With the integration of Showtime and Paramount+, Paramount Global is further merging its streaming and cable TV businesses.
The company announced on Monday that it plans to incorporate Showtime’s streaming service into Paramount+ fully. It is the company’s flagship standalone streaming platform and its response to the ongoing competition in the streaming industry.
We can now officially say that Showtime has ended. Showtime, a long-standing staple of premium cable, is reportedly being discontinued in favour of a new brand, Paramount+ With Showtime. Now, let’s be honest; it might be the worst rebranding in history. The Paramount+ Network would have been an appropriate name. In other words, they could have titled it The Paramount Network 2: Premium Edition. Instead of “Showtime,” they should have used that title.
The name is actually “Paramount+ With Showtime,” and it’s part of the long-rumoured integration of Showtime’s streaming content and the Paramount+ library. Sometime later this year, both the Showtime network and the Showtime app will adopt the aforementioned stupid name. Then the content currently available on the Showtime app will be rolled into the Paramount+ premium tier.
But that’s not all there is to the union. Paramount+ with Showtime will be the new name of the premium cable TV network that combines the two companies. Paramount+, which is responsible for the original series “Criminal Minds” and “The Yellowstone Experiment,” will also have programming featured on the TV channel. Showtime is available to subscribers of select pay-TV packages for an additional monthly fee.
A spokesperson for Paramount said on Monday that the company would announce the pricing for the combined streaming platform as well as other details in the coming weeks. Both Paramount+ and Showtime cost at least $10.99 per month. Both services will be available in a bundle for a monthly fee as low as $11.99.
In November, Paramount disclosed that 46 million people were paying for Paramount+. The announcement of the quarterly income will go public on February 16th.
Read More: Phil Spencer admits Xbox released too few games last year
Media companies are taking this step as part of an effort to turn a profit from their streaming operations. Subscription growth has slowed as the streaming industry has become increasingly competitive in the wake of a global pandemic. These companies have been experimenting with expanding their streaming businesses, which may explain why their stock prices have dropped.
The cable network owned by Paramount Global has removed several failed series from its online streaming service. On the list are the cancelled shows American Gigolo and Let the Right One In, as well as Jim Carrey’s Kidding, the first season of the anthology series Super Pumped, On Becoming a God in Central Florida, and American Rust. Showtime’s streaming platform is also getting rid of seasons of shows like The End and Wakefield that it bought. The mass removal most likely includes some extra shows as well.
In the past few months, it has become a sad trend for companies to remove titles from streaming platforms. They are doing it to cut costs and get their budgets in order. Showtime and other networks can reduce their taxable income by removing completed seasons of shows, and they can also market in-house titles to potential buyers. HBO Max removed Westworld to sell it to an ad-supported streamer. That’s a good way for Warner Bros. Discovery, the show’s parent company, to make money off of a series that lost so many viewers in its fourth season that its original six-season run had to be cancelled. HBO Max sold Generation to Fox-backed AVOD service Tubi, increasing its value.