Charter Communications is now offering free access to the ad-supported tier of streaming service Paramount Plus to some subscribers of its Spectrum TV service.
Starting this week, customers who subscribe to Spectrum TV Select or Spectrum Mi Plan Latino now have complementary access to Paramount Plus Essentials, the ad-supported plan of the service that includes on-demand content like “Tulsa King,” “The Daily Show” and “Big Brother” along with live sports like NFL and NCAA college basketball games.
The inclusion of Paramount Plus Essentials in Spectrum TV Plans makes good on Charter’s promise in May to roll out free access to the streaming service after renewing its distribution agreement with Paramount for certain broadcast and cable networks.
Paramount owns the local CBS station in some markets served by Charter, including New York and Los Angeles, along with cable networks like Comedy Central, Paramount Network, TV Land, Nickelodeon, BET, Smithsonian Network, Pop TV, VH1 and MTV.
“By including Paramount Plus Essential with our Spectrum TV Select and Mi Plan Latino packages at no extra cost, we are continuing to provide greater value for our video customers,” said Tom Montemagno, the Executive Vice President of Programming Acquisition for Charter. “This partnership not only enhances the viewing experience with access to top-rated original content and live sports, but it also creates new distribution opportunities for Paramount and is a significant step towards building a healthier video ecosystem that benefits both our customers and the industry as a whole.”
“We are very pleased to renew and expand our long-standing partnership with Charter to provide continued access to Paramount’s leading portfolio of broadcast, entertainment, news and sports brands,” Ray Hopkins, the President of U.S. Networks Distribution at Paramount, said in a statement back in May. “This innovative deal celebrates our mutual commitment to deliver flexibility, choice and value for audiences everywhere, and we look forward to bringing even more of our fan-favorite programming to Spectrum customers through our direct-to-consumer streaming services for the first time.”
Over the past year, Charter has been focused on renewing its distribution agreements in broadcasters in a way that also provides TV subscribers access to their direct-to-consumer streaming services.
Last September, Charter kicked off the trend by renewing an agreement with the Walt Disney Company that allowed the distributor to purchase wholesale access to the ad-supported tiers of Disney Plus, Hulu and ESPN Plus, which are now available to Spectrum subscribers depending on their TV package. Charter began offering the streaming services to customers in January.
Similar agreements have allowed Spectrum TV customers to access other streaming TV service as part of their service, including Vix Premium with Ads and the Weather Channel app.
