The same week that Warner Bros. Discovery launched its merged HBO Max and Discovery+ streaming service, Max, Paramount announced Paramount+’s launch date with Showtime. The new integrated service will begin rolling out to users in the US on June 27.
As part of the launch date announcement, the company also said it plans to shut down Showtime’s standalone app by the end of this year. Meanwhile, the linear channel will rebrand with Showtime into Paramount.
As the company announced in February, the Paramount+ will see a significant price hike. Its ad-supported plan, Paramount+ Essentials, will go from $4.99 to $5.99 per month, and its ad-free tier, Paramount+ with Showtime, is set to jump from $9.99 to $11.99. Despite both plans increasing in price, the ad-free plan only bundles Showtime content.
“By integrating Showtime’s premium and critically acclaimed portfolio with the service’s already extensive and popular slate at a competitive price, we look forward to positioning Paramount+ as a cornerstone in streaming,” said Tom Ryan, President and CEO of Paramount Streaming, in a statement. Will strengthen.” on Monday.
Admittedly, the $11.99 price tag is $4 cheaper than Max, which charges $15.99 per month for its ad-free subscription.
The company first announced its plans to merge Paramount+ with the Showtime channel in January. Last year, Paramount+ launched the in-app Showtime Bundle, which costs $11.99 per month with commercials and $14.99 per month without commercials.
Earlier this month, Paramount held its Q1 earnings call, where the company reported that it expected to generate approximately $700 million in future annual expense savings with Paramount+ Showtime. However, the combination of the two services resulted in a programming charge of $1.7 billion in the first quarter.
Paramount+ currently has 60 million subscribers.
