Paramount Global has now discontinued the $7.99 a month Paramount+ Essential with Showtime early adopter plan. While emails have started going out confirming the change, they don’t make clear whether the early adopter price will remain the same or increase.
For background, and long before the introduction of the new Paramount+ with Showtime tier, Paramount was offering the option to bundle Paramount+ and Showtime at a cheaper price. When this bundle first launched, early adopters were able to bundle their Paramount+ Essential plan with Showtime for as little as $7.99 a month.
What was even better is that this price was locked in. According to the marketing materials at the time, the discounted bundle price would remain the same for as long as the account holder remained a subscriber, and didn’t make any changes to their plan.
Now, however, emails have gone out confirming that this plan is officially being discontinued. While it was already impossible to sign up at this discounted rate, existing subscribers remained classified as Paramount+ Essential with Showtime subscribers. That’s what has changed, with those subscribers now officially Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers.
In terms of the price, it remains unclear whether those subscribers are still locked in at the $7.99 a month rate, or whether they will now pay a higher price. The reason for the confusion is that the email states “your monthly price will remain the same” while also confirming the price as $11.99 a month – the current price of the Paramount+ with Showtime plan.
Providing this is simply a typo, and the your monthly price will remain the same is what matters, then it stands to reason subscribers will remain locked in at their legacy price. If that is not the case, and the $11.99 a month price is what they will be charged going forward, subscribers will be encountering a fairly substantial price increase.
While Paramount had previously stated that customers would retain the price for as long as they retain the subscription, it is not uncommon for companies to have a clause in the T&Cs that allows them to end a current promotion, and for any reason. While it is unclear if that’s what is happening here, it is a possibility.
This is only the latest change to Paramount+ and Showtime. Following the merger of the two services earlier this year, we’ve received confirmation that Showtime will exit live sports at the end of the year, the Showtime Anytime app is closing down this week, and that the Showtime linear channel will be rebranded as the Paramount+ with Showtime channel in January.
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