The Paramount+ streaming service is going to get more expensive later this year. That’s not a surprise — the company in late 2022 said that a price increase was coming. But today it was made official during the company’s earnings call amid discussion about Showtime being rolled into the service.
Here’s the gist:
- The Paramount+ Essential tier, which does not include Showtime, goes from $5 a month to $6 a month.
- The Paramount+ Premium tier, which will include Showtime content, goes from $10 a month to $12 a month.
The price increases will affect new and current subscribers, but won’t go into effect until later this year when Showtime gets folded into the larger Paramount+ service. No precise date was given for that change.
Showtime isn’t the only differentiator between the two tiers. Premium also includes a live feed of your local CBS affiliate, whereas Essential does not. (NFL and UEFA Champions League games are still available, though.) Premium also gets you access to better video, with some content available in 4K and HDR. (Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision are supported as well.
Paramount chief financial officer Naveen Chopra noted that the combination of Paramount+ and Show time actually will lead to a decrease in subscribers, due to the current amount of overlap between the two services. But the move should reduce churn (canceled subscriptions) and increase revenue. Paramount also believes it’s simply good for subscribers.
“When we launch the integrated service in Q3,” Chopra said, “subscribers to the premium tier of Paramount+ will enjoy a greatly expanded selection of content, reflecting the full suite of Showtime and Paramount+ originals, library content, movies, live sports, and events.”
Paramount also announced in the earnings call that Paramount+ grew to 55.9 million subscribers, up 9 million from the previous quarter, and a year-over-year increase of about 32 million.
