Paramount+ pulls an HBO Max and re-rebrands its ad-free plan

First HBO Max erased its Max rebranding, and now Paramount+ is reversing course on its Showtime rebrand for its ad-free plan. 

Paramount has announced that the Paramount+ with Showtime tier will now—once again—be called simply Paramount+ Premium. 

On its support site, Paramount explained the reasoning behind the rebrand, noting that it had recently added a “sampling” of Showtime to Paramount+ Essential, the streamer’s ad-supported tier, meaning there is now Showtime content on both of Paramount+’s plans. 

For now, Paramount’s linear cable channel will keep the “Paramount+ with Showtime” name, and the company says Showtime “remains an important part of Paramount+, and is still prominently represented on the service.” 

Aside from the rebranding, nothign else is changing about Paramount+’s two tiers, including their prices.  

The “new” Paramount+ Premium still costs $12.99 a month or $119.99 a year, and offers ad-free access to all Paramount+ and Showtime content, along with a live feed of your local CBS affiliate and a selection of live sports, including the NFL on CBS. 

Meanwhile, the ad-supported Paramount+ Essential costs $7.99 a month or $59.99 a year, and serves up Paramount+ with some but not all of Showtime. Live sports is included too, but not CBS affiliate access. 

The whole “Paramount+ with Showtime” saga began back in 2022, when Paramount first announced its intention to absorb Showtime content into the Paramount+ app.  

By 2023, Paramount+ had four plans: Paramount+ Essential, Paramount+ Premium, Paramount+ Essential with Showtime, and Paramount+ Premium with Showtime. In June of that year, Paramount dropped the Paramount+ Premium and Paramount+ Essential with Showtime tiers, leaving the streamer with just the Paramount+ Premium with Showtime and Paramount+ Essential plans. 

So, strictly speaking, the new Paramount+ Premium plan (which includes Showtime) hasn’t reverted to its old name; instead, it has picked up the name of the old Paramount+ Premium plan that didn’t have Showtime. Confusing? Yes. Does it matter? Not that much. 

Paramount’s rebranding move comes a little over a month after the news that Max, which was once called HBO Max, will once again be called HBO Max later this summer.  

That name change is much more substantial, with the “new” HBO Max set to double-down on HBO’s signature programming while pivoting away from the family-oriented shows that arrived following the 2022 merger of then-HBO parent WarnerMedia and Discovery.