Streaming Rates Increase Paramount Plus has raised its prices with the launch of a new tier featuring Showtime.

Effective today (June 27), Paramount Plus has narrowed its plans to Paramount Plus Essential with ads and Paramount Plus with Showtime without ads. The Essential plan now costs $5.99 per month, up $1.00 from $4.99.

Previously, a third tier (Premium for $9.99/month) was offered that removed ads and offered CBS but not Showtime. This is no longer an option, and Paramount Plus with Showtime for $11.99 replaces it.

Paramount Plus with Showtime includes live CBS and Showtime premium content. Existing Premium subscribers will automatically move to the more expensive plan.

The Paramount Plus price increase was announced earlier this year as part of the company's desire to consolidate the two properties. The standalone Showtime streaming app will be discontinued, and the linear cable channel will be rebranded Paramount Plus with Showtime. Currently, Yellowjackets and Billions will live alongside episodes of NCIS, Ghosts and various Star Trek spin-offs.

Price hikes from the best streaming services are all the rage; Netflix, Disney Plus, Hulu, and Apple TV Plus have all raised their prices in the past 18 months.

The bleak streaming landscape is not only cutting content budgets, but also leading to overall price hikes. Paramount Plus counted 60 million subscribers worldwide at the end of March, up 4.1 million from the previous quarter. However, the parent company posted a $511 million streaming loss amid declining advertising revenues.

To stem the bleeding, Paramount Plus recently dropped 21 shows and canceled high-profile originals like "Star Trek: Prodigy" and "Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies." [Warner Bros. Discovery has come under a lot of fire for withdrawing both library and original productions from Max.

Paramount Plus may follow in WBD's footsteps and send these shows to a free ad-supported television (FAST) service. Or it might sell streaming rights to third parties like Netflix.

Despite the price increase, there are still plenty of reasons to subscribe to Paramount Plus, including live local CBS, NFL games, and original productions like "1923" and "Star Trek: Strange New World."

And the company frequently makes it easy to cancel the service. Subscribers who try to cancel are usually offered incredible deals; TG's Henry T. Casey tried to cancel Paramount Plus, but did not after receiving an offer he could not refuse.

If you take advantage of the one-month trial and then sign a continuation agreement when you try to cancel, you can use Paramount Plus for free for a quarter of the year. You can access everything from football to "Survivor" to "Yellow Jackets."