Paramount Global has quietly erased Showtime from the name of its top-tier streaming package.
On June 23, Paramount informed subscribers that the name of its ad-free plan is no longer Paramount+ With Showtime — instead, it’s now called Paramount+ Premium. The pricing of the package remains the same: It still costs $12.99 per month or $119.99 per year.
The two packages now offered by the company are Paramount+ Premium, which does not have ads except in the bundled live local CBS feeds; and Paramount+ Essential with ads ($7.99 per month).
The company rebranded the ad-free package as Paramount+ With Showtime in the summer of 2023, and said it would eventually phase out the stand-alone Showtime streamer (which shut down in April 2024). Now, after two years, the company is dropping the Showtime name from Paramount+.
“Since we recently introduced a sampling of Showtime programming to the Essential plan, the Premium plan name reflects the broad and diverse offerings across both plan tiers,” the company said in a notice on its customer-support site about the name change. “Showtime programming remains an important part of Paramount+, and is still prominently represented on the service!”
The name change comes as rival Warner Bros. Discovery has gone back in the other direction: It’s going to reattach the HBO name to its flagship Max streamer, which will this summer become HBO Max again. WBD’s decision to switch back to HBO Max is to signal its “focus on what makes us unique — not everything for everyone in a household, but something distinct and great for adults and families,” according to JB Perrette, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO of streaming and games.
Meanwhile, in what may potentially cause some confusion, the name of the Paramount+ With Showtime linear TV network on cable, satellite, or internet TV streaming services (like Hulu with Live TV) will not be changing, according to Paramount.
Paramount said that depending on a customer’s device, they “may not see the plan name change immediately. But rest assured, if you sign up for the Premium plan while it’s still Paramount+ With Showtime, your plan benefits will not be impacted!”
