ViacomCBS reasons that the Paramount brand has higher recognition worldwide amid plans to take the OTT service international, but the Twitterverse still had fun mocking the decision.

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

September 15, 2020

4 Min Read
CBS All Access to be rechristened Paramount+

It won't get high marks for creativity and originality, but ViacomCBS has come up with its new name for CBS All Access: Paramount+.

Joining Disney, ESPN, Apple TV and even TiVo in tacking a "+" sign to the end of the name of a premium streaming service, ViacomCBS said the new brand will take hold in early 2021 in the US alongside an initial international expansion into Australia, Latin America and the Nordics.

Figure 1: 2509.jpg

ViacomCBS reasoned in part that the Paramount brand has high global recognition among its various media properties, which also include CBS, Showtime, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon MTV and The CW.

Paramount "has near universal brand recognition … so that fits with our global footprint," ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish told CNBC.

ViacomCBS did not announce pricing for the successor to CBS All Access, which today sells for $5.99 per month with ads, and $9.99 per month without ads. Bakish promised that Paramount+ will be a "truly differentiated product" offering a range of live sports, news and – in an obvious nod to the Paramount logo – "a mountain of entertainment." All-in, Paramount+ will boot up with about 30,000 TV shows and film titles from the ViacomCBS stable of networks and studios.

New originals will also feature heavily in the new OTT offering, including a TV drama called "The Offer" inspired by "The Godfather" films, a spy/espionage series called "Lioness," and a reboot of "The Game." Those will build on originals already tied to CBS All Access, such as "Star Trek: Discovery" and "Star Trek: Picard," and an already announced "SpongeBob SquarePants" spin-off titled "Kamp Koral."

"Franchises figure very prominently in Paramount+," Bakish said, holding that the new, broader streaming service will appeal to a wide demo, which is the same position that WarnerMedia happens to be trying to establish with its new HBO Max service.

While a rebrand does seem in order given that Paramount+ will be a global streaming service, that ViacomCBS went with an olde tyme media brand and simply attached a plus sign to it did not escape some ribbing on the Twitterverse. Some examples:

OK, so not everyone mocked the decision:

And one top media industry analyst did note that the service's new moniker should put a rumor to bed:

Related posts:

— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading

Read more about:

Europe

About the Author(s)

Jeff Baumgartner

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X and LinkedIn.

Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.

Subscribe and receive the latest news from the industry.
Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.

You May Also Like