Topline
Paramount+ and Showtime announced on Wednesday that the two streaming services would be combined into a single app, after Netflix, Disney, HBO Max and Discovery+ all announced major changes to their platforms.
In this photo illustration the Paramount+ logo seen displayed on a smartphone against its website in the … [+]
Highlights
Showtime’s streaming service will be merged with the Paramount+ app from Wednesday.
They will be offered as a bundle at a reduced price until October 2: $7.99 per month for the “essential” plan, with ads, and $12.99 per month for the “premium” plan, without ads and allowing the downloading of content on mobile.
After that, the prices will increase to $11.99 and $14.99 per month, respectively.
Paramount+ currently costs $4.99 per month.
Showtime will still be available as a standalone service through other distributors for $10.99 per month.
Key Context
After Netflix lost subscribers for the first time in a decade earlier this year, it announced it would launch a cheaper, ad-supported pricing tier that could roll out by the end of 2022. Disney+ announced this month that it would also launch a cheaper version of its platform with ads in December. Warner Bros. Discovery this month announced plans to combine its two streaming services, HBO Max and Discovery+, into a single platform next year.
Further reading
Netflix partners with Microsoft for ad-supported service despite subscriber losses (Forbes)
Disney+ launches cheaper ad-supported tier in December (Forbes)
HBO Max and Discovery+ will combine into one streaming service (Forbes)
Netflix loses subscribers for the first time in a decade, shares fall 35% (Forbes)