Paramount Plus has entered the streaming wars in the US – it’s the rebranding of CBS All Access, carrying across all the content from that service, but adding a bunch more originals. This is the new home of series like Star Trek Discovery and Star Trek: Picard but they’ll eventually be joined by many more headline-grabbing originals.

In the future, Paramount Plus will be the home of big-budget originals the Halo TV Series, Star Trek, Strange New Worlds and a Frasier reboot,– alongside a growing library of movies, like Mission: Impossible 7 and A Quiet Place Part 2. Essentially, this is ViacomCBS’ effort to expand into an all-conquering Netflix rival – but will it work?

At launch, Paramount Plus is basically the home of CBS All Access’ existing content (which is a solid amount of movies and TV shows) and several originals: MTV’s The Real World Homecoming, animated series Tooning Out the News, SpongeBob prequel Kamp Koral, the long-awaited The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run and docuseries For Heaven’s Sake.

The Paramount Plus app also features dedicated hubs to ViacomCBS’ various owned content arms – Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, BET and The Smithsonian Channel.

In the future, the service is only set to grow – but should you care right now? Below, we’ll tell you everything we know about Paramount Plus, including whether it has a free trial, which shows are coming to the service and which devices are compatible with the service’s app.

Paramount Plus launch time: when is the release date?

It’s here! Paramount Plus launched in the US on March 4, 2021, along with parts of Latin America. The Nordics will receive the streaming service on March 25, while Paramount Plus lands in Australia at some point in mid-2021. On March 4, the CBS All Access service in Canada will also switch names to Paramount Plus, while “an expanded offering will be available later in the year” in that region.

Additional markets will follow, apparently. It’s unclear if the service will launch in the UK.

Paramount Plus free trial: is there one?

Yes. Paramount Plus has a 30-day free trial, which you can get here  – this is available until March 31, according to the website. That should be more than enough time to catch up on the Star Trek series you might’ve missed out on..

What is Paramount Plus?

Paramount Plus is both a new video streaming service made for a global audience, and a rebranding of the existing CBS All Access service. Outside the US, most countries don’t have CBS All Access, meaning ViacomCBS has little in the way of a streaming footprint. So, while the rebranding part is important for US customers, the global ambition is what matters here on a wider level.

The aim is to draw on a deeper well of content from the parent company’s portfolio, with a library of older shows and movies alongside a selection of originals. CBS All Access already features news and sports content, like UEFA matches – whatever you’re already enjoying on CBS All Access will form a key part of Paramount Plus, too.

Paramount Plus will eventually feature more than 50 original series, with more than 30,000 episodes of TV shows and over 2,500 movies.

Internationally, the content will vary depending on current licensing deals. For example, Amazon has the rights to show Star Trek: Picard  outside the US as it stands – so don’t expect to see an identical library globally, at least at first.

What does Paramount Plus cost?

The Paramount Plus price is $9.99 per month without ads, or $5.99 with ads. In June 2021, however, the lower-priced ad-supported tier will get a $1 price drop to $4.99 per month. Both tiers will feature the same selection of on-demand originals and library content, but the difference is access to local CBS stations – that’s exclusive to the higher tier. You also get live CBS TV and more sports through the higher tier option. The image above breaks it all down.