Paramount Plus Review

What is Paramount Plus? 

What used to be known as CBS All Access has now rebranded to a streaming service called Paramount+.

Last March, CBS All Access made the change to reflect the Viacom and CBS merger. Since then, Paramount+ has been able to offer a broader selection of hit shows and movies — growing to more than 30,000 episodes and hundreds and hundreds of movies overnight. For many viewers, the service went from being just another streaming option to a must-have subscription. 

With 36 million active subscribers, Paramount+ seems to be a legitimate cord-cutting option for many people, whether it’s their only streaming option or one of many.

cbs home page

Paramount Plus plans and pricing

How much does Paramount Plus (formerly known as CBS All Access) cost? It depends on what you’re looking for in a subscription. 

Paramount Plus’ price depends on whether or not you want to pay more money for no ads and live TV. For $5 a month you still get access to CBS All Access shows, but you have to watch commercials and you cannot stream your local CBS station. Also, You won’t be able to stream in 4K — only premium subscribers are able to stream in higher quality. Something else to consider is offline downloads as a feature. Should you want to download a TV show or movie to watch while you are away from an internet connection, you can only do that with a Premium account.


EssentialPremium
Monthly price$5$10
Annual price$50$100
Free trial length7 days7 days
Offline downloads (Y/N)NoYes
Streaming quality1080P4K, Dolby Vision, HDR10
Ad-free (Y/N)NoYes
Live sports streaming (Y/N)YesYes

Compared to other streaming services, Paramount Plus is basically on par with its competitors when it comes to price. In fact, it even has the same pricing models as its most direct competitor, Peacock (NBC’s streaming service). Both Paramount Plus and Peacock charge $5/mo. with ads, or $10/mo. for ad-free streaming. Moreover, users save the same amount of money if they opt for an annual subscription over a monthly one.

If price is a deciding factor, you’ll save money with Paramount Plus by choosing the Essential Plan. Month to month, it’s currently $1 cheaper than Hulu, $4 cheaper than Netflix, and $10 cheaper than HBO Max. 

Here’s how Paramount Plus compares to its competitors:  

  • Peacock: $5/mo. or $10/mo.; $50 or $100 a year
  • HBO Max: $15/mo.; $150 a year
  • Starz: $9/mo.; $24 quarterly
  • Hulu: $6/mo. or $12/mo.; $60 a year
  • Netflix: $9/mo., $14/mo. or $18/mo.

Paramount Plus interface

The Paramount Plus interface is straightforward and intuitive. It’s so easy that both the young and the elderly should have no problem navigating it. 

If you’re watching it on a smart TV, such as a Roku, simply click to the left to bring up its content categories, which include:

  • Search
  • Home
  • Shows
  • Movies
  • Live TV
  • News
  • Networks
    • CBS
    • BET
    • Comedy Central
    • MTV
    • Nickelodeon
    • Smithsonian Channel

The Home category is primarily dedicated to content that it thinks you will like or content that you will want to continue watching. Because we chose shows like Survivor and Star Trek when quizzed, we were recommended various reality TV shows and dramas. Click on the Shows and Movies categories, and you will be taken to separate areas where you can browse according to content categories.

The Live TV takes you to your local area’s CBS channel, which it determines by your streaming location. This is great for people who want to get rid of an antenna, but still want to watch new content as it airs and local news. The one drawback, however, is that you have to be a Premium subscriber. You can not watch live TV with the Essential plan.

Paramount Plus supported devices 

Like CBS All Access, Paramount Plus is compatible with many major devices.

What to watch on Paramount Plus

Once you log into Paramount Plus the first time, you will be asked to choose three TV shows that you like. Once you have chosen, Paramount Plus will recommend content that it thinks you will like. However, you can also just click to the left and view all of the TV shows it has by clicking the four squares underneath the home icon. Once you do, you will see content divided up into the following categories:

  • Popular
  • All Shows
  • Originals
  • Dramas
  • Comedies
  • Reality
  • Daytime
  • Primetime
  • Late Night
  • Kids
  • Star Trek
  • Classics
  • Docuseries
  • Specials
  • News
  • Sports

Click the movie reel (which is directly underneath the four squares icon), and Paramount Plus will show you all of the movies you can currently watch. You can browse its entire library, or you can browse by genre.

It should be no surprise that there is a lot of content on Paramount Plus for both TV shows and movies. Remember, the service includes content from both CBS and Viacom. Viacom owned Comedy Central, BET, MTV, Nickelodeon, and the Smithsonian Channel before it merged with CBS, so now the old CBS All Access streaming channel now includes content from all of those channels in addition to CBS programming. 

cbs live tv schedule

Sports on Paramount Plus

Viewers can watch both on-demand and live sports on Paramount Plus. It currently offers the following sports:

  • Liga Profesional de Fútbol
  • Big 3
  • Campeonato Brasileiro Serie A
  • Combate Global (MMA)
  • Concacaf Men’s Nations League
  • Concacaf Qualifiers
  • Fantasy Football Today
  • Man in the Middle 
  • The Masters
  • NFL
  • NWSL
  • Texas 6
  • UEFA Champions League
  • UEFA Europa Conference League
  • UEFA Europa League

Compared to other similar streaming services, such as Peacock, Paramount Plus may have a slight edge for many viewers. This is because Peacock does not currently offer any football streaming options, but Paramount Plus offers multiple ways to watch football content. On the other hand, Peacock does have Tennis, Indycar, WWE, and the Tokyo Olympics, so it depends on what you want to watch.

cbs live tv

Paramount Plus features 

With a Paramount Plus account, three people can stream at the same time, and you can create up to six profiles. This is a great solution for big families. What’s better, Paramount Plus has enough content where all profiles could be recommended completely different content based on what they’re watching.  

One potential drawback for many users is that Paramount Plus does not offer any DVR capabilities. This is because it’s an on-demand service as opposed to a live TV service. Even though you can watch live content if you opt for the Premium subscription, you can’t record anything that plays on live TV.

cbs full episodes

The final cut 

Paramount Plus offers viewers a lot of options for an affordable monthly price. As a merger between Viacom and CBS, there’s content for everyone in the family to watch. If you’re trying to choose between Paramount Plus and another streaming option, we suggest trying the free trial. With a Paramount Plus free trial, you can watch old classics like Twin Peaks or and I Love Lucy, or stay up to date with Love Island or Big Brother. After your trial, you might just stay subscribed to the service for its bingeworthy original content, including Picard, Evil, and many more.

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