ViacomCBS plans to launch its Paramount + video streaming service on March 4th. As the media group announced, the start will initially take place in the USA and Latin America. In Canada, CBS All Access will be renamed Paramount +. To Europe, Paramount + is supposed to be on 25. March come, but initially only in Scandinavian countries such as Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. In the middle 2021 the streaming service should then also start in Australia.

Unclear is when ViacomCBS will offer Paramount + in Germany. The announcement for the launch of the streaming service only states in general terms about an expansion that “an extended offer will be available later in the year” – without naming other countries.

The offer from Paramount + is likely to be largely an extended version of CBS All Access, a streaming service that the group started in October 2014 first in the USA and then brought to Canada would have. A renaming was already in the room in May 2020.

Film and Series Catalog At Paramount +, ViacomCBS will largely use its own catalog of series and films, including Star Trek films and series. Viacom and CBS had split up 2006 and thereby split the Star Trek rights. After the renewed merger 2019 to ViacomCBS, the rights are now completely with the group again. So far ViacomCBS has licensed the streaming rights to the Star Trek films and series to other streaming services. In addition to Amazon Prime Video (Star Trek: Picard), Netflix in particular shows new and old Star Trek series, including Star Trek: Discovery.

It is unclear whether this will stay that way in future or Paramount + exclusively reserves the profitable content after the expiry of the contracts. Because it will be difficult without such profitable content to gain a foothold in the currently highly competitive streaming market and to cut a decent piece of the video streaming pie.

Disney + has also shown that it can It can be good not to license in-house content to other streaming providers in order to bind customers to your own offer. This is good for companies, but customers have to take out several subscriptions with different providers in order to be able to enjoy certain films and series.

In addition, Paramount + should stream sports events like the NFL, as previously CBS All Access, and local content at least in the US and Canada. ViacomCBS also announced in-house productions such as “The Offer” and “Lioness” last year, which should run on the new streaming service. Overall, the group can fall back on films and series from among others the brands Paramount Pictures, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV Nickelodeon and Showtime.

Details about Paramount + will be viacomCBS on 24. February notify. Then prices for the service should also be mentioned. (olb)