{"id":604766,"date":"2025-08-04T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T09:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=604766"},"modified":"2025-08-04T11:27:20","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T09:27:20","slug":"major-streaming-service-scraps-full-launch-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/604766-major-streaming-service-scraps-full-launch-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"Major streaming service scraps full launch in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

US video streaming subscription service Paramount+ will no longer be rolling out its standalone app in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paramount confirmed to MyBroadband that the service’s content will remain available exclusively through DStv and Showmax due to the company’s distribution agreement with MultiChoice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Launched in 2014, the Paramount+ service includes content from Paramount Global’s CBS, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Showtime, MTV, and BET libraries, as well as live sports coverage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is available as a standalone streaming service in 13 countries and originally planned to launch in that format in South Africa as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2023, Paramount president and streaming CEO Tom Ryan said the service’s rollout would include “hard bundles” with a local provider and a direct-to-consumer app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since late 2023, visiting the Paramount+ website from South Africa would prompt users to enter their e-mail address to receive updates on when the service is available in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Paramount+, home to the world’s favourite stars, stories and brands, is coming soon,” the message states. “Get ready to experience stellar originals, exclusive premieres, hit movies and the very best must-see TV.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a note underneath the box where users enter their e-mail address, Paramount listed several countries where it will not launch due to being available in those markets through SkyShowtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, no mention is made of South Africa, which suggested that the service was still coming to South Africa as a dedicated offering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2024, Paramount Global Content Distribution announced a deal<\/a> with MultiChoice, which turned out to be the local provider Ryan mentioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of this agreement, Paramount+ got a dedicated hub on the DStv and Showmax platforms. However, the available content from Paramount+ is curated and does not include all its titles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the announcement of its MultiChoice-branded destination deal, Paramount has not detailed any further plans on the rollout of a dedicated app.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No standalone app \u2014 but South Africans already getting the best for cheaper<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This past week, the company finally confirmed to MyBroadband that it would not launch a standalone app in South Africa because its content is already available through MultiChoice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is essentially a licensing deal for content across the company within a branded area called Paramount+,” the company said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“These branded destinations have only launched and will only launch where there isn’t a full Paramount+ service.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that South Africans may not be missing out on all that much without a dedicated Paramount+ service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in its home market in the US, Paramount+ only offers 1,283 titles. Showmax, which includes Paramount’s most popular content, boasts over 5,000 titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent examples of Paramount+ content on Showmax or DStv include Yellowstone<\/em>, Landman<\/em>, Mobland<\/em>, Yellowjackets<\/em>, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds<\/em>, Special Ops: Lioness<\/em>, and Criminal Minds: Evolution<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Showmax is also more affordable than Paramount+ in most countries where the US service is available directly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Showmax starts at R50 per month for a mobile subscription or R99 for a standard membership. A Paramount+ subscription is priced at $7.99 (R145) in the US and \u00a34.99 (R120) in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only Argentina has a subscription cheaper than R50, where the service costs roughly R22. However, the South American country’s content library is substantially smaller, with around 500 titles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several other major video streaming services available overseas that are not offered in South Africa \u2014 including Peacock and HBO’s Max platforms \u2014 also offer their top content through Showmax and DStv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only other prominent streaming service that is not available in South Africa is Hulu, and most of its catalogue is available through Disney+.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While Paramount+ says it will no longer launch a standalone service in South Africa, its content is already available through another major platform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":526507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-604766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-broadcasting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604766"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604766"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":605231,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604766\/revisions\/605231"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/526507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}