The video-streaming wars are about to intensify. On Tuesday, ViacomCBS (PARA 2.40%) announced the initial launch dates of its Paramount+ streaming service. This will be March 4 in the U.S. and Latin America, and March 25 for the Nordic countries.
ViacomCBS added that the service would go live in Australia in the middle of this year but did not get more specific. In Canada, the legacy CBS All Access service will be renamed Paramount+, with an "expanded offering" to come later in 2021. The company did not set any launch dates for other countries and geographies.
After promising that it would develop and launch a "super service" to stream its considerable film and TV properties, Viacom CBS unveiled Paramount+ last September. The CBS All Access library of roughly 20,000 TV episodes and movies would be bulked up by around 10,000 pieces of content added for Paramount+.
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The latter includes new series such as The Offer, a behind-the-scenes dramatization of the turbulent making of the film, The Godfather.
It's not yet clear how much ViacomCBS will charge for Paramount+. At the moment, the price of CBS All Access is $5.99 per month, or $9.99 without commercials for non-live programs.
In the past, the company has said the pricing will not change; in an article published on Tuesday, CNBC said an unnamed company spokesperson told it that further details will be provided on Feb. 24, which happens to be the day ViacomCBS delivers its fourth-quarter results.
If the company maintains its current pricing and markets Paramount+ effectively, the service could be a strong competitor to the likes of Netflix and Walt Disney's Disney+, the two current kings of the streaming realm. It's quite late in the day, however, and the field is becoming very crowded.
