Last January, Paramount renamed Showtime as the Paramount+ network. This has raised a lot of questions about what the difference is between the streaming service and the cable network both called Paramount+.
The new rebranded network will continue to air SHOWTIME Original series, including A Gentleman in Moscow, the George Clooney executive-produced The Department, and The Woman in the Wall as well as the award-winning and culture-shifting SHOWTIME hits Fellow Travelers, The Chi, The Curse, Yellowjackets, and Your Honor, among others. Now you will also find Paramount+ programming airing on the network, including Halo (S1), Taylor Sheridan’s Mayor of Kingstown (S1-2), Star Trek: Discovery (S1-4),and Wolf Pack (S1).
So, what is the difference? In short, they both share the same name but don’t offer the same content. Paramount+ network is sold through live TV streaming services like Hulu and YouTube TV. The Paramount+ streaming service is a standalone streaming service you can get without the need for a TV service like cable or YouTube TV.
If you subscribe to the Paramount+ network through DIRECTV, DIRECTV STREAM, Hulu, Spectrum, or U-verse it will include free access to the Paramount+ streaming service. Sadly, if you subscribe to the new Paramount+ network through other places it will not include access to the Paramount+ streaming service.
They both share the same name but the Paramount+ streaming service has more content available on-demand. Subscribing to the Paramount+ network gives you access to more live channels.
If you are confused by all of this you are not alone as Paramount now has the Paramount cable TV network (formerly known as Spike TV), the Paramount+ streaming service (formerly known as CBS All Access), and now the Paramount+ network (formerly known as Showtime.)
Here are some of the shows that will air on the newly rebranded network.
A Gentleman in Moscow (SHOWTIME Original)
A Gentleman in Moscow follows Count Alexander Rostov (Ewan McGregor), who, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, finds that his gilded past places him on the wrong side of history. Spared immediate execution, he is banished by a Soviet tribunal to an attic room in the opulent Hotel Metropol and threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside again. As the years pass and some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel’s doors, Rostov’s reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery. As he builds a new life within the walls of the hotel, he discovers the true value of friendship, family, and love.
The Department (SHOWTIME Original)
Executive produced by George Clooney, The Department is based on the French series Le Bureau, which centers on the daily life and missions of agents within France’s principal external security service. It focuses on the “Bureau of Legends,” responsible for training and handling deep-cover agents on long-term missions in areas with French interests. Living under false identities for years, these agents must conduct missions to identify and recruit good intelligence sources.
The Woman in the Wall (SHOWTIME Original)
The Woman in the Wall, starring and executive produced by BAFTA® and Golden Globe® Award-winner Ruth Wilson (The Affair, His Dark Materials) and co-starring BAFTA Award nominee Daryl McCormack (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Peaky Blinders), centers on Lorna Brady (Wilson), a woman from the small, fictional Irish town of Kilkinure, who wakes one morning to find a corpse in her house. She has long suffered from extreme bouts of sleepwalking ever since she was incarcerated at 15 in The Kilkinure Convent, a (fictional) home to one of Ireland’s infamous Magdalene Laundries for women. Detective Colman Akande (McCormack) now is on Lorna’s tail for a crime seemingly unrelated to the body she has discovered in her house, and their paths collide in ways they never could have anticipated. The series also stars Simon Delaney (The Conjuring 2), Philippa Dunne (The Nevers), Mark Huberman (Band of Brothers), Hilda Fay (Float Like a Butterfly), Frances Tomelty (The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard) and Dermot Crowley (Luther: The Fallen Sun). Created and written by BAFTA Award nominee Joe Murtagh (Calm with Horses), The Woman in the Wall is produced by Motive Pictures for SHOWTIME and The BBC. In addition, the series is executive produced by Simon Maxwell (Get Millie Black, Deep State), Sam Lavender (Saint Maud, The Lobster), Murtagh, Wilson (Mrs. Wilson, True Things) and Harry Wootliff (True Things).
Halo (Paramount+ Original)
In season two, Master Chief John-117 leads his team of elite Spartans against the alien threat known as the Covenant. In the wake of a shocking event on a desolate planet, John cannot shake the feeling that his war is about to change and risks everything to prove what no one else will believe – that the Covenant are preparing to attack humanity’s greatest stronghold. With the galaxy on the brink, John embarks on a journey to find the key to humankind’s salvation, or its extinction — the Halo. The series takes place in the universe that first debuted in 2001 with the launch of Xbox®’s first Halo game. Halo stars Pablo Schreiber (American Gods) and Natascha McElhone (Californication), who both also serve as producers this season. Additional returning cast members include Jen Taylor (Halo game series, RWBY) as Cortana, Bokeem Woodbine (Fargo), Shabana Azmi (Fire), Natasha Culzac (The Witcher), Olive Gray (Half Moon Investigations), Yerin Ha (Reef Break), Bentley Kalu (Avengers: Age of Ultron), Kate Kennedy (Catastrophe), Charlie Murphy (Peaky Blinders), Danny Sapani (Penny Dreadful), Joseph Morgan (Vampire Diaries, The Originals) and Cristina Rodlo (No One Gets Out of Here Alive). Halo is produced by SHOWTIME in association with 343 Industries and Amblin Television. The second season of Halo is executive produced by David Wiener alongside Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television. Kiki Wolfkill serves as executive producer for Xbox/343 Industries with Otto Bathurst and Toby Leslie for One Big Picture and Gian Paolo Varani. The series is distributed internationally by Paramount Global Content Distribution.
Sexy Beast (Paramount+ Original)
The eight-episode series explores the origins of Gal (James McArdle) and Don’s (Emum Elliott) complicated relationship as they find themselves descending into the seductive madness of the London criminal world during the vibrant and volatile 1990s while Gal’s budding relationship with Deedee (Sarah Greene) threatens everything in their world. Additional cast includes Eliza Bennett (Dynasty), Clea Martin (Hanna), Nicholas Nunn (The Victim), Peter Ferdinando (The Letter for the King), John Dagleish (The Third Day), Robbie Gee (Motherland), Paul Kaye (The Stranger), Lex Shrapnel (Infiniti), Cally Lawrence (Who Is Alice), David Kennedy (Hollyoaks), Julian Rhind-Tutt (Greenwing), Ralph Brown (Godfather of Harlem), Nitin Ganatra (EastEnders) and Alice Bailey Johnson (This Is Going to Hurt).
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