Paramount+ Streaming Unique Stories, Iconic Stars And A Mountain Of Entertainment.
Paramount+ Debuts On Wednesday, August 11 For $8.99.
- Unique Stories and exclusive premier local content – Five Bedrooms (Season 2), Spreadsheet, Last King of The Cross and 6 Festivals.
- Iconic Stars – Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Gillian Anderson, Michael C. Hall, Cynthia Nixon, Juliette Lewis, Kat Stewart, Freddie Highmore, Christina Ricci, Kate Beckinsale, Doris Younane, Jeff Daniels, Maisie Williams, Stephen Peacocke, Katherine Parkinson, Michael Chiklis and many more.
- A Mountain Of Entertainment – An expansive library of original series with more than 20,000 episodes of hit shows and blockbuster movies including The First Lady, Dexter, Anne Boleyn, Leonardo, The Godfather, Mission: Impossible and PAW Patrol.
ViacomCBS Australia & New Zealand today announced its global digital subscription video streaming service, Paramount+, will launch in Australia on Wednesday, 11 August 2021.
Featuring a mountain of premium entertainment for audiences of all ages, Paramount+ will boast an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios including Nickelodeon, SHOWTIME®, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Paramount Pictures, the Smithsonian Channel and Sony Pictures Television, in addition to a robust offering of premier local content.
Priced at just $8.99 (AUD) per month, subscribers will have access to more than 20,000 episodes and blockbuster movies throughout the year with Paramount+ delighting Australian audiences with unique stories, iconic stars and a mountain of entertainment.
To celebrate the launch, audiences will be able to exclusively enjoy season two of the highly anticipated Australian drama, Five Bedrooms. Starring the stellar cast of Kat Stewart, Stephen Peacocke, Doris Younane, Roy Joseph, Katie Robertson and Hugh Sheridan, this surrogate family is once again leaping into the property market having lost their first communal home at auction.
Plus, more premium locally produced drama content is on its way with Spreadsheet, Last King of The Cross and 6 Festivals, commencing production soon.
Produced by Northern Pictures and filmed in Melbourne, Spreadsheet is a comedy series about divorced, hectic mother-of-two, Lauren played by Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, Doc Martin, Defending the Guilty), who is looking for sex without commitment.
With the help of best friend Alex, she develops “Spreadsheet”: a database of sex options, customised to ensure her sushi train of sex rolls around with variety and order amidst the chaos of her life. What Lauren didn’t expect was a slew of needy men, which apparently even a well-managed excel tracker can’t control.
Based on the best-selling autobiography of John Ibrahim and produced by Helium, Last King of The Cross is an operatic story of two brothers, Sam and John Ibrahim, one worshipped by his father and the other scorned. In organising the street, they lose each other across their ascent to power. Coupled with a fractured sense of identity, culture and family, Sam and John discover that blood is thicker than water, but you can drown in both.
A coming-of-age feature film, 6 Festivals is about three 16-year-old best friends – Maxie, Summer and James. Running, in anger and denial, from the terminal illness James is facing, they bucket-list six music festivals over six months. Over their six-month journey they meet up-and-coming artist, Marley, whose own challenges and success will help them to accept the reality they so want to avoid. Backed by an impressive all-Australian soundtrack, 6 Festivals is produced by Invisible Republic and Hype Republic.
Audiences will also get new exclusive premieres, starring some of the world’s biggest stars including The First Lady (Viola Davis, Gillian Anderson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Aaron Eckhart, Dakota Fanning), Dexter (Michael C. Hall), The Gilded Age (Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski, Carrie Coon), Yellowjackets (Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci), Leonardo (Freddie Highmore, Aidan Turner), American Rust (Jeff Daniels, Maura Tierney), Two Weeks To Live (Maisie Williams), Coyote (Michael Chiklis, George Pullar), Mayor of Kingstown (Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest), Everyone Is Doing Great (James Lafferty, Stephen Colletti), Anne Boleyn (Jodie Turner-Smith), Spy City (Dominic Cooper), Monsterland (Taylor Schilling), The Luminaries (Eve Hewson, Erik Thomson, Ewen Leslie), The Harper House (Rhea Seehorn, Jason Lee), Guilty Party (Kate Beckinsale) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
Other exclusive titles to look forward to include Lioness, Halo, The Offer, Y:1883, Flatbush Misdemeanors, Stephen, Crossing Swords, Help, No Return, Line In The Sand and Ripley, along with riveting documentaries, Who Is Ghislaine Maxwell? and Four Hours at the Capitol.
For kids and families, Paramount+ will offer some of the biggest franchises in the world, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, and PAW Patrol, plus new originals based on Nickelodeon’s most beloved characters such as Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years.
If it’s blockbuster and classic films you’re after, Paramount+ will boast titles and movie franchises such as The Godfather, Mission: Impossible, Indiana Jones, Transformers, Jackass, Grease, Good Will Hunting, Harry Potter, Batman, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Lord of the Rings, Austin Powers in Goldmember and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me to name a few.
Beverley McGarvey, Chief Content Officer & Executive Vice President, ViacomCBS Australia & New Zealand, said: “We can’t wait for Australians to stream Paramount+ and all the iconic ViacomCBS library content as well as premium local content including Five Bedrooms, Spreadsheet, Last King of The Cross and 6 Festivals.
“Paramount+ has something for everyone. It will be home to the biggest names in entertainment, exclusive premium content and of course the most unique stories. Its expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies hail from world-renowned brands including SHOWTIME®, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, the Smithsonian Channel and Sony Pictures Television.
“We are poised to become as powerful a player in streaming as we are in television. By leveraging the iconic Paramount brand, leading edge infrastructure, along with an incredible super-sized pipeline of must-see content, Paramount+ will deliver an exceptional consumer entertainment experience.”
This selection of shows and movies will join existing offerings available on 10 All Access, which will be rebranded to Paramount+, from CBS, The CW and Network 10, as well as original series like The Good Fight, The Twilight Zone, Tooning Out The News, Interrogation, Why Women Kill, Charmed, A Million Little Things and Nancy Drew. Plus, CBSN’s 24/7 live news.
Spreadsheet has received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Film Victoria. Five Bedrooms received major production investment from 10 ViacomCBS in association with Screen Australia and has been developed and produced with the assistance of Film Victoria.
6 Festivals has received major production investment from Screen Australia in association with Paramount+. Financed with support from Sony Music, with Boom Smash, Screen Canberra and Screen Queensland.
Join the conversation:
Facebook: fb.me/ParamountPlusAustralia
Instagram: @paramountplusaustralia
Twitter: @ParamountPlusAU
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From 10 play:
Paramount+ Announces Australian Launch Date And Local Productions
The highly anticipated streaming service will debut in Australia on August 11 for $8.99.
On Friday, ViacomCBS Australia and New Zealand announced when its streaming service, Paramount+, would be launching down under.
Launching with over 20,000 episodes of hit TV shows and blockbuster movies, the service also confirmed exclusive access to season two of the hit Aussie drama Five Bedrooms starring Kat Stewart, Stephen Peacock, Hugh Sheridan, Doris Younane, Katie Robertson, and Roy Joseph.
Season two picks up where we left our ragtag surrogate family of misfits as they once again take the plunge into the property market having lost their house at auction last season.
Alongside Five Bedrooms, several more locally produced productions have been confirmed including Last King of The Cross, 6 Festivals and Spreadsheet. The latter of which stars The IT Crowd’s Katherine Parkinson as a woman looking for commitment-free sex.
Playing Lauren, a mother of two who develops a spreadsheet database of ‘sex options’, she soon discovers that not everything is as easy as it seems, and soon she becomes tangled in a web of needy men that no data tracker could sort out.
Last King of The Cross is based on the best-selling autobiography of John Ibrahim and follows John and brother Sam, their ascent to power and the effects their empires had on their relationship.
Feature film 6 Festivals follows three 16-year-old best friends, Maxie, Summer and James, who are grappling with James’ terminal cancer diagnosis. Deciding on six festivals to attend over six months, the trio head off to conquer their bucket list, meeting an up-and-coming artist whose own struggles will help them deal with the reality they’ve been trying to outrun.
Chief Content Officer & Executive Vice President, ViacomCBS Australia & New Zealand, Beverly McGarvey, said, “We can’t wait for Australians to stream Paramount+ and all the iconic ViacomCBS library content as well as premium local content including Five Bedrooms, Spreadsheet, Last King of The Cross and 6 Festivals.
“Paramount+ has something for everyone. It will be home to the biggest names in entertainment, exclusive premium content and of course the most unique stories. Its expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies hail from world-renowned brands including SHOWTIME®, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, the Smithsonian Channel and Sony Pictures Television.”
On top of the local productions hitting Paramount+, there will also be tons of exclusive premieres featuring some of the world’s biggest names like: The First Lady, Dexter, The Gilded Age, Leonardo, American Rust, Two Weeks To Live, Coyote, Mayor of Kingstown, Everyone Is Doing Great, Anne Boleyn, Spy City, Monsterland, The Luminaries, The Harper House, Guilty Party, and The Man Who Fell To Earth.
Kids will also be able to enjoy some of the biggest franchises like SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, and PAW Patrol as well as new originals based on our favourite characters.
This selection of shows and movies will join existing offerings available on 10 All Access, which will be rebranded to Paramount+, of more than 20,000 episodes and movies from CBS, The CW and Network 10, as well as original series like The Good Fight, The Twilight Zone, Tooning Out The News, Interrogation, Why Women Kill, Charmed, A Million Little Things and Nancy Drew.
For more information head to www.ParamountPlus.com.au or follow on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to make sure you’re kept up to date on all the Paramount+ news.
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From The Age:
Room for one more? Paramount+ to hit Australian screens this winter
Stan and Foxtel will face more competition for content and subscribers from the second half of the year thanks to the overhaul of Network Ten’s under-the-radar subscription service.
Ten’s American owner, ViacomCBS, has confirmed that 10 All Access will rebrand in August. The platform currently screens CBS shows such as NCIS and The Good Fight, alongside programs from Ten including The Bachelor Australia.
Paramount+, which is already available overseas, will consume Ten’s existing subscription offering and bring with it high-profile films and television shows from channels Showtime and Nickelodeon and studio Paramount Pictures. Showtime, Nickelodeon and Paramount are all divisions of ViacomCBS, which bought Ten in 2017.
This means there will be shuffling between streaming platforms of popular titles including Showtime’s Dexter, which will be removed from Stan (owned by Nine, the owner of the masthead) so it can be available exclusively on Paramount+. The gory series starring Michael C. Hall is due to return to screens later this year with a 10-episode reboot.
Some shows that were still in production when Stan signed multi-year content deals with Showtime, including Billions, will remain on Stan. Former Nine chief executive Hugh Marks has previously said no single output deal would “make or break Stan”.
Foxtel is expected to continue to air Nickelodeon shows including Spongebob Squarepants, but the movie prequel Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years will be exclusive to Paramount+.
Films from Paramount Pictures including The Godfather, Shrek and Transformers will still be found on rival streaming services given movie deals are not often exclusive. Paramount+ will, however, have first dibs on Paramount’s new movies, including the forthcoming A Quiet Place sequel.
The reshuffling reflects why both Stan and Foxtel were eager to sign a multi-million dollar deal with WarnerMedia, the company behind successful HBO shows including Game of Thrones and Big Little Lies, 12 months ago. Both companies have also been investing in sport and local drama.
Local streaming services were previously able to rely on content deals with US studios but now those businesses – including Disney – have launched their own streaming services and brought much of their content in-house. Netflix has also been investing in original content but due to its scale it is expected to be more sheltered from changing content deals and any subscriber crunch.
Paramount+ will cost $8.99 a month when it launches, which is cheaper than the most basic subscriptions for Netflix ($10.99), Stan ($10), Disney+ ($11.99) and Foxtel Now ($25). However, it is more expensive than Amazon Prime, which costs $6.99 a month.
An estimated 17.3 million Australians - just over 80 per cent of the population - watched at least one subscription TV service last year, according to market research company Roy Morgan. Netflix is by far the most popular service, followed by Foxtel and Stan.
ViacomCBS’s head of Australian content Bev McGarvey said Paramount+ would be a “powerful player” .
“Viewers of streaming services want strong content and for it to be replenished,” she said. “We have our own content ... third-party content and local content. So that’s what makes us special. We’re not expecting for one minute that people will unsubscribe from Netflix. But we know Australians love their streaming services and have the appetite for a few.”
Paramount+ has pledged investment in Australian content. Local drama Last King of the Cross, comedy series Spreadsheet and a coming-of-age feature film called 6 Festivals will soon commence production.
“We want to be able to use Paramount+ to tell strong Australian stories,” McGarvey said. “And strong Australian stories that play better on SVOD [subscription video-on-demand] than they do on our linear service [Network Ten].
“The role Network Ten plays is actually really critical. As a network we have a reach of 10 million to 12 million a month. So we can let that audience know we have a new service coming.”
In America, Paramount+ subscribers have access to sports as well as entertainment. Will Paramount+ be chasing sports rights in Australia?
“I would never say never,” McGarvey said.
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From Mumbrella:
Paramount+ to launch in August with ‘guaranteed pipeline’ of entertainment
Network Ten owners Viacom CBS will launch video streaming service, Paramount+, in Australia on Wednesday, 11 August 2021.
The service will launch with a $8.99 per month subscription fee, although a seven day free trial period will also be available to new users. It will also be ad-free.
“We have big ambitions for the service, and we think Australian audiences will respond really well to the global and local nature of the content,” said ViacomCBS Australia and New Zealand, chief content officer and executive vice president, Beverley McGarvey.
Paramount+ will offer subscribers content from international brands and production studios including Showtime, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, the Smithsonian Channel and Sony Pictures Television, in addition to local content.
“We have a pipeline, a guaranteed pipeline of incredible entertainment content and premium entertainment content such as Showtime. Added to that, we have a local linear service so we can commission local originals, and utilise the audiences we have… to drive audiences to Paramount+,” McGarvey told Mumbrella.
“All of our competitors have one of those things but none of them have both,” she added.
Paramount+ joins an increasingly crowded streaming market in Australia. Nine-owned Stan has more than 2.3 million active subscribers according to recent financial reports and late last year increased its premium plan from $17 to $19 a month, while its basic plan remains steady at $10 a month.
Roy Morgan data from late 2020 indicated that 17.3 million Australians (82.1%) are already watching a subscription TV service in an average four weeks. Netflix is Australia’s most watched subscription television service, with an estimated 14.2 million viewers in an average four weeks, however, viewer figures do not reflect paid subscriptions, which Netflix does not disclose for the region.
Telstra and News Corp owned Foxtel has a reported 7.7 million viewers, in a four week period, while Amazon Prime has 3.3 million viewers, closely followed by Disney+ which now has 2.8 million viewers.
To enter this competitive market, McGarvey said the network would be doing be a “significant” launch campaign for Paramount+.
“We have big plans… and as we approach launch and well beyond there will be very strong on platform and off platform marketing, publicity and social activation,” she added.
For McGarvey, success for Paramount+ is all about retention, and content that resonates well with Australian audiences, enough to start commissioning follow-up seasons.
“The evolution of content curation will continue to grow and evolve in the coming years, and we need to be really flexible and adaptable with that, to serve audiences,” she stated.
“The content that we commission for the streaming service, really will service the environment and those types of audiences. We are launching Five Bedrooms series two on Paramount+ and season one was on Ten.”
Five Bedrooms is an Australian comedy drama television series that initially aired on the free-to-air network.
Additional locally produced drama content to air exclusively on the platform includes Spreadsheet, Last King of The Cross and feature film 6 Festivals.
Produced by Northern Pictures and filmed in Melbourne, Spreadsheet is a comedy series about a divorced, mother-of-two who is looking for sex without commitment.
Based on the autobiography of John Ibrahim and produced by Helium, Last King of The Cross is an operatic story of two brothers, Sam and John Ibrahim, one worshipped by his father and the other scorned.
“We have good spread for what will be on the service in the first six months, but I think we have ambitions to ramp it up,” McGarvey said of the local content on the platform. “ We know that Australians love Australian content.”
On the international front, audiences on Paramount+ can also expect exclusive global premieres, such as The First Lady (starting Viola Davis, Gillian Anderson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Aaron Eckhart, Dakota Fanning), Dexter, The Gilded Age, Yellowjackets and many more.
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Outside the U.S., where the bulk of its users are located, Paramount+ is available in Canada, Latin America, Poland (as Paramount Play), Hungary, Russia (as Okko Paramount+), the Middle East and Nordic nations.
Additional sources: Mediaweek, The Hollywood Reporter.
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