The streaming world has become the absolute Wild West and there are no signs the dust will settle any time soon. Streaming services are merging, switching, canceling shows, and even removing content made specifically for their platform, and Paramount+ is the latest streamer to go through all of these changes at once.
Streaming services Showtime and Paramount+ will be merged into one entity, and with that news came the cancellation of several Showtime original series and their disappearance from the current platform.
The same is happening now with Paramount+, as well as several Viacom-owned shows, including some created specifically for the streaming service, like Jordan Peele’s. fuzzy area reboot, now missing. Variety reports that together The twilight zoneother series like The Real World: Homecoming, Harper Houseand others have also been removed from Paramount+.
With streaming services like Netflix, we expect hefty billing for certain content. While Netflix has created many original series and movies, much of the content available comes from other studios, and licensing offers have limited hours. But part of the benefit of studios delivering their media directly to the consumer is that it shouldn’t have to be, since everything on the platform is owned by the studio itself.
That said, Paramount+ is far from the only streaming service to have done this. Several shows have been pulled from HBO Max in recent months, including the removal of fan favorites like the west. Since then, WB Discovery has announced its intention to do so the west and other shows that will air on alternative streaming platforms.
In the case of HBO Max and Paramount+, the decision to remove content came with a plan to merge existing streaming platforms. HBO Max and Discovery+ are expected to merge into one service at some point, just like Paramount+ and Showtime are doing. The decision could be part of simply managing a content library that is about to grow exponentially.
However, there is one potentially significant downside, as these shows are no longer available, meaning no one can watch them. While it’s annoying for those who just want to enjoy the shows or movies, it’s also a potentially major issue for the people who helped create the shows and movies in the first place. Anyone who earns any form of waste from streaming views can’t do it if no one can see it.
We’ll have to wait and see if these Paramont+ shows carry over to other platforms like the HBO Max shows have. The loss of some shows probably won’t have much of an impact on Paramount+ subscribers, but as the streaming landscape continues to change, we won’t. it’s clear how these types of changes will affect consumers.
Source: Cinemablend
