Your streaming bill is about to grow. Paramount Plus just implemented a price hike in conjunction with the launch of a new tier that features Showtime.
As of today (June 27), Paramount Plus has pared its plans down to the ad-supported Paramount Plus Essential and ad-free Paramount Plus with Showtime. The price of the Essential plan, which provides access to the full library but not the user's local live CBS station, has gone up to $5.99 per month, up a dollar from $4.99.
Previously, the service offered a third tier (Premium for $9.99 per month) that removed ads and had CBS but not Showtime. That is no longer an option, and the $11.99 Paramount Plus with Showtime tier replaces it.
Paramount Plus with Showtime includes the live CBS feed as well as premium Showtime content. Existing Premium subscribers will be moved up to the pricier plan automatically.
Paramount Plus' price hike was announced earlier this year as part of the company's desire to merge their two properties. The standalone Showtime streaming app will be sunset and the linear cable channel will be rebranded to Paramount Plus with Showtime. Now, Yellowjackets and Billions will live alongside episodes of NCIS, Ghosts and various Star Trek spinoffs.
Streaming is struggling and passing the buck to users
Price hikes from the best streaming services are all the rage. Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu and Apple TV Plus all raised their rates in the past 18 months.
The bleak streaming landscape has led to price hikes across the board, as well as cutting back on content budgets. Paramount Plus counted 60 million subscribers worldwide as of the end of March, a gain of 4.1 million from the previous quarter. But the parent company reported $511 million in streaming losses amid a drop in advertising revenue.
In a move to stem the bleeding, Paramount Plus recently removed 21 shows and canceled several high-profile originals, like Star Trek: Prodigy and Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.
They aren't alone, as Warner Bros. Discovery has gotten a lot of flack for withdrawing both library titles and originals from Max.
Paramount Plus may follow in WBD's footsteps by sending those shows to a free ad-supported television (FAST) service — maybe even their corporate sibling, Pluto TV. Or they may sell their streaming rights to a third party like Netflix.
Outlook: Paramount Plus is still a great deal ... sometimes
Despite the price hike, there are still plenty of reasons to subscribe to Paramount Plus, such as the live local CBS feed, NFL games and originals like 1923 and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
And the company frequently makes it easy to churn the service. Subscribers who try to cancel usually receive incredible deals to stay. TG's Henry T. Casey was about to cancel Paramount Plus but didn't, following an offer he couldn't refuse.
If you can score a a month-long trial, then get a retention deal when you try to cancel, you could wind up getting Paramount Plus for free for a quarter of a year. For access to everything from football to Survivor to Yellowjackets, that's pretty darn good.
