ViacomCBS to Launch Showtime-Paramount+ Bundle This Month

ViacomCBS is quite pleased with its current streaming structure that pairs three streaming levels for customers. According to ViacomCBS Executive Vice President and CFO Naveen Chopra, speaking at a Bank of America Securities conference on Tuesday, the company has no plans to merge its Showtime premium streaming service with its Paramount+ streaming service.

“We’ve sort of built our streaming strategy around the notion of a streaming ecosystem that has a free, pay and premium component to it,” Chopra said, referring to the company’s three primary streaming products — Pluto TV, Paramount+, and Showtime.

Chopra said the strategy gives the company the opportunity to cross-pollinate between the three services, while at the same time serving the broadest base of potential consumers.

“We’ve got a Paramount Plus-Showtime bundle that we’ll be launching later this month,” he said. “I think we found interesting ways to create value out of that ecosystem by sampling; by doing promotions; by creating bundles across those different services.”

In late July, there were concerns that a long-standing Paramount Plus-Showtime bundle for consumers accessing the products through Apple TV Channels was going away. However, this was not the case. That deal remains in place for existing subscribers, but is not open to new sign-ups.

The deal allowed Apple TV+ subscribers ($4.99 a month) to receive Paramount+ Ad-Free ($9.99) and Showtime ($10.99) for just $9.99 a month. If you already get Apple TV+, this was an incredible discount on the services.

For everyone else, ViacomCBS offers a $3 discount for Paramount+ subscribers to add Showtime to their existing ad-supported ($13.99 total) and ad-free ($18.99) plans.

Chopra did not give details regarding the new deal — only mentioning that it would be launched before the end of September.

“We really like what we can do from a marketing and an acquisition perspective with that portfolio,” Chopra said, referring to the three streaming platforms. “Having all three services does unlock incremental value.”