Entertainment giant ViacomCBS is bringing international variants of its new Paramount Plus streaming service to customers in Canada and 18 Latin American countries, the company announced on Tuesday.
Canadian viewers have had access to the streaming service under the CBS All Access brand for a while now, while some Latin American countries are set to receive the service for the first time.
These international variants of Paramount Plus will offer slightly different content compared to the massive library available to American subscribers. In Canada, Paramount Plus will offer some CBS, MTV and Nickelodeon shows, but Paramount Plus originals “Picard” and “Star Trek: Discovery” will be missing because the streaming rights of those shows are held by Bell Media’s streaming service Crave. The shows are expected to eventually be offered on the Canadian version of Paramount Plus once Bell’s licensing rights expire.
Likewise, in the 18 Latin American countries where Paramount Plus is debuting today, some movies and TV shows will be missing at launch as ViacomCBS sorts out digital distribution rights with local media companies there.
Things will be less complicated in Australia when ViacomCBS re-launches its 10 All Access streaming service under the Paramount Plus brand later this year. Content currently available to Australian subscribers on 10 All Access is expected to move over to Paramount Plus.
A version of Paramount Plus is also expected to roll out to Nordic countries by the end of March, though content availability was not immediately known.
The moves are intended to bring a single streaming experience under the unified Paramount Plus brand and give greater leverage to ViacomCBS over the domestic and international availability of its content.
“With production capabilities across five continents, strong distribution agreements and local relationships and expertise around the world, Paramount Plus will leverage ViacomCBS’ leading global reach — including the largest global broadcast footprint — to drive streaming growth and international expansion,” a ViacomCBS spokesperson said in a press release.
ViacomCBS didn’t offer information on how much subscriptions will cost in each country, but said the prices would be “compelling” compared to other streaming services. In the United States, Paramount Plus is being offered at an initial rate of $6 a month with advertisements and $10 a month without commercial interruptions.
