CBS All Access is trading in CBS for Paramount. ViacomCBS revealed Tuesday that the rebranded streaming service will be called Paramount+ beginning early next year.
The rebranding is the second, and much bigger, phase of the two-phase expansion of CBS All Access, which first launched in 2014 and was among the earliest entrants in the streaming space. In July, All Access added more than 3,500 episodes from Viacom networks BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and Smithsonian Channel, along with a smaller redesign that incorporates hubs for the Viacom networks.
ViacomCBS did not reveal any new pricing for the newly-named Paramount+, though executives had previously told TheWrap they were not planning on changing the price. Currently, All Access charges $5.99 a month for limited commercials and $9.99 for an ad-free version.
Paramount+ will also heavily increase upon CBS All Access’ original series output, which included five new orders on Tuesday, highlighted by a revival of BET’s “The Game” and a reimagined “Behind the Music.” The rebooted series, “MTV’s Behind the Music – The Top 40” will use MTV’s vault and spotlight the top 40 biggest artists of all time. MTV Studios will produce the series.
“The Game” ran for 9 seasons on The CW and BET between 2006 and 2015 and starred Tia Mowry, Pooch Hall, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Brandy Norwood, Coby Bell, Hosea Chanchez and Brittany Daniel.
Meanwhile, Paramount+ will feature a 10-episode limited series about the making of “The Godfather,” titled “The Offer.” Al Ruddy, who produced Francis Ford Coppola’s Oscar-winning classic, will executive produce the “The Offer” with Michael Tolkin and Leslie Greif; Tolkin and Greif will write the series. “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan will create a new series, “Lioness” based on the real-life CIA program of the same name. The series follows a young Marine recruited to befriend the daughter of a terrorist to bring the organization down from within. Sheridan will produce the series with Jill Wagner, David Glasser, David Hutkin, and Bob Yari.
Finally, Paramount+ will feature a true-crime docuseries “The Real Criminal Minds” based on the CBS television series that ended its 15-year run earlier this year.
“Paramount is an iconic and storied brand beloved by consumers all over the world, and it is synonymous with quality, integrity and world-class storytelling,” said Bob Bakish, President and CEO, ViacomCBS. “With Paramount+, we’re excited to establish one global streaming brand in the broad-pay segment that will draw on the sheer breadth and depth of the ViacomCBS portfolio to offer an extraordinary collection of content for everyone to enjoy.”
ViacomCBS says in the weeks since the July addition of content, All Access broke a new record for total monthly streams in August and experienced one of its best months ever in terms of new subscriber sign-ups (though revealed no actual numbers). In addition, the average age of new subscribers in August was measurably younger than the service’s overall average subscriber age, due in large part to the addition of UEFA and the newly added content from various ViacomCBS brands.
Get a peak at the new logo below:
Leave a Reply