcast. Other episodes, meanwhile, include “short advertising pauses” promoting other Paramount Plus content.
The Showtime combo raises the price of Basic to $11.99/month ($119.99/year) and Superior to $14.99/month ($149.99/year).
Movies on Paramount plus
So far, original programming, such as series, has vastly overtaken movies. In the meanwhile, Paramount Plus has released a couple of South Park specials, the spooky teenage romance The In-Between, and Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin.
However, the service has absolutely huge intentions. It will broadcast important Paramount films such as Mission: Impossible 7, A Quiet Place Part III, and the A Quiet Place spinoff in the coming years. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Babylon, and Seth Rogen’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film is among the other big titles coming to Paramount Plus after cinemas.
Three new “character-driven” movies starring SpongeBob SquarePants, as well as films focusing on TMNT villains, will be released on Paramount Plus. MTV’s Teen Wolf will also get a revival film from Universal Plus.
Like Peacock and HBO Max, Paramount Plus streams and licenses movies from their corporate back library. You will see a large range of alternatives such as The Wolf of Wall Street, Interstellar, The Avengers, Clue, Almost Famous, The French Connection, Arrival, and Clue. If you wish to view Mary Pickford in 1926’s Sparrows, Then believe that Paramount Plus has the most historic films of any service.
TV shows on Paramount plus
The catalog of Paramount Plus is rather impressive, containing films from the parent company’s many brands. While browsing the Shows section, You see a lot of CBS cop shows, such as NCIS, Criminal Minds, and CSI. There is also a lot of reality television, such as Survivor, Big Brother, Teen Mom, and RuPaul’s Drag Race.
Fans may confidently go watch the Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise, as well as the Paramount Plus originals Discovery, Picard, and Prodigy, as well as the Star Wars and Marvel sub-genres on Disney Plus.
In terms of originals, Paramount Plus is boosting its output beyond Star Trek spinoffs. The Good Fight is a long-running classic, while an iCarly relaunch, Real World reunion series, and Stephen King’s The Stand have all gained a following.
More original shows are on the way, such as the video game adaption Halo, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and a Transformers animated series. Idris Elba will also appear on Paramount Plus in a Knuckles series based on the Sonic The Hedgehog 2 film.
Live sports
Similar to Peacock, Paramount Plus is using sports to identify itself in the streaming industry. Netflix and Disney Plus are both giants, but none offers live sports. This includes the NFL, PGA golf, and men’s university basketball. It also broadcasts a lot of soccer, including the UEFA Champions League, Europa League, Serie A, and CONCACAF Qualifiers.
The Essential Plan includes several significant events, such as the NFL on CBS. However, some live sports, such as The Masters, March Madness, SEC games, the PGA tour, and Combate Global MMA, necessitate the Premium package.
The disadvantage, once again, is that in most circumstances, live means live. I can see Champions League replays, but not NFL games. The latter only contains video and press material from the previous season.
Supported devices
Mount Plus is featured on the majority of popular devices, including:
Web browsers, Apple TV, iPhone and iPad, Android TV, phones and tablet, Chromecast, Fire TV, Portal TV, PlayStation 4, Samsung TV, Vizio TV, LG TV, Roku, Xbox One, Series S and Series X, Xfinity Flex and X1, Cox Contour box.
Yes, Paramount Plus is unavailable on the PS5.
Conclusion
A low price plus a vast, somewhat attractive collection makes Paramount Plus streaming service users subscribe to… on occasion. As our Paramount Plus review has shown, there isn’t a consistent stream of buzzy originals that would convince anyone to join up for more than a month or two at a time. At this point, one can wait for a new season of The Good Fight to begin, join up, and then cancel when it ends. Rinse and repeat with a few shows to be watched on Paramount Plus.
This is referred to in the market as “churn,” and smaller services like Paramount Plus are particularly at risk of it. While it is expanding its content offerings, the uploader is simply not essential in everyday viewing life right now. However, it is a fantastic “good to have.” And, as the pipeline continues to produce must-see originals, it will become a must-have.
