At a reasonable price of $ 5.99 a month in the U.S. ($ 9.99 for the ad-free version), Paramount + has a mountain (pardon the pun) in the form of its huge Star Trek empire that continues to expand with the addition of two next series: Star Trek: Prodigy and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The streamer also recently announced his adaptation of the video game franchise Halo, starring Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief, which will debut at Paramount + in early 2022. At launch, new titles like The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run, The Real World Homecoming: New York, and the documentary For Heaven’s Sake are available for streaming at no extra cost to subscribers. While the user interface is a bit clunky and not as aesthetically pleasing as some other streaming platforms out there, in general Paramount + makes a strong debut with many films and programs to party at launch.
Paramount + TV shows and movies
With more than 2,500 movie titles available at the launch of Paramount’s vast catalog, there are many titles to broadcast from a variety of genres. If you’re in the mood for action, Paramount + has three of Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible films and all four Indiana Jones titles. On the front of classic cinema, some highlights include To Catch a Thief, the Godfather trilogy and Chinatown.
And for science fiction aficionados out there, Paramount + is the place for all things old and new from Star Trek. If you want to watch episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation again or finally follow some of the latest entries, like Picard or Discovery, Paramount + has what you need. However, at launch, none of the three Star Trek films produced by JJ Abrams were available.
The streamer is also developing films exclusively for Paramount +, which include new versions of Paranormal Activity and Pet Sematary, as well as an original supernatural story, titled The In Between, starring Joey King of The Kissing Booth. Paramount + will also broadcast the next blockbuster films after a 30-45 day theatrical release window, including A Quiet Place Part II, Mission Impossible 7 and Paw Patrol: The Movie.
Although there is no denying that Paramount + has a huge library of over 30,000 episodes of old TV shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Reno 911! And Chappelle’s Show, the streamer is missing from the originals department compared to competitors like Amazon and Netflix. At the time of writing, the original Paramount Plus library consisted of about 20 series, with four of them set in the Star Trek Universe. Other original titles, including the brave police drama One Dollar, the reboot of the Twilight Zone and Strange Angel, have already been canceled.
However, while Paramount still has a long way to go before catching up with some of its competitors in terms of its original lineup, there are several exciting series in development by prominent Hollywood creators. Some notable titles include a new animation studio dedicated entirely to creating films and TV shows set in the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe, the two new Star Trek series, Halo, and a reboot of Rugrats with the original voice cast. .
Paramount + user interface
Even after its rebranding, the Paramount Plus user interface looks basically the same as when it was called CBS All Access, which is not a good thing. It’s not that the UI is in any way atrocious, but on decoders and smart TVs, the whole experience looks clunky and not aesthetically appealing when compared to Netflix or Apple’s attractive interfaces. If I had to compare it to another streaming UI, I would say it looks a lot like Amazon Prime Video, which also needs a facelift.
On mobile devices and desktops, however, Paramount + is a much smoother experience, offering colorful animations (a la Disney +) when the mouse hovers over one of ViacomCBS’s six affiliated stations. The pillars of streaming, such as “keep watching” and the ability to download movies and TV shows for offline viewing, are easily accessible, although there is no way to create a “favorites” or “watch later” list, which is a surprising omission, considering most providers offer this specific feature.
In terms of image and sound quality, Paramount + offers 4K Dolby Vision HDR for its “Paramount + Originals”, such as Star Trek: Discovery and Stephen King’s The Stand. The only caveat here is that you need to pay for the $ 9.99 premium level per month to access 4K HDR content, which is something Netflix does too, although its premium level costs an incredible $ 17.99 at the time of writing. Overall, the layout is easy to navigate, with headers indicating where to go for “Movies”, “Programs” and “Live TV”. And while it is certainly not the most beautiful user interface on the market, Paramount + will not leave you feeling lost while browsing your mountain of content.
Paramount + price
In terms of price, Paramount + falls in the lowest price range of streaming services by $ 5.99 a month with ads and $ 9.99 for the ad-free version. An important note here is that starting in June 2021, Paramount Plus’ lower price level will decrease by one dollar to $ 4.99 per month, but there is a problem. While current subscribers can still access local CBS live stations at the lowest level of the platform, in June, the basic subscription plan will not allow you to broadcast those stations, although you can still watch live sporting events like the NFL and the UEFA Champions League.
Despite the lack of 4K HDR and local CBS channels, $ 5.99 a month with ads ($ 4.99 in June) is a pretty good deal, considering the vast library of movies and TV shows available at launch, in addition to 1,000 live sporting events annually, which include the PGA Tour, NCAA, SEC, The PGA Championship, UEFA Europa League, National Women’s Football League, Concacaf and more.