Paramount+ Launches in Australia But When Here? UPDATED
May 7, 2021 
13 Comments
Since posting this, ViacomCBS has confirmed NZ won’t be part of the Australian launch: “We are yet to announce anything.”
Despite being called ViacomCBS Australia & NZ (and helmed by a former TV3 programming chief), no mention was made of when Paramount+ will launch here following today’s announcement it would start streaming across the Tasman from August 11.
If you want a sneak peek of what the service may offer and cost when it does go live in NZ, here’s a media release (the biggest difference in content will be the omission of Showtime titles, which Sky will continue to acquire exclusively):
Paramount+ Streaming Unique Stories, Iconic Stars And A Mountain Of Entertainment.
Paramount+ Debuts On Wednesday, August 11 For $8.99.
- Unique Stories and exclusive premier local content – Five Bedrooms (Season 2), Spreadsheet, Last King of The Cross and 6 Festivals.
- Iconic Stars – Viola Davis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Gillian Anderson, Michael C. Hall, Cynthia Nixon, Juliette Lewis, Kat Stewart, Freddie Highmore, Christina Ricci, Kate Beckinsale, Doris Younane, Jeff Daniels, Maisie Williams, Stephen Peacocke, Katherine Parkinson, Michael Chiklis and many more.
- A Mountain Of Entertainment – An expansive library of original series with more than 20,000 episodes of hit shows and blockbuster movies including The First Lady, Dexter, Anne Boleyn, Leonardo, The Godfather, Mission: Impossible and PAW Patrol.
ViacomCBS Australia & New Zealand today announced its global digital subscription video streaming service, Paramount+, will launch in Australia on Wednesday, 11 August 2021.
Featuring a mountain of premium entertainment for audiences of all ages, Paramount+ will boast an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios including SHOWTIME®, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, the Smithsonian Channel and Sony Pictures Television, in addition to a robust offering of premier local content.
Priced at just $8.99 per month, subscribers will have access to more than 20,000 episodes and blockbuster movies throughout the year with Paramount+ delighting Australian audiences with unique stories, iconic stars and a mountain of entertainment.
To celebrate the launch, audiences will be able to exclusively enjoy season two of the highly anticipated Australian drama, Five Bedrooms. Starring the stellar cast of Kat Stewart, Stephen Peacocke, Doris Younane, Roy Joseph, Katie Robertson and Hugh Sheridan, this surrogate family is once again leaping into the property market having lost their first communal home at auction.
Plus, more premium locally produced drama content is on its way with Spreadsheet, Last King of The Cross and 6 Festivals, commencing production soon.
Produced by Northern Pictures and filmed in Melbourne, Spreadsheet is a comedy series about divorced, hectic mother-of-two, Lauren played by Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, Doc Martin), who is looking for sex without commitment.
With the help of best friend Alex, she develops “Spreadsheet”: a database of sex options, customised to ensure her sushi train of sex rolls around with variety and order amidst the chaos of her life. What Lauren didn’t expect was a slew of needy men, which apparently even a well-managed excel tracker can’t control.
Based on the best-selling autobiography of John Ibrahim and produced by Helium, Last King of The Cross is an operatic story of two brothers, Sam and John Ibrahim, one worshipped by his father and the other scorned. In organising the street, they lose each other across their ascent to power. Coupled with a fractured sense of identity, culture and family, Sam and John discover that blood is thicker than water, but you can drown in both.
A coming-of-age feature film, 6 Festivals is about three 16-year-old best friends – Maxie, Summer and James. Running, in anger and denial, from the terminal illness James is facing, they bucket-list six music festivals over six months. Over their six-month journey they meet up-and-coming artist, Marley, whose own challenges and success will help them to accept the reality they so want to avoid. Backed by an impressive all-Australian soundtrack, 6 Festivals is produced by Invisible Republic and Hype Republic.
Audiences will also get new exclusive premieres, starring some of the world’s biggest stars including The First Lady (Viola Davis, Gillian Anderson, Michelle Pfeiffer, Aaron Eckhart, Dakota Fanning), Dexter (Michael C. Hall), The Gilded Age (Cynthia Nixon, Christine Baranski, Carrie Coon), Yellowjackets (Juliette Lewis, Christina Ricci), Leonardo(Freddie Highmore, Aidan Turner), American Rust (Jeff Daniels, Maura Tierney), Two Weeks To Live (Maisie Williams), Coyote (Michael Chiklis, George Pullar), Mayor of Kingstown (Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest), Everyone Is Doing Great (James Lafferty, Stephen Colletti), Anne Boleyn (Jodie Turner-Smith), Spy City (Dominic Cooper), Monsterland (Taylor Schilling), The Luminaries (Eve Hewson, Erik Thomson, Ewen Leslie), The Harper House (Rhea Seehorn, Jason Lee), Guilty Party (Kate Beckinsale) and The Man Who Fell to Earth (Chiwetel Ejiofor).
Other exclusive titles to look forward to include Lioness, Halo, The Offer, Y:1883, Flatbush Misdemeanors, Stephen, Crossing Swords, Help, No Return, Line In The Sand and Ripley, along with riveting documentaries, Who Is Ghislaine Maxwell? and Four Hours at the Capitol.
For kids and families, Paramount+ will offer some of the biggest franchises in the world, including SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer, and PAW Patrol, plus new originals based on Nickelodeon’s most beloved characters such as Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years.
If it’s blockbuster and classic films you’re after, Paramount+ will boast titles and movie franchises such as The Godfather, Mission: Impossible, Indiana Jones, Transformers, Jackass, Grease, Good Will Hunting, Harry Potter, Batman, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Lord of the Rings, Austin Powers in Goldmember and Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me to name a few.
Beverley McGarvey, Chief Content Officer & Executive Vice President, ViacomCBS Australia & New Zealand, said: “We can’t wait for Australians to stream Paramount+ and all the iconic ViacomCBS library content as well as premium local content including Five Bedrooms, Spreadsheet, Last King of The Cross and 6 Festivals.
“Paramount+ has something for everyone. It will be home to the biggest names in entertainment, exclusive premium content and of course the most unique stories. Its expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies hail from world-renowned brands including SHOWTIME®, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures, the Smithsonian Channel and Sony Pictures Television.
“We are poised to become as powerful a player in streaming as we are in television. By leveraging the iconic Paramount brand, leading edge infrastructure, along with an incredible super-sized pipeline of must-see content, Paramount+ will deliver an exceptional consumer entertainment experience.”
This selection of shows and movies will join existing offerings available on 10 All Access, which will be rebranded to Paramount+, from CBS, The CW and Network 10, as well as original series like The Good Fight, The Twilight Zone, Tooning Out The News, Interrogation, Why Women Kill, Charmed, A Million Little Things and Nancy Drew. Plus, CBSN’s 24/7 live news.
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May 7, 2021 at 3:15 pm
Interesting, so Paramount+ is the new home of Channel 10 content in Aus (10 News, The Project AU etc?)? I wonder when Discovery+ is going to launch here as well. PS: Any idea yet how Celebrity IOU fared last night, Phil?
It will be interesting to see what date it will start in New Zealand. It’s probably around the same time as Australia 🙂
Hey, Kevin. Haven’t seen last night’s ratings yet, hopefully Monday …
I read on Twitter we will be getting Paramount+ the same day as Australia. Not sure if that’s right or not 🙂
Thanks for the update, Trevor. Overnight Variety and The Hollywood Reporter reported the same but bizarre that ViacomCBS’s announcement didn’t mention NZ as part of the roll-out. And neither trade paper indicates what the service will cost here.
I can’t agree more Philip, perhaps they will make a separate announcement for New Zealand? We may end up getting different shows and movies. Hope it includes The Naked Gun movies, they are hilarious 🙂
Hey, Trevor. ViacomCBS has just confirmed to me that it has yet to announce anything for NZ. So looks like we’ll have to wait a little longer than Oz …
Oh well, I guess they are still working on it. I’m still hopeful for August 🙂
ViacomCBS has just confirmed to me, it’s not launching in NZ. Maybe in the near future.
How have they confirmed this? Please elaborate.
I can’t speak for Lenny, Leo, but ViacomCBS told me they wouldn’t be launching in NZ the same time as Australia.
Cheers, Philip, for clearing it up. I was only questioning the validity of his statement and just wanted some direct quote or quotes from his source so we can weed out all the confusion and conclusively say it’s not launching here anytime soon.
It’s been a very strange communications strategy on ViacomCBS’s part, not clarifying from the outset that it doesn’t view Australia and NZ as a single streaming market — an oversight compounded by even international trades like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter failing to make the distinction as well in their reportage. I think the tangle of programming rights in this territory and ViacomCBS’s Showtime deal with Sky will complicate Paramount+’s launch here, and the fact that we don’t offer the same potential revenue in an already saturated market like Australia does.