Posted in: Showtime, streaming, TV | Tagged: cable, paramount, showtime, streaming

Showtime Shut Down Being Eyed, Would Merge with Paramount+: Report

Published Tue, 13 Sep 2022 16:25:10 -0500

Was it something that Showtime did? Earlier today, we had Succession star Brian Cox taking a shot at one of the cabler's biggest shows (Billions), basically saying it's the "cautionary tale" example of shows not knowing when to end their runs. Well, apparently, that was what we would call the "tip of the iceberg" based on what The Wall Street Journal had to report earlier today (full report here). So remember how Paramount Global made the decision to merge Showtime and Paramount+ into one merged service about a month or so ago? Well, the WSJ is reporting that "early" discussions have been had about shutting down Showtime as a standalone service and merging the premium content onto the streaming service. Based on anonymous sources who spoke with the WSJ, the company has "broached" the idea with at least one major pay-TV partner."

While those sources say that any major move wouldn't be expected any time soon, apparently, the talk has been serious enough to involve long-term discussions with distributors. In a statement to Variety, a representative for Paramount Global spoke more broadly about the company's goals and missions: "We are always exploring options to maximize the value of our content investment by giving consumers access to great Paramount content through an array of services and platforms." What's interesting is that Paramount Global's approach in this instance seems in direct contrast to Warner Bros. Discovery head David Zaslav. Under his new leadership, Zaslav has made it clear that the future of WBD is not going all-in on streaming and maintaining a diverse programming line-up of options. Meanwhile, Paramount Global continues to emphasize the "global" in its name, with SkyShowtime set to launch next week. The Paramount Global and Comcast service will debut in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden, before expanding its reach into the Netherlands during the fourth quarter.

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