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Paramount+ coming this December – here’s what we know

19/9/2022

Translation: Veronica Bielawski

In December 2022, the new streaming service Paramount+ will be rolled out. Let’s talk initial details: here’s what we know so far about the available titles and pricing.

The renowned American film studio Paramount Pictures wants to strengthen its position by launching its very own streaming service. It’s not going unnoticed – after all, Paramount has some major blockbuster franchises and series in its portfolio, such as «Mission Impossible», «Top Gun», «Star Trek», «Terminator», «Spongebob» and «The Good Wife».

Last year, we found out that the streaming service would be rolled out to European countries in 2022. In June, we learned this would happen in December 2022.

But what else do we know?

The collection of titles is significantly smaller than in the USA

At present, no one knows how large the collection of titles will be in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. We do, however, have some clues, as Paramount has already launched its streaming service in a few European countries – namely, in the UK, Ireland and Italy. The fact that there are significantly fewer titles available there than in the USA is no surprise. The only surprise is just how many fewer.

USA: 3,025 feature films and 744 series – 3,769 titles in total
Great Britain and Ireland: 408 feature films and 253 series – 661 titles in total
Italy: 391 feature films and 193 series – 584 titles in total

In a nutshell: European countries have to make do with about 15 to 17 per cent of what’s available to Americans. That’s considerably worse than other US streaming services.

On Amazon Prime Video, for example, the US collection counts 10,029 titles. Germany gets 48.9 per cent of that, while Switzerland gets to enjoy an unexpected 62.5 per cent. On Netflix, the Swiss and German collections are now even larger than the one in the USA. The same is true for Disney+, though mainly because Disney distributes a lot of adult content in Europe under its «Star» label in the Disney+ app; in the USA, it does so on Hulu.

How much will Paramount+ cost?

How much the subscription will cost in Switzerland and Austria remains up in the air. In Germany, on the other hand, it’s supposed to be priced at 7.99 euros per month. Experience has shown that the subscription is likely to cost more in Switzerland than its neighbouring countries.

Will there be any Paramount originals?

Yes. In fact, they already exist and are currently available on Sky Cinema in Germany or Sky Show in Switzerland. Some notable examples include the reimagined, dramatic version of «The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air», which my colleague Jan reviewed here, as well as «Halo». The reason for this is an exclusive deal between Sky and Paramount in Europe. This means that anyone who subscribes to Sky Cinema and/or Sky Show also gets all Paramount+ original productions for free. Paramount movies and series will reportedly remain in Sky’s catalogue and be available to non-Sky subscribers through Sky’s video-on-demand service.

So says Paramount’s press release. Swiss online magazine «vybe» has countered this. It claims to have learned from first-hand sources that the division of Paramount+ content will not be so clear-cut after all. Contrary to the original announcement, some in-house productions will reportedly be distributed exclusively on Sky, others only on Paramount, and still others on both platforms.

Basically, it’s complicated.

Still, Paramount has pledged to commission at least 150 original productions by 2025. These will reportedly be produced internationally, including in Germany and France. One of them is even supposed to be produced by Dani Levy, a Swiss filmmaker. He’s set to direct the comedy series «Der Scheich» (The Sheik), in which a conman poses as a rich Arab sheik and inadvertently brings the whole of Swiss politics and business to the brink of a national crisis.

What are Paramount’s long-term plans?

The streaming service will hopefully allow Paramount+ to quickly grow into a serious and influential streaming platform. Paramount+ already has around 43 million subscribers worldwide. The European – and, more specifically, German, Swiss and Austrian – launch would not yet put Paramount on the podium; Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video are frankly too large. It would, however, jump ahead of Warner Bros.’ HBO Max with its 48.6 million subscribers and Apple’s AppleTV+ with its 40 million subscribers.

This could prove a nuisance for Warner Bros. in particular. Back in 2019, the film studio signed a five-year deal with Sky. Under the agreement, Sky will retain exclusive distribution rights for HBO content in Europe. The deal may have put money in Warner Bros.’ pockets in the short term. However, it prevents HBO Max from launching in the important European market until 2024 – assuming it will even exist then. In March 2021, Ex-WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar admitted as much.

With that, Paramount+ has a clear road forward – at least for now.

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Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.

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