Paramount Global and smart TV maker VIDAA International have inked a deal that will see the streaming service Paramount Plus land on smart TVs in Latin America and Canada.
The deal makes the streaming service available on VIDAA-powered smart TVs in dozens of countries, including Argentina, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. It comes after VIDAA-powered TV sets in the United States got access to Paramount Plus last month.
“We are thrilled to partner with VIDAA to bring Paramount Plus to millions of smart TV viewers in Canada and Latin America, including Brazil,” Marco Nobili, the executive vice president and international general manager of Paramount Plus, said in a statement on Tuesday. “The deal is an incredible opportunity to get Paramount Plus popular content, characters, and franchises available to an increasingly large audience, and a testament of our commitment to investing in customer choice.”
Related: Get a free trial of Paramount Plus with Showtime here
While VIDAA-powered TV sets are also available in the United States, the company hasn’t focused on marketing its sets to domestic streamers, where Roku and Amazon Fire TV power around 80 percent of streaming sticks, dongles and TV sets in American households. Instead, VIDAA has focused its efforts on selling its TV sets in foreign markets, where Roku and Amazon Fire have yet to gain mass adoption.
“Canada and Latin America are incredibly important markets for VIDAA, and we couldn’t be more excited to be onboarding Paramount Plus for our audiences,” Nick Ruczaj, the vice president and global head of content and business development at VIDAA, said on Tuesday. “VIDAA’s focus and mission continues to be that of serving our audiences with the most diverse and highest quality content available. We are proud to offer them Paramount Plus’ amazing lineup of originals, movies, and live sports that will satisfy their entertainment needs.”
Ruczaj said VIDAA’s partnership with Paramount Plus will also help companies that manufacture TV sets powered by the operating system. Those companies include Sharp, Hisense and Toshiba, with others coming to market soon.
