Paramount Plus with Showtime is getting a rebrand

[Karlston]

The Paramount Plus Premium tier will still feature Showtime programming, but it won’t feature the TV network’s name.

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

 

”Paramount Plus with Showtime” has always been one of the more awkward bits of branding to come out of the streaming era, but soon subscribers will know the tier by another name.

 

This week Paramount informed Paramount Plus subscribers that Paramount Plus with Showtime — the platform’s most expensive tier that features Showtime programming and minimal ads — will now be referred to as “Paramount Plus Premium.” The renamed tier will still cost $12.99 per month or $119.99 per year. Paramount Plus Premium will also still offer Showtime’s series and catalog of films, but it won’t feature the TV network’s name.

 

“Since we recently introduced a sampling of Showtime programming to the Essential plan, the Premium plan name reflects the broad and diverse offerings across both plan tiers,” Paramount said in a support post about the new tier name. “Showtime programming remains an important part of Paramount+, and is still prominently represented on the service!”

 

The clunkiness of the “Paramount Plus with Showtime” branding felt like a reflection of the rockiness that marked Showtime’s integration into Paramount Plus and the subsequent shutdown of Showtime’s standalone streaming service. Paramount executives warned employees about potential layoffs after CEO Bob Bakish first announced plans for a merger with Showtime back in 2023. Several Showtime series were cancelled or halted as a result of the deal, and by the following year, the new service had already gone through two price hikes.

 

As strong as the Showtime brand is, “Paramount Plus Premium” is definitely a better name. That said, coming so soon after Warner Bros. Discovery’s recent decision to pivot back to HBO Max, Paramount’s latest move feels very much like a response to the competition. None of us ever called it “Max, the one to watch,” and WBD was right to stop trying to make that happen. But it’s a little wild to see Paramount downplaying its connection to one of the networks that really helped bring cable TV into its own.

 

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