As if there weren't enough streaming platforms to choose from, Paramount+ and Showtime are giving customers another option to consider.
The two entities are merging to form Paramount+ with Showtime, a move that will integrate all of the premium cable network's content into a premium streaming tier on Paramount+. With more households cutting their cable cords, integrating content onto a streaming platform will allow more eyes on Showtime's content, Bob Bakish, Paramount CEO, said in a statement.
"Now, with SHOWTIME's content integrated into our flagship streaming service, and select Paramount+ originals joining the linear offering, Paramount+ will become the definitive multi-platform brand in the streaming space -– and the first of its kind to integrate streaming and linear content in this way," he said.
Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Paramount Media Networks and Showtime, said that investments will be diverted away from unsuccessful projects to clear a path for the cable network's hit shows to reach a global audience.
"As a part of Paramount+, we can put more resources into building out the lanes that have made the SHOWTIME brand more famous, as well as turning our hit shows into global hit franchises," he said.
More information on the merger is expected to be revealed in the coming weeks. Paramount Global, parent company of Paramount+, is set to report earnings on February 16.
UAW president Shawn Fain said the union would strike at a small number of Ford, General Motors and Stellantis factories, but that if the Big Three "continue to give us insulting offers, then our strike is going to continue to grow."
Hundreds of Milwaukee bar patrons who hoped to score free drinks through its offer to pay their tabs whenever the New York Jets, and former Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, lose had to pay up after the Jets got an overtime win despite an injury that took Rodgers out of the game.
The HBCU Transformation Project, a coalition of 40 historically Black colleges and universities, on Wednesday announced a $124 million gift from philanthropic funders Blue Meridian Partners to increase enrollment, graduation rates and employment rates for the schools' graduates.
