Paramount Plus Essential Plan Ditches Live Programming To Cut Cost

The Paramount Plus package that is ad-supported will see its price cut starting on June 7. One catch to the price cut is that it ditches live CBS programming. The package will be rebranded "Paramount+ Essential." The change won't impact customers on the existing Paramount Plus service at $5.99 per month.

Users who were previously subscribed are grandfathered in and locked into the past level of service. The only thing way they will be changed is if they cancel and resubscribe after June 7. The change in service isn't a complete surprise, Paramount Plus mentioned the coming change when it launched.

The grandfathered users will continue to get the plan with limited commercials for $5.99 per month. At that rate, they get on-demand content and live CBS stations. Users who have been on the fence about subscribing can continue to get that deal until June 7. The new Essential plan will cost $4.99 per month and will be ad-supported while featuring on-demand content.

The new plan starts after June 7. The commercial-free plan at $9.99 per month will continue offering access to on-demand content, live CBS stations, and showing ads only on live TV and select shows. Paramount Plus says that live TV streams will have the commercials added just as you would see them on regular broadcasts.

The network also notes that some of its streaming programs will have promotional interruptions that tell watchers about upcoming programming. The change reduces the price by one dollar per month, which is insignificant to most people, but the loss of ability to watch live sports could be a big deal to some. If access to live sports is important to you, you should subscribe in the next few days.