Viacom joins SVOD race with Paramount+ launch

Viacom Media Networks International is joining the race among major international content players to develop their own subscription video-on-demand services with the launch of Paramount+ in the Nordic region.

The new service will hold the rights to the first pay TV window for paramount Pictures’ new movies releases along with a range of catalogue films and over 800 episodes of MTV and Comedy Central shows.

Paramount+ will launch in the Nordic region on October 1. Viacom is making the service available via distribution partners only, however, unlike other SVOD services available across the region such as HBO and Netflix.

Paramount+ will be available to premium subscribers of Danish cable and telecom group YouSee/TDC Group and Norwegian unit Get, Telenor-owned Canal Digital in Norway and Sweden, and Swedish cable operator Com Hem.

Subscribers to the service will have access to a first pay TV window for new Paramount movie releases including Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, Allied, Fences, Monster Trucks, Rings, Brother Nature, Goat, and xXx: Return of Xander Cage.  In addition, Paramount+ will offer films from Paramount’s library and on-demand access to episodes of MTV and Comedy Central shows including Inside Amy Schumer, Geordie Shore, Broad City, Teen Mom and South Park.

In the coming months movies such as Baywatch, Ghost in the Shell, Transformers: The Last Knight and Mother! will also be added to Paramount+.  Additional offerings will include classic movies such as The Godfather Parts I, II and III, Shutter Island, True Grit, Star Trek: Into Darkness, The Ring and more.

Andrea Sahlgren, SVP, General Manager for VIMN Nordics, said: “Paramount+ is a groundbreaking concept for us and an important extension of our pay TV offer to our linear distribution partners. It’s the first time we’re aggregating first run movie rights with our TV content under the Paramount brand for SVOD access, available for our pay TV operators only. It’s the perfect complement to our existing linear TV and VOD offerings and will meet unrivalled demand from viewers in all the Nordic countries to be able to watch their favorite TV shows and movies when, where and on whatever device they want.”

Christian Morgan, media director at Denmark’s YouSee/TDC, said that the deal between Viacom and his company would mark the first time that a large number of Danes would be able to stream first-run movies as part of their TV service. He said the service would be available via YouSee’s TV box as well as via multiscreen apps. YouSee said that “a large part” of Paramount’s content would also be available on linear TV channels in YouSee’s packages.