Paramount+ Sets Launch Slate

The Paramount+ streaming service is to feature more than 30,000 episodes, 2,500 movie titles and over 1,000 live sporting events, plus around-the-clock news coverage, with highlights such as a Frasier revival and Grease prequel series.

Featuring brands such as SpongeBob SquarePants, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and PAW Patrol, the Paramount+ kids’ portfolio is fueled by Nickelodeon’s library of nearly 7,000 hit episodes as well as a slate of originals. Nickelodeon’s new animation studio division is dedicated entirely to creating content based on the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Avatar Studios will produce for Paramount+ new Avatar-inspired content, ranging from spin-offs and theatricals to short form. Dora the Explorer, a new live-action series, is based on the iconic character, designed for an older audience of kids 6 to 11 and their families. iCarly marks a new chapter for the kids’ sitcom, in which original cast members Miranda Cosgrove, Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor join new friends for a look at these characters’ present-day lives, adventures and comedic mishaps. Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years is the first-ever spinoff of SpongeBob SquarePants. The CG animated original series takes viewers back to when the iconic characters of Bikini Bottom met for the very first time, in a summer camp like no other. An all-new series featuring Nick’s iconic Rugrats babies is on the planner, with the original voice cast in new CG animation. Star Trek: Prodigy, the first-ever Star Trek for the kids and family audience, combines the Nickelodeon sensibility with the action and adventure hallmarks of the Star Trek franchise. The Fairly OddParents is a live-action take on one of Nick’s longest-running and most successful animated hits. This Nickelodeon-created slate joins Paramount+’s previously announced original kids’ series such as WildBrain’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Boat Rocker’s new Danger Mouse and new editions of Lassie, George of the Jungle and Mr. Magoo from DreamWorks Animation’s Classic Media.

In the way of drama highlights, Criminal Minds returns with a new scripted series that brings the team back together to investigate a single case over ten episodes. Flashdance follows as a young woman struggles to make her mark in the ballet world while navigating romance, money, art, friendship and how to love herself. Halo is based on the iconic Xbox franchise. The TV adaptation will take place in the universe that first came to be in 2001, dramatizing an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. Halo will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future. Land Man is set in the proverbial boomtowns of West Texas. Love Story—which hails from Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the executive producers of Gossip Girl, The O.C. and Looking for Alaska—is based on the award-winning film Love Story. Mayor of Kingstown follows the McLusky family, power brokers in Kingstown, Michigan, where the business of incarceration is the only thriving industry. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds marks the next installment of the popular Star Trek franchise, this one based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series will follow Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the decade before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise. The Italian Job follows as the grandchildren of the legendary Charlie Croker inherit his old safety deposit box, and the quest for the infamous Italian bullion is reignited. The Man Who Fell To Earth, starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, is based on the Walter Tevis novel of the same name and the iconic film starring David Bowie. The Offer is a scripted limited event series based on Oscar-winning producer Al Ruddy’s experiences of making The Godfather. The Parallax View is a scripted series from Paramount Television Studios, based on the iconic film. Y:1883 follows the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. The Yellowstone spinoff 6666 (working title) centers on a ranch steeped in the history of the West that was founded when Comanches still ruled West Texas.

ViacomCBS’s reality category boasts more than 5,000 episodes, with plans to expand its collection with the original and reprisals. This includes Big Brother Live Feeds, which offers an in-depth, exclusive pass to the show where fans have the opportunity to watch all the action inside the Big Brother house. Dating Naked a social experiment that sees modern daters strip back their preconceived notions, carefully curated images and their clothes to reveal their true selves and find love. The tattoo competition reality series Ink Master features top tattoo artists as they battle it out in various tattoo challenges. Love Island on Paramount+ is an extension of the popular CBS reality series that takes subscribers beyond the boundaries of what’s shown in the broadcast with exclusive content and live visits to the villa. Queen of the Universe is a singing competition featuring drag queens from all around the world. Road Rules is back with a new roster of Road Warriors. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars will see legendary queens will battle it out until only one drag queen is crowned the winner. The Challenge: All Stars will feature 22 of the most iconic, boldest and fiercest Challenge All Stars from the original Real World and Road Rules return for a second chance at the ultimate competition. The Real World: Homecoming: New York picks up almost 30 years later as the original “seven strangers” that paved the way for modern reality TV are moving back into the New York loft where it all began.

Regarding comedy highlights, Paramount+ will house a library of over 6,000 episodes in the genre alone. Joining this catalog of comedy titles, exclusive series arriving soon include Frasier, in which Kelsey Grammer reprises his role as Dr. Frasier Crane. Grease: The Rise of the Pink Ladies, with both classic and new songs and a diverse cast, serves as a prequel to the musical film. Guilty Party is a dark comedy starring Kate Beckinsale as a discredited journalist who finds herself in over her head when she latches onto the story of a young mother sentenced to life in jail for murdering her husband—a crime she claims she didn’t commit. Inside Amy Schumer returns with five specials starring Amy Schumer. Reno 911! The Hunt For QAnon is a super-sized event based on the long-running hit Comedy Central series. The Game, the popular BET sitcom, returns with a mix of original cast and new players. The Harper House is an animated family comedy that follows an overconfident female head of a household as she struggles to regain a higher status for herself and for her family of oddballs after losing her job and moving from the rich side to the poor side of an Arkansas small town. The Weekly Show with Trevor Noah (working title) will see Trevor Noah star in and produce an initial six-episode series looking at stories across the societal landscape and talk with the people behind the headlines. Darren Star’s Younger is also on the roster.

Music highlights include Behind the Music, Unplugged and Yo! MTV Raps.

CBS All Access originals, including The Good Fight, Why Women Kill and Star Trek: Discovery, will continue as Paramount+ originals.

Paramount+ will feature over 1,000 live sporting events per year. This includes action from the NFL of CBS, the Masters, NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship, PGA Tour, SEC on CBS, the PGA Championship, National Women’s Soccer League and UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Europa Conference League. In addition, Paramount+ is expanding its exclusive English-language rights in the U.S. with three more soccer properties, featuring hundreds of additional matches: Concacaf, Liga Profesional de Fútbol and Campeonato Brasileiro Série A.

News offerings will include CBS News programs, new series such as 60 Minutes+, live streams of local affiliates in over 200 markets across the U.S. and the 24-hour streaming news service CBSN.

Also, Paramount+ is partnering with some of the world’s best filmmakers to debut a slate of documentaries, including titles from CBS News, CBSN, CBS Sports, MTV Documentary Films and the Smithsonian Channel.

Paramount+ will have two pricing tiers available to U.S. subscribers. The premium tier, at $9.99, will be available with the full depth and breadth of live sports, news programming and entertainment, spanning Paramount+ originals to an expansive suite of current and library shows and movies. The offering will include CBS’s live linear feed and commercial-free on-demand viewing, with 4K, HDR and Dolby Vision, mobile downloads and cross-platform play functionality. An ad-supported tier will launch in June for $4.99 and offer sports, news and entertainment. At that time, the current $5.99 plan will no longer be available for new users, but existing users will maintain grandfathered access. The ad-supported tier will feature Paramount+ originals, sports content, including live championship-level soccer and live NFL games, news through CBSN and a collection of content that spans the full suite of current and library CBS shows available on demand.

“In today’s entertainment landscape, ViacomCBS stands apart as the only media company to fully embrace every segment of the streaming universe across free, premium and pay,” said Bob Bakish, president and CEO of ViacomCBS. “The launch of Paramount+ supercharges our strategy with a broad pay service that will be home to everything consumers love, all in one place: live sports, breaking news and a mountain of entertainment, at scale. As we look ahead, ViacomCBS is ideally positioned to harness the full power of our assets and capabilities—from our world-class production studios and the value of our massive content library to our global marketing platform and local relationships—to seize the global opportunity in streaming.”

Tom Ryan, president and CEO of ViacomCBS Streaming, said, “Built from an iconic portfolio of beloved consumer brands and iconic franchises like SpongeBob and Star Trek, Paramount+ is a compelling and differentiated streaming offering for all audiences. In combination with Pluto TV and Showtime, the service will further strengthen our robust linked streaming ecosystem, giving us a critical competitive advantage as we pursue our goal of reaching consumers across every platform, at every price point, with creativity, content and experiences that are second to none.”