You know how a ton of streaming services have cropped up in the last few years? It feels like that bubble is set to burst soon. As the streaming wars continue, it seems like many big-name platforms are being forced to shake up their approach. Today’s change? Paramount+ dropping some of its original programming from the platform.
Deadline reports the removal of several titles, including Jordan Peele’s Twilight Zone reboot, true crime drama Interrogation, Real World: Homecoming, No Activity, Coyote, and more.
The news comes just days after Paramount+ announced it would merge with Showtime. At that announcement, the company said it planned to “divert investment away from areas that are underperforming” and that account for “less than 10% of views.”
Paramount+’s release of original programming follows a similar move by HBO Max. Warner Bros. – Discovery just announced a deal with Roku to stream some of the shows removed from HBO Max (including the popular sci-fi series Westworld) on their ad-supported FAST channel.
The Paramount+ / Showtime announcement emphasized that the companies wanted to blend streaming and linear offerings. So, it’s possible that Paramount+ plans to remove some originals from its streaming platform in order to offer them exclusively on linear cable, similar to the move by HBO Max. However, we don’t have any official word yet from Paramount+ on their plans for the dropped originals. So we’re just speculating where – if anywhere – these titles might wind up at this point.
Once again, these frustrating streaming shakeups just seem to underscore the importance of physical media more than ever. You know what doesn’t have annoying ad breaks or app outages or buffering problems? What won’t suddenly disappear because corporations are arguing about profits again? My Blu-ray copies of The X-Files.
Get it together, streaming.
Source: Deadline
