As CBS All Access CBS All Access was launched on October 28, 2014, priced at US$5.99 per month with advertising and $9.99 per month without. Announced on October 16, 2014, as the first
over-the-top (OTT) offering by an American broadcast television network, the service initially encompassed the network's existing streaming portal at CBS.com and its mobile app for smartphones and tablet computers; CBS All Access became available on
Roku on April 7, 2015, and on
Chromecast on May 14, 2015. In addition to providing full-length episodes of past and present CBS programs, the service allows live programming streams of local CBS affiliates in 194 markets reaching 92% of the United States (including stations owned by
Sinclair Broadcast Group,
Hearst Television,
Tegna Media,
Nexstar Media Group,
Meredith Corporation,
Griffin Media,
Gray Television,
Weigel Broadcasting, and
Cox Media Group and the launch group of
CBS Television Stations), including
SEC sports and the
NFL; however due to the absence of streaming rights, a few sports events are not streamed on the service (mainly involving
PGA Tour events, some locally programmed NFL preseason games, and select
brokered shows through
CBS Sports Spectacular), along with limited syndicated and
paid programming where only a local broadcast license to carry the program is allowed and web airing rights are retained by the syndicator or infomercial producer. By the very nature of its being live, streaming of a local affiliate does include all advertising, even with the commercial-free plan. On December 1, 2016, CBS announced an agreement with the NFL to allow clearance of regional
NFL games carried by CBS on CBS All Access from Week 13 of the
2016 NFL season on. At the time, the games were blacked out on non–
Verizon Wireless mobile devices due to that provider's exclusivity agreement as the official wireless sponsor of the league. In the
2018 NFL season, a new agreement with Verizon ending that exclusivity began to allow CBS All Access to stream games to all mobile devices;
Super Bowl games run on CBS All Access without the need for any authentication. the service had nearly 1.5 million subscribers. In August of the same year, CBS unveiled plans to expand CBS All Access to markets outside the United States. Canada was announced as the first international market to receive the service. Plans to launch in Australia quickly followed, resulting from CBS's purchase of free-to-air broadcaster
Network 10. In September 2017,
Star Trek: Discovery premiered on CBS All Access, with its first episode also airing on the CBS broadcast network to promote the service. CBS reported that the premiere had driven its largest single-day increase in new subscribers since the
Grammy Awards. Along with
Star Trek,
Big Brother 19 and the start of the
2017 NFL season had also driven major increases in growth that month. Buoyed by
Star Trek: Discovery, CBS All Access reached over 2 million subscribers by early 2018. The
60th Annual Grammy Awards also provided a boost to sign-ups, marking the second largest day for new subscriptions after the Discovery premiere. In April 2018, CBS All Access was made available outside the United States for the first time when it was launched in Canada. The service launched in Australia in December 2018 as 10 All Access, named after Network 10. It operated alongside 10's free catch up and live streaming service 10 Play and contains a mixture of Network 10 and CBS programming. CBS shows are made available on All Access prior to being broadcast on 10's channels. 10 All Access is commercial-free and, unlike CBS All Access, has only one pricing tier. In January 2019, CBS reported its largest increase in subscribers over a weekend—a 72% increase over the premiere of
Discovery, crediting the premiere of season 2 of the series and that week's
AFC Championship Game (which also brought the service its largest streaming audience for a football game).
Super Bowl LIII would surpass this record only a few weeks later, with CBS reporting an 84% increase in new subscribers.
Re-merger of CBS and Viacom On November 25, 2019, as part of
the re-merger between CBS Corporation and Viacom, CBS All Access announced the inclusion of programming from
Nickelodeon, as part of the wider launch of children's programming on the service, with other partners including
Boat Rocker Studios and
WildBrain. In January 2020, CBS All Access became available on the
Xfinity Flex platform, followed by the X1 platform in December. On February 6, 2020,
CNBC reported that
ViacomCBS was in discussions to launch a larger premium streaming offering, combining CBS All Access with content from
Paramount Pictures, the
Domestic Media Networks division, and
Pluto TV. The service would include an ad-free tier, and a premium tier that includes
Showtime's streaming service. The company would maintain its existing streaming platforms, while marketing the new service to users of these other services. ViacomCBS partially outlined these plans in a corporate earnings call on February 20, 2020, stating that the expanded All Access service would take a "house of brands" approach to content and serve as a mid-tier offering complementing Pluto TV (which would remain a free service) and the Showtime OTT service by "adding a broad pay offering, built on All Access's foundation." The expanded service will include content from
MTV,
VH1,
Nickelodeon,
Comedy Central,
BET, and
Smithsonian Channel, as well as a library of 30,000 television series episodes and up to 1,000 film titles from Paramount's film and television divisions and
CBS Media Ventures and expanded live news and sports offerings. No pricing plan or firm dates for content expansion were disclosed, though a "soft relaunch" will occur later in 2020. ViacomCBS will also continue to license its television and film content to competing streaming platforms. On May 7, 2020, CBS All Access began adding more films to the service, starting with more than 100 from Paramount Pictures, and ViacomCBS announced that CBS All Access will expand internationally within twelve months. On July 30, 2020, CBS All Access added several shows from
ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks, introduced a new user interface with "hubs" for different brands, and revealed that ''
Kamp Koral: SpongeBob's Under Years'' (previously planned to air on Nickelodeon) would debut on the service in 2021. With the expansion, it was also announced that the service would rebrand in early-2021 to separate itself from CBS's platforms, and that there were plans to add multiple user profiles and parental controls later in 2020.
Rebrand as Paramount+ On September 15, 2020, it was announced that CBS All Access, along with 10 All Access would rebrand as
Paramount+ in 2021, and that it planned to perform more international expansion under the new name. On January 19, 2021, it was announced that Paramount+ would launch on March 4, 2021, with information being released on February 24, 2021, during an investor event. The company announced that no updates will be provided for apps on second or third generation
Apple TV once the service relaunches. ViacomCBS announced during their investor event on February 24 that Paramount+ would premiere new 2021 theatrical releases from Paramount Pictures (such as
A Quiet Place Part II and
Snake Eyes) 45 days after their theatrical release,
PAW Patrol: The Movie and
Clifford the Big Red Dog received simultaneous theatrical and Paramount+ releases on August 20 and November 10, 2021 respectively, while other future theatrical releases from Paramount would premiere on the service either after their theatrical run or after their run on
Epix (which reached a new deal with ViacomCBS that same day to provide content for Paramount+, allowing recent releases from Paramount to be available on the service among other titles). The relaunch occurred as announced on March 4, 2021, with additional streaming content being launched and further rebranding efforts taking place at that time. In August 2021, it was announced that Paramount+ would be shut down in
Nordic Europe in 2022 in favor of
SkyShowtime, a joint venture with
Comcast-owned
Sky Group that would also include content from Showtime,
Sky Studios, and
NBCUniversal. In September 2021, it was announced that Showtime's direct-to-consumer service would be offered as part of a bundle with Paramount+. Showtime content would still be accessed via the Showtime app and website, but plans were announced for Showtime content to be accessible within the Paramount+ apps for its DTC subscribers later in 2022. The change was implemented in August 2022, with subscribers on both services able to upgrade to the combined "Paramount+ with Showtime" service for $11.99 per-month with ads and $14.99 without; a discount for new subscribers was available as an introductory offer through October 2. On August 15, 2022,
Walmart reached an exclusive deal with Paramount+ to offer the streaming service as part of its Walmart+ offering. It meant that Walmart+ customers could access the ad-supported plan on Paramount+ at no additional charge.
Qantas also announced it had partnered with
Paramount ANZ to offer Paramount+ on its
in-flight entertainment systems. On June 27, 2023, Showtime's direct-to-consumer service in the United States was fully integrated with the advertising-free premium tier of Paramount+, replacing the aforementioned bundle first introduced in 2021. The newly renamed "Paramount+ with Showtime" premium tier was raised from $9.99 to $11.99 per month while the "Essential" plan (containing advertising and no Showtime content) was raised from $4.99 to $5.99 per month. The Showtime Anytime app was discontinued on December 14, 2023. That same month on December 6, Paramount announced that the apps for Nickelodeon,
Nick Jr., MTV, Comedy Central,
Paramount Network, and Showtime would be discontinued soon. The apps were discontinued on January 31, 2024, although this did not include CBS' app. Prior to the creation of the new conglomerate, it was reported that
Oracle Corporation would help merge the operations of Paramount+ with its sister platform
Pluto TV. Following the formation of the new company legally known as
Paramount Skydance Corporation, a restructuring was created where Tom Ryan, president of Paramount Streaming (parent company of Paramount+), would report to Cindy Holland, president of the new Paramount Skydance Direct-to-consumer division. On August 11, 2025, it was announced that Paramount had acquired the exclusive U.S. broadcast rights to the
UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) for an estimated $7.7 billion over seven years. Under the deal, Paramount+ will become the exclusive streamer of all UFC events beginning in 2026, with CBS airing select events. On October 28, it was announced that Paramount had also acquired the exclusive Latin America broadcast rights to the UFC, as well as the rights for Fight Night events and preliminary cards for the mainline "numbered" events in Australia; the main card rights for these events are currently held by
Foxtel in the country. On August 13, 2025,
David Ellison (CEO of Paramount Skydance) indicated that a "soft merger" of the company's two platforms (Paramount+ and Pluto TV), unifying their technological infrastructure but maintaining distinct
front-end identities, could occur within the next 12 to 18 months, meaning the merger would be completed by November 2026.
Proposed merger of Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery A few months following its formation,
Paramount Skydance began making numerous bids to acquire
Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). During the bidding process, it was reported that Paramount was interested in merging Paramount+ with WBD's flagship streaming service
HBO Max to create a flagship streaming platform for the combined company. Following a lengthy bidding war against
Netflix, Paramount increased its offer for WBD, prompting Netflix to exit the bidding war and allowing Paramount to proceed as the winning bidder. Following the announcement of the merger, Paramount formally announced that it would merge Paramount+ and HBO Max into one streaming service, with which it aimed to reach more than 200 million streaming subscribers. On April 23, 2026, WBD's shareholders approved the sale to Paramount Skydance. == Geographical expansion ==