Today Paramount+ finally arrived. CBS All Access is no more, and has been replaced by the rebranded streaming service that is the new home of the Star Trek Universe on TV. Paramount+ is running a few promotions to support the new service that include more free episodes online, a Star Trek marathon, and a free month.
Paramount+ is here
The transition to the new Paramount+ app launched March 4 should be seamless for any current subscribers to CBS All Access, and should not require you to re-login; your previous CBS All Access login will continue to work. Paramount+ is available in the same ways as CBS All Access including Android, iOS, game smart TVs, game consoles, Amazon Channels, Roku, and Apple TV.
The interface is essentially unchanged except for the addition of new content from across the ViacomCBS family. The service currently sports more than 30,000 episodes from across the ViaccomCBS family as well as hundreds of movie titles. New Paramount+ originals premiering today include The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, 76 Days, The Real World Homecoming: New York, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years, 60 Minutes+ and For Heaven’s Sake.
Paramount+ launched with new original content
The service will continue to expand with 36 exclusive originals coming to the service in 2021. This spring they are debuting a new Rugrats, an animated version of No Activity, and Behind the Music. Beginning late spring, the Paramount+ film library will grow to over 2,500 titles including recent hits from Paramount Pictures as well as popular movies from MGM. More original content has been announced, including a Halo series and the return of Frasier.
Paramount+ is also the home to the Star Trek Universe, including Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Short Treks, and Star Trek: Picard. Later this year Star Trek: Prodigy will launch first on Paramount+ and the premiere of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is expected next year. Paramount+ currently has four of the Star Trek feature films: Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, and Star Trek Nemesis. More titles may arrive as the Paramount Pictures content expands and licensing deals with other streaming services expire.
The Star Trek TV series will be found under the SHOWS>STAR TREK tab, or via a curated “Space: The Final Frontier” list on the front page.
Paramount+ is the new home of the Star Trek Universe
Free episodes of original series, including Star Trek
On launch day, Paramount+ made the first episodes of their original series available for free, including the pilots of Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, and Star Trek: Lower Decks. You can watch them via Amazon or Apple TV apps, or on YouTube.
https://youtu.be/kBvt47yyjgA
https://youtu.be/x7Gf55wHTnI
https://youtu.be/J85ugwkyYZQ
Star Trek Pilots Marathon
At 10 am ET / 7 am PT, Paramount+ is running a free Star Trek marathon on YouTube featuring the first episodes from each series. You can watch that below.
https://youtu.be/LdmHRzb-txM
International Rollout
ViacomCBS will bring Paramount+ to international markets with initial debuts in 18 Latin American countries and Canada today; the Nordics on March 25, 2021; and Australia with a rebrand and expansion of 10 All Access later this year.
Free month of Paramount+
Paramount+ costs $9.99 for the commercial-free option and $5.99 for a limited-commercials option. In June the $5.99 plan will be discontinued and they will be launching a new $4.99 limited-commercial option (which will not include live local CBS affiliates).
Today Paramount+ launched with a new one-month free promotion. To sign up, click here and use the code MOUNTAIN. Offer ends 3/31/21.
Keep up with the Star Trek Universe on TV here at TrekMovie.com.
Noice! Is there any info on the international expansion timeframe of Paramount + ?
Why don’t they have every trek movie?
Seriously? Which ones are missing?
I only see Generations, Voyage Home, First Contact and Nemesis.
I was wondering that as well. Maybe they have to wait until previous deals expire, but they really should have pushed to have all Star Trek movies ready to go at launch. Does Paramount + have every Mission Impossible and Indiana Jones movie? For that matter, does it have every Paramount Pictures movie? It really should
Licensing deals are complicated. Their goal may be to put it all on the service, but they likely need to wait or renegotiate some existing deals to make that happen.
Indy is there, though. Mission: Impossible, only 1-3 and the first show.
Doesn’t look like they’ve changed All Access’ fusty old interface much at all. You can’t visually scrub through anything from the website, can’t save anything to favorites or a watch later playlist. Feels cheap.
ViacomCBS has been getting mixed signals from investors and it’s led to some dubious strategic decisions.
Up until shortly before the merger, investors were really focused on ad and licensing revenue. Some still are and like to see $s coming in from Netflix, Amazon and others.
So, both Paramount and CBS Studios were making new content licencing their libraries with exclusive licenses. These mean that Paramount+ can’t stream these until the licenses expire. This includes a number of the Trek cinematic features.
But when Baklish took the we’ll keep selling to others strategy to investors in early 2020, ViacomCBS’ share price took a beating. Investors with the long view recognized that the future is in streaming and ViacomCBS’ advantage is in its library and capacity to generate new content.
So, in mid 2020 Baklish announced that ViacomCBS wouldn’t be selling exclusive licenses to other streamers anymore.
This is a huge change, but in the interim the exclusives that they sold to Netflix and Amazon are really biting.
Wow, CBSAA interface was so bad it was a reason why I dropped it. I mean, can’t they see how Netflix and Disney+ have their interface and just copy those?
I held off on getting CBSAA until Paramount + launched for this reason since I did not watch Disco season 3 yet. So, it looks like I will wait longer until they fix that and add more content. Not worth it now.
Netflix has enough Trek for me for now. And that interface is super easy to use.
Neither of those are interfaces I would really call “user friendly” either.
I suspect that their new head of streaming will get to the interface issue. The priority has been on this launch and on getting the US cable carriers to put Paramount+ on their devices.
Just the Indy movies, or the TV series as well?
Just the movies.
Does anyone even remember the Indy TV series anymore?
It was never nearly as popular as the features, but a certain contingent of the Indiana Jones fandom loves it dearly, including this fan. I personally think it’s the best and arguably greatest Indy production that doesn’t have the words “Raiders”, “Lost”, or “Ark” in its title.
Lucasfilm owns it, as it does the movies and the franchise in general, but the CBS / Paramount / Viacom / whatever corporate empire still has distribution rights to it, along with the four extant films, so it’s entirely possible it could wind up with them on Paramount+. Disney will fully control any / all future productions in the franchise, though, including distribution, so if / when the long-promised, much-delayed fifth film finally happens and ultimately goes to streaming, the franchise will be split between (at least) two different services, Paramount+ and Disney+ (and perhaps more, depending upon whatever’s going on with the Young Indy TV show).
Yes on the Indy (at least 1-3), I’m surprised that Disney hasn’t bought out Paramount’s minority share’s in the films yet; they’ve made it clear that Paramount will not be participating in any Indy projects in the future.
Paramount had a five film deal with Lucasfilm for the Indy films. Disney made a deal where they would make Indy 5 and give Paramount a cut. They will not be giving up their stake any time soon. I just hope that someone was savvy enough to add a clause that the Paramount logo still appears upfront and morphs into the first shot.
My understanding is that Disney and Paramount came to an agreement that lets Paramount retain distribution rights to the extant four films in perpetuity (or at least as long as they’re under copyright) while Disney has full distribution rights for everything from here on. Unless something specifically changes, then, I fully expect Paramount to keep distributing those four movies, and for them to retain the mountain openings forever.
I’m wondering if they are going to kill the cool Paramount logo fading into the actual mountain shots when Disney finally does wrest control of the rest of the films’ distro rights.
They already killed the 20th Century Fox Fanfare at the start of the Star Wars movies, which is a damn shame because that fanfare was so iconically etched as the intro to the movies’ wonderful opening theme.
I imagine they’ll try and blend it into some Disney Magic Mountain type BS or be even lazier than that and just give it the disney castle treatment, and some special movie magic will be lost. Sad…
“New Paramount+ originals premiering today include The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, 76 Days, The Real World Homecoming: New York, Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years, 60 Minutes+ and For Heaven’s Sake.”
Dude, they should be offering to pay me to sign back up if this is their sad sales pitch. Also, Star Trek is literally up on every other streaming service I pay for. Except the new ones. Which is no big loss.
Seriously, what an unappealing roster. I’m supposed to pay for that? And like you said, there’s plenty of Trek on other channels. If they ever go Paramount-exclusive, I’ll just break out my Trek DVD’s. No thanks, P+.
OK. A few things here.
First, I checked my app (which I still have even when not subscribed) and it still says “CBS” all over it. Wondering if that is going to ever going to change. No biggie if it doesn’t.
Next, I’m not so sure letting people see Star Trek Discovery, Picard or Lower Decks for free is all that enticing a thing for their service. If those are the best things they have it’s going to be a very tough sell.
And finally, if they are going to have a free month, wish they would do it when their next Trek show starts. Could also be a much better selling point that the low quality Trek stuff they have already put out. The shows have been improving ever so slightly with each installment (with only Lower Decks interrupting that rise) so seems to me the better bet would be to offer the free month with the next Trek installment. Assuming the next is not Lower Decks.
PS… Was really hoping the interface would change. It’s awfully crappy. But then, every streaming service I’ve used has had the terrible user interfaces.
Need to sign back in. Once you do— voila— the logo becomes Paramount Plus.
I am signed in. So I’m guessing you mean that I have to start PAYING again.
No thank you. Not until the next Trek show starts.
Don’t be cheap
“ Could also be a much better selling point that the low quality Trek stuff they have already put out. The shows have been improving ever so slightly with each installment (with only Lower Decks interrupting that rise) so seems to me the better bet would be to offer the free month with the next Trek installment. Assuming the next is not Lower Decks.”
That sounds like you think Lower Decks isn’t all that great. I’d say it’s not only better than Discovery and Picard, but better than Enterprise and Voyager as well.
But anyway, I do expect the next new Trek to be Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2, and after that, probably either Season 4 of Discovery or the series premiere of Prodigy.
I fell in love with LDS as well. I won’t say it’s better than ENT or VOY but better than DIS and PIC IMO. At least based on their first seasons. I think DIS season 3 was more enjoyable then LDS though and I just loved the 32nd century vibe. But LDS just feels more like classic Trek and why I think so many like it.
I’ll put LDS over Enterprise certainly.
Beyond my own fondness for it, LDS was what got every member of our family watching again after Icheb’s torture and macabre death in Picard.
Enterprise on the other hand never held my spouse’s attention and drove me away in season two. I came back for season four, but I don’t think a single family member has managed to watch the entire series.
Emma Watts states that their data shows that Trek fans watch all the shows with the implication that they’re not getting as much differentiation as they’d hoped from their menu of Trek series.
I really wonder though if all the fans watch every episode in every series. Or if the current pool of viewers subscribed to CBSAA / Paramount+ is too small and homogeneous to give a good read on the potential. The Netflix data from outside North America suggests something very different. Viewers who are new to the franchise definitely are looking for different things.
The show originally drove me away after season one. But it’s amazing what times does I guess because I really gotten to love Enterprise today. I liked it for years now once I finally went back and gave it a real chance. And I just rewatched the entire show back in January and it’s really a fun show. There were definitely plenty of missed opportunities, but no more than the newer shows (although Discovery is trying like crazy to change that). While the first season is the worst (and probably still one of the worst for me overall) seasons 2-4 gets stronger and stronger. Just my opinion obviously.
But that’s one thing I am enjoying watching all the shows and films is that I can really re-evaluate them today. Honestly I can’t say how new viewers would feel about it though if they did it for the first time although at least many who start watching it seem to like it enough to want to watch more. And it doesn’t seem to matter what show they start with. But yeah, very anecdotal obviously. I’m now watching TOS and currently in season one. I have mentioned before it has been harder for me to watch the show the last decade versus the others but actually watching it straight through is not that bad. Still fiercely dated in parts (especially when you go from DIS to TOS lol) but I realize I still enjoy it overall, just not as much as I use to. Same time, there are so many goofy production and writing errors the show has that none of the newer shows would ever do (or could get away with). It makes a lot of it feel much like a show shot in the sixties and not in a good way.
As for LDS, I was surprised just how much I liked it out the gate. But yes, probably because in some ways it feels very different being an animated comedy but still framed and produced like classic Trek is what makes it works, at least for me.
You are correct. My opinion of Lower Decks is not high to say the least. I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt in the beginning but ultimately it never gelled or got better. It remained unfunny and tired. And I find every one of the Berman era shows to be superior to anything Secret Hideout has given us thus far. But then, I consider Enterprise to be the 2nd best of the Berman shows.
My guess would be the next thing on P+ will be Prodigy.
Wow, Enterprise the second-best Berman-era Trek? Really? That means you consider it better than at least one out of the two of TNG and DS9, and possibly both. Respectfully, I guess Lower Decks isn’t the only Trek thing we disagree on. Different strokes, I guess…
Speaking of which, did you watch the whole season? While I apparently think more highly of even the early episodes than you do, I do also think it improves remarkably toward the end of the season; the last three episodes are all better than any of the first seven, IMO. Did you get that far?
Re: P+ season debuts, I think Lower Decks S2 will be first, as it was already being worked on when S1 appeared, and Mike McMahan talked about its progress in late October or November. As of then, several months ago, he was about to sit down and watch the first animatic for episode 9, while at the same time the first four episodes were going to color. That was a little over four months ago, so I’d guess not only those first four episodes but at least a couple more (so, at least half of the season’s planned twelve episodes) are done at this point, whereas Kate Mulgrew’s recent statement about having finished recording her dialogue for all of S1 and looking forward to S2 sounded like she’d just done it all more recently. While we don’t know exactly how much of the production process on earlier episodes might have been done by the time she recorded her material for later ones, I get the impression that show isn’t quite as far along as LD S2 is. We also know LD S1 gets its disc release (DVD & Blu-ray) May 18, and I don’t think S2 will be far behind.
But I could be wrong, and I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. We do know both seasons are supposed to hit Paramount+ this year, at least.
For me, the Berman shows are ranked in order from best to worst… DS9, ENT, VOY TNG.
I did watch the entire season of LDX. McMahon gave an interview that appeared here where he said his favorite were the final episodes. So I gave him the benefit of the doubt. And it did not pay off. The show never got better. It continued to be a smorgasbord of fan service with zero laughs.
I’ll watch the 2nd season but I’ll be watching the way I am watching all the Secret Hideout Trek. Like I’m a fan of a ball club that was really good a few decades ago but completely sucks now. I still watch and follow the team just hoping beyond hope it gets better even though there is no evidence they will. It’s just what fans do.
My Android CBS All Access app updated itself overnight, no problem. My Roku app was royally screwed up until after 4PM PST, when their programmers fixed what ever the problem was, and I was able to update the app to Paramount+ and sign in. As for trying to tempt people into subscribing with the pilot episodes of the CBS All Access Trek shows for free; the fact that you don’t like them, doesn’t mean that lots of other people don’t or won’t. IDIC, and all that jazz.
I just looked today and it now is updated as P+. I cannot see the main page to check out the interface to see if it has improved because while I have an account I am currently not subscribed. So I guess I’m not going to see how different it is until the next Trek show starts.
So my Android devices updates (at least the icon and the text inside, but the app still more or less looks the same/just as meh), but now they no longer run on Roku?!?!? Not ok with that Paramount and Roku. Fix your issues. (Their fix is for me to link my Amazon Prime account and the Paramount+ one, but then I might get charged twice if I do that… Oy.)
I don’t expect P+ to fix their issues at all. It’s been years and CBSAA still hiccupped and buffered left and right over the most recent season of Star Trek Discovery.
How old is your Roku? I had to replace my first gen player after Discovery premiered because it couldn’t handle CBS All Access. I’ve gone from that second player through two different TCL Roku TVs and haven’t had any issues with any channels and playback. The first TV was a factory recondition that I had to buy because my old TV just died right before Christmas and money was tight, so spending money on the most expensive, fresh from the factory player isn’t necessary. I would recommend anyone buying a Roku product making sure it is an unsold clearance item or a factory refurbished one. Either way, you have the factory warranties and whatever consumer protections you have wherever you live when you purchase new products from a retailer, instead of a used product from an individual.
I don’t have a Roku. It was far too costly. I have to cast from my phone to a Chromecast. Didn’t even want to do that but since CBS had no app for TV’s or disc players I had no choice. It’s annoying, actually. One of the things that makes streaming suck. P+ really should get an app installed on TV’s and disc players and such like Netflix does. In fact, Disney and HBO Max don’t do this either. Pretty pathetic, if you ask me.
ML31, you do realize that the head of CBS streaming and his core team were all let go last year, right?
Given that, I’m not sure why you are expecting that there won’t be changes in the technology. There are already many changes happening, but they have been so radical that I don’t think we’ll see them all work their way through for 18-24 months.
The new head came to ViacomCBS through the acquisition of Pluto. He was focused on rolling out Pluto and its app in Latin America and Europe. That app works well and was the single most downloaded app in Spain the month Pluto launched there.
Already, since he became head of all streaming, we’ve seen ViacomCBS renew its deals on cable and other boxes in the United States to add Paramount+ where it didn’t previously exist. So it should be coming to you as those update.
And we’ve seen ViacomCBS shift its streaming strategy so that it will no longer grant exclusive licenses to other platforms and will instead always retain the rights to stream themselves.
I did not know that. I tend to not follow that end of the business. If they were let go after Star Trek Discovery S3 ended then hopefully the new group will fix their issues. If they were let go earlier, then the new group didn’t fix crap. It was still just as buggy as it was on day one.
The reason I am doubting there will be a change is because they have had over 3 years to make their fixes. And nothing changed. Honestly, I really don’t care that much about what is licensed where. Generally speaking if there is something I want to watch more than once I will just buy the BD. There are exceptions, of course but that is the way it is most of the time. And none of that licensing stuff affects the quality of the stream anyway.
They screwed up the Roku rollout big time, but seemed to roll out a patch around 4PM, PST. Give your Roku app another try. You MIGHT have to download a new Paramount+ app yourself, but they may have fixed that since I checked last.
Love all the content that’s made available, but I think it’s odd that they still haven’t fixed the audio mix of the TOS opening. It’s strange: it’s the most-quoted speech in the franchise, and you can’t hear it!
It’s like that on Netflix too, I hate it. I want my non-CGI original Star Trek back
Paramount, if you’re listening, a good way to get people excited about your platform would be:
I don’t think they’d cost that much, and they’d help some filmmakers get out of debt.
As someone who works for PBS, if you’re looking for independent docs, check it out…and it’s free. :). (Pardon the shameless plug…)
Not shameless, important! While I love Independent Lens, it’s still a hard life for a documentary in the USA and other small independents.
People will be subscribing to Paramount, so for about half the cost of developing one small feature, they could purchase a “mini-stream” of alternative content.
Personally, the places I go for that content are: Criterion, Mubi, NoBudge, Canopy, IndieFlix and more. There are definitely ways to get better content.
What’s BAD: Amazon Prime just made it very hard for independent documentary makers to upload their content.
We’re spoiled in Canada with a long publicly funded documentary tradition that’s now available for streaming.
(In the US, the Seattle PBS station used to show a curated collection of them on “Masterpiece Documentaries” and it makes me wonder if there’s a place for that again on cable.)
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) has its collection online.
I don’t know how much of CBC’s vast collection is available outside Canada on its YouTube channel, but CBC Docs and CBC “out of the archives” are great on the CBC Gem app.
TVO and Knowledge (the Ontario and BC provincial public broadcasters) also have a lot of great original content.
I’m wondering though if, with new Canadian regulations, ViacomCBS and other streamers may be incented to produce and stream new independent Canadian documentaries. It looks like Australia will be seeking similar commitments. With the Smithsonian channel as part of its core content group and the strength of CBS news, ViacomCBS will be well positioned to meet any requirements but may need a push to reach out and work with independents.
Unfortunately, the US regulators don’t seem to see that as something that should be in part of the licensing agreements.
Actually because I was curious about the hiring of Norma Bailey for Discovery Season 3, I did some research and I was able to watch several of her documentaries at the NFBC website. There’s an especially cool one about a pilot who flies out to very rural areas of Canada.
Where’s the DS9 and VOY in HD…. beeeeeeeeeeee-achhhhhhhhhhhhhhes……..
In never-never land apparently because the tens of millions of dollars invested in upgrading TNG to HD resulted in a huge loss when nobody bought the discs.
Maybe not a loss as the first two sets sold well and they did get to charge every cable channel and streamer for the upgraded show, but it was most certainly a disappointment.
I think they just waited too late. By then more and more people were watching these shows on streaming. I love TNG to death, but it’s no way I would buy the blu ray because I haven’t bought one in over a decade now.
I waited for the complete collection to be released as one set. I’m more choosy now just because I’m mindful of physical space, but blu ray is still the best legal way to ensure I own a film or show. Digital copies are fine and Apple and Amazon are probably not going anywhere, but the latter company is not one I want to help, and I’m not one of those who simply forgot about how nice dvd extras were just because I could get a movie with one click. If I love a movie or show, I don’t want to have to ever rent it and be subject to the particulars of these companies’ licensing deals which change all the time.
That’s pretty much how I feel. It’s much better to have the physical media itself rather than rely on licensing deals or other insidious things that are happening given today’s climate.
I do own the upgraded BD of TOS. And very happy I do. Would seriously consider DS9 if it ever gets the HD treatment.
I don’t disagree but reality is I’m not even in front of a TV when I even watch a lot of shows today.. OK, today I am a lot more lol. But usually I watch things on my computer and phone. Even when I do watch things on TV it almost feels like a chore to pull out a disc these days. And you’re talking to someone who once owned over 200 VHS movies. That certainly felt like a waste of money today lol.
I think I’ve gotten to use to the ease of streaming.
It’s incredible how our household has gone from cupboards full of hundreds or DVDs (especially for the kids) to a relatively small curated collection in just a few years.
That said, anything we really care about and want to ensure we will be able to see is in blueray.
Honestly, I would love to have every Star Trek show and film on blu ray on a shelf somewhere. But the chances of me actually watching most of it that way is just very very low these days. Sure, I might pop in an odd episode or movie from time to time, but I know most of it will just be watched on Netflix, Paramount+ or Amazon.
And then with the new shows, I still don’t have a huge interest to rewatch them like the old shows, ie, once I seen them, I’m kind of done. So by the time they show up on blu ray months after the fact, I wouldn’t rewatch them all that much, so it would feel like a waste of money. That could change later I guess, but not now at least.
That’s the difference. As you said if there is something you truly love, sure, buy it on blu ray. But I’m going to say the overwhelming majority of people out there watch something once and then move on and why streaming is a better deal. The hardcore fans of a show or movie still buy them of course, but that’s probably who only mostly bothers now, people who want to put it on their shelf with pride. Most of the casual audience probably consider it a waste of money and will most likely just collect dust on a shelf somewhere after they watched it once or twice; especially TV shows.
I still remember having nearly the entire DVD collection of LOST (up to season 5) when I was a huge fan at the time and never watched it again once the show ended lol. I gave the whole thing to my former neighbor to watch because he never saw it when it aired and he still has it today (I’m guessing anyway). I never cared to ask for it back over a decade ago now. If I ever did watch it again, I would just binge watch it on Hulu and call it day.
Ugh… If my choice was to watch on my phone or not at all, then I’m not watching. No way no how. I hate watching things on my laptop or tablet! When I watch a show or movie at home I want it on my BIG TV with my sound system!
That said, my kid has no problem watching his shows on his tablet. Not so much his phone, however.
Different strokes for different folks. But yeah these are pretty common ways for lots of people to watch things, especially if you’re not home that often.
I have a nephew who is 19 and he doesn’t even own a TV. Doesn’t see the point.
I have a niece who doesn’t own a TV either. Partly because she doesn’t have time with her schooling and such. But I’m told it was pretty uncommon of her when she was home to watch on an actual TV as well. My own son isn’t out of the house just yet (I suspect it will come when things open up again, IF they open up again), but when he does I suspect he won’t be taking a TV with him either.
I also bought the Blu-ray complete series set for ST:TNG after it was available that way, but I kind of wish I’d bought the individual season releases as they came out – partly to have supported them earlier, partly in hopes the discs could be removed from the packing more easily than they are from the packaging CBS uses for the big sets, and partly so (in conjunction with individual season sets for DS9 and Voyager, which I didn’t get either) I could interleave the seasons sets of DS9 with those of both first TNG and then Voyager, so that the lineup on the shelf could more closely reflect the series chronology.
Unfortunate. I don’t know if this would be enough to get you to buy a disc release now, but FWIW the Blu-rays of TNG do have a fantastic extended cut of “The Measure of a Man” that’s still exclusive to disc, as far as I’m aware, as well as plenty of extras.
I have to re-login. They lied to us.
Amazon Fire TV Cube updated automatically. No re-login required here.
Also, the issue with the CBS All Access constantly forgetting that I pay for commercial-free is gone. P+ is not forcing commercials on me.
If they want my money, they will give us all a Director’s Cut of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. Go back and fix those VFX. Shatner ain’t getting any younger.
ReleasetheShatnercut :))
New VFX ain’t going to fix what’s wrong with that film; just make it look prettier while giving you a migraine.
I was wondering how long it would take for the b**ching to start. It never disappoints to see people who feel entitled to the Ritz Carlton experience at the Motel 6 price…..
Yes, why should anyone walking into a newly-refurbished hotel have any expectations of enjoying their time there? Very odd.
You’re right. Launching the big rebrand with SpongeBob and The Real World shows considerable business savvy. Netflix and Disney+ are probably pretty worried right now.
Come to Quark’s. Quark’s is fun.
Did anyone else who subscribed to this do the deal and got a full year for 50% off? I did a few days ago and have to say I’m really happy I did it. I don’t think Paramount+ is anything amazing now but it’s already improving over AA just by the movies they added and it sounds like many more will be coming in the next few months. When I first signed on to AA back in early 2017, they literally had 13 movies lol. And the newest one was made in the 90s. AA was a really bad site if you weren’t a hardcore Trek fan or loved CBS shows.
And I know this is going to sound really silly, but I really love seeing the Paramount logo on the Star Trek shows again. For most of us, we always signify Star Trek with Paramount from TOS through the Kelvin movies. Discovery was the first time the CBS logo was applied and it just never truly felt right. I like seeing Paramount associated with the new shows now, it feels like I’m back home.
Lots of people have that same feeling and CBS All Access only seemed to say, “Watch your favorite CBS shows before you call the grandkids and turn in for the night.” As time passes Paramount+ will be less reliant on Star Trek but they really need something on par with a Mandalorian, WandaVision, Handmaids Tail or Stranger Things to break out. Star Trek is reaching a very specific audience, not a broad one.
And the film library, as big as it is, is short on hits over the past decade. There’s Mission: Impossible and the occasional Star Trek movie but that’s pretty much it. They really need to dig into that library and do something new.
Did Paramount even have a lot of hits over the last decade? ;-)
I can only think of Transformers, unfortunately. Before that you might need to go back to Indiana Jones. But I thought Disney bought the rights to that character as part of the Lucas deal.
Lucasfilm does own the Indiana Jones franchise (and therefore Disney owns it), but Paramount has the distribution rights for the extant movies (hence their inclusion on Paramount+). Disney will have distribution rights for all future Indy productions, though (meaning that once the fifth film comes, it’ll be on Disney+, and the franchise will be split across the two services).
Well, nothing too much except for Mission İmpossible.
A Quiet Place.
Final global gross was $340 million so it’s a hit but not exactly on par with the last Fast or Marvel film.
Well, there is that…
I suspect that they are hoping that Halo will be that exclusive vehicle for Paramount+ to draw in new viewers.
The game is/was huge and its audience will include a many who aren’t already subscribers.
I understand what you say about the Paramount logo with Trek. I feel like something is missing when I see a Star Wars film that doesn’t open with the Newman Fox fanfare.
Also love seeing all the Trek shows getting major exposure this month! I wonder why they didn’t at least advertise the marathon happening a few days ago? And this is the second time they done this since Star Trek day in September. They know where their bread is buttered. ;)
IDK, but it still bothers me that the movies are treated like they don’t exist. It’s so odd. I get that the TV side is now the one making all the new content but I still think the movies should be acknowledged. They only have four of them on the site now and as others said it’s sad they don’t have more. It would be nice to see the Kelvin films there too (remember those movies, the ones that made big waves a decade ago with the fanbase and was the sole creation for this site?).
Anyway I know it’s licensing issues with not having more there now, but I think it would be smart to have a dedicated Trek section to ALL their content: shows, films and documentaries (they have at least one right now). I mean that’s what Disney+ does with their Marvel and Star Wars sections and HBO Max with D.C. Make it where all the Star Trek content is in one place so people don’t have to go searching for it, ie, the movies mainly. Maybe that will change when they get more of them.
Disney was smarter with the deals that they signed, aware that the licensing windows with Starz and others would expire within a few years and that everything would revert back to them. CBS and Paramount licensed away way too much of their content (like giving AMC exclusive rights to the Godfather trilogy for 10 years). Star Trek is licensed to Netflix, BBC America and others and those deals won’t expire for years.
Yup, CBS and Paramount and their shareholders were both addicted to licencing revenue and saw themselves more as content producers/owners than running platforms themselves.
Suddenly walking that back after the remerger was necessary but very late.
ViacomCBS will be suffering for this major strategic misstep for years until they can clawback the exclusive licenses they’ve sold to their competitors.
Their one enormous competitive advantage is that Pluto is taking off incredibly everywhere it’s launched. They are the global leader in totally ad-supported streaming while the others are still reliant on cable channels to feed their audience base both in the United States and internationally.
The fact that the head of Pluto is now running all ViacomCBS streaming shows that they know Pluto is their base for the future and that they are going to use it to build their paid streamer(s).
I think Pluto took everyone by surprise and the irony, of course, is that ad supported streaming is simply shifting the cable model to the internet but without the licensing fees to the cable provider (and the cable companies are providing the internet service anyway, so…).
Doubling the irony is that many streaming services with ad supported broadcast and cable channels STILL require you to watch the commercials unless you pay an additional fee.
It may take some time but people will eventually come to the realization that the house always wins.
I don’t know… I won’t watch commercials anymore unless it’s some live event that I am watching in real time. There is no scripted show that I watch that isn’t on the DVR or a streaming service without ads. So a service like Pluto that forces ads on you… I just can’t do it.
Obviously I agree with this. I don’t pretend to know just how much Paramount licensed everything, but the fact they don’t have a single Transformers movie on P+ yet, probably their biggest franchise to date (and six movies at that) probably does tell you they gave away most of the store long ago. Sure a lot of this stuff will come back to them at some point, but I am guessing years down the line.
As for Disney, it is funny how when Disney+ was coming, there were actually a lot of complaints that most of the Marvel movies weren’t going to be there once it started. Originally there were only going to be 7 films (out of the 20) and was a lot of talk how it was going to take maybe years to have a real MCU collection. I have no idea what Disney did, but they managed to secure 8 more of them bringing the count up to 15 by the time the service actually premiered a week before. And then they got most of the others before the first year was up. Now the entire library is there minus the Spider-Man movies and Hulk since they were actually made by different studios. So yeah, they definitely handled it a lot better and pretty much every iconic movie or show is there now, certainly the biggest stuff in their library. And why it had no problem getting hundred million subscribers in just over a year I guess.
As a child of the 90s, this streaming service is everything I’ve wanted for a very long time – a place where I can enjoy all those Nicktoons I grew up with, and all the Star Trek I love. If I was 20 years younger, I’d probably be diving into Kamp Koral right now. I think I’ll wake up early on Saturday, get me a bowl of cereal and plop down for some Rocko’s Modern Life
Thanks for the perspective albatrosity.
Sounds like the marketing folks have identified a key demographic and are targeting it.
The older folks (like several of us here) just may not see how these fit together.
Paramount+ opens for Latin America march 5… with no star trek content!!! The only advertised content is Star Trek Beyond… for april!!!
As always, they don’t consider latin america trek market… we are trekkies too here!!!!
.. sounds like they are afraid no one is going to buy nor watch just like no one did for cbs