ViacomCBS Shortens Theatrical Window for Paramount+

Paramount+ will cost $4.99 a month with ads and $9.99 without, the company said Wednesday, adding that the ad-free version would feature additional sports, news and entertainment programming.

The streaming service, whose ad-free version will launch in the U.S. on March 4, will include a movie library with over 2,500 titles from the Paramount and Miramax movie studios, Mr. Bakish said Wednesday. Every new Paramount movie would become available on the Paramount+ platform after appearing in theaters, he added.

“In short, if you love movies, Paramount+ is a streaming service that you can’t live without,” Mr. Bakish said.

ViacomCBS’s decision to shorten the theatrical window follows similar moves by rivals including Walt Disney Co. , Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal and AT&T Inc.’s WarnerMedia that are seeking to balance their lucrative theatrical exhibition businesses with the success of their own video-streaming services, which have become central to their owners’ corporate strategies.

ViacomCBS isn’t being quite as bold as WarnerMedia, which last year decided to put all its 2021 theatrical movies on its HBO Max streaming service at the same time they premiered in movie theaters.

Mr. Bakish said ViacomCBS plans to debut 36 original TV series on Paramount+ during 2021, with 50 original TV series appearing exclusively on the service within two years of its launch. The company is aiming to turn its studios into a production hub for Paramount+ to provide a steady stream of original content for the service, Mr. Bakish said.

ViacomCBS told investors Wednesday that it had nearly 30 million paying subscribers to its video-streaming services, which include CBS All Access—which will now be known as Paramount+—and Showtime.

At the outset of Wednesday’s presentation unveiling the streaming service, ViacomCBS Chair Shari Redstone and Mr. Bakish co-starred in a mini-action movie that featured Mr. Bakish parachuting onto the Paramount lot. Ms. Redstone opened the presentation by mentioning her father, the late media mogul Sumner Redstone, noting that the company would continue to give priority to content with an emphasis on streaming distribution.

“This is not your father’s Viacom,” Ms. Redstone said. “And it’s not my father’s either.”

During the presentation, ViacomCBS executives announced a series of spinoffs and reboots of popular ViacomCBS programs, including “Frasier,” “Yellowstone,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” “Rugrats,” “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “Star Trek.”

By building wider stories around its most-popular shows, ViacomCBS is following a playbook that has drawn subscribers to other streaming services such as Disney+, where users flocked in the millions to watch movies and TV shows featuring characters from the “Star Wars” galaxy and Marvel comics.

Another selling point for Paramount+ is live news and sports programming. During the presentation, CBS Entertainment Group Chief Executive George Cheeks touted the company’s slate of sports rights, including National Football League games, and CBSN, its live-streaming digital news service.

A complicating factor Paramount Pictures had to contend with was its partnership with the pay-TV channel Epix, which has a deal to get the studio’s movies on its service after their theatrical and video-on-demand runs. Under a new deal announced Wednesday, Epix will continue to get many Paramount movies exclusively for three months before appearing on Paramount+.

In return, Epix will let older Paramount movies it has licensed be made available on Paramount+ as well. Paramount+ will also get streaming rights to MGM movies.

Write to Benjamin Mullin at [email protected]