What is Paramount+? Your guide to the UK’s next major streaming service

Paramount’s biggest summer release this year isn’t a blockbuster movie – it’s a streaming platform. Here we’ll explain Paramount+ – what it is and how to get it.

Yes, Paramount+ is yet another on-demand film and TV streaming service to file alongside Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+ et al. With its arrival, streaming will move one more step further away from its beginnings as a simplified and highly affordable way to access home entertainment, which is a shame – but that doesn’t mean you might not want to add it to the doubtless bulging roster of services to which you already subscribe. After all, it’s cheaper than most of the alternatives.

With its UK release date and pricing information now officially confirmed, we’ve assembled everything we know about the upcoming service right here.

When will Paramount+ be available in the UK?

An easy one, this: Paramount+ arrives in the UK and Ireland on 22 June 2022.

What does Paramount+ offer?

The service will launch with over 8000 hours of content, much of it drawn from CBS, Viacom and Paramount-owned platforms and channels like Showtime, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickleodeon, BET and Paramount Pictures. That means old films like Grease, new films like Scream 5 and shows like Paw Patrol, SpongeBob SquarePants, South Park and Yellowstone.

There’ll also be lots of exclusive original content including the long-awaited Halo TV series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Ray Donovan: The Movie, 1883, The Offer and Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber.

At launch, subscribers will be able to watch two concurrent streams on two different devices.

How can I watch Paramount+?

Like most streaming services, Paramount+ can be accessed through a variety of devices. You can watch via a web browser on your smartphone, tablet or computer, or through Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV and Android TV devices, or through Samsung smart TVs and Sky Q boxes.

There’s no confirmation as yet about the Paramount+ app coming to games consoles (it has been confirmed though that neither PlayStation nor Xbox machines will be getting an app at the service’s launch), but Paramount has said it will be adding more methods to the official list soon.

How much does Paramount+ cost?

When purchased on its own, Paramount+ will cost £6.99 a month (following a free week-long trial) or £69.90 when purchased annually (which works out to about £5.83 a month). Price-wise this puts it in the lower range of UK subscription streaming services – although Apple TV+ (£4.99 a month) remains the cheapest of the major platforms.

If you’re a Sky Q user who already subscribes to Sky Cinema, however, Paramount+ will be included in that subscription at no extra charge. Unfortunately this bonus doesn’t extend to users of the Now Sky Cinema Pass, which feels a little unfair.

Once Paramount+ launches, we’ll let you know what we think of its original shows and give you our definitive list of the best films and shows on the platform. In the meantime, if you’re in need of something to stream tonight, why not check one of articles the below?

The 16 best things to watch on Apple TV+

The 42 best things to watch on Amazon Prime Video

The 41 best things to watch on Netflix UK

The best movies on Now and Sky Cinema

The 25 best things to watch on Disney+