ViacomCBS previously declared that its CBS All Access streaming platform would be transitioning to the Paramount+ brand, a change designed to better represent the broadened range of content available following the 2019 merger of Viacom and CBS. The company has now confirmed the launch date for Paramount+ in the United States: March 4, 2021. Corresponding launch dates for various international regions, including Latin America, Canada, and the Nordic countries, have also been announced.

The service will become available on March 4th in Latin American markets and will simultaneously transition from CBS All Access to Paramount+ in Canada. However, Canadian subscribers will receive the expanded content selection at a later point in 2021. Viewers in the Nordic region will gain access to the service on March 25, 2021, with a launch planned for Australia in the “middle of 2021.”

The company has been communicating its intentions for the rebranded service since last year, explaining that this enhanced streaming service, building upon CBS All Access, would provide a platform to showcase the company’s most prominent franchises and extensive content library, as well as serve as a home for its increasing number of original productions, such as the various “Star Trek” series currently available on CBS All Access and the spin-off of “The Good Wife,” titled “The Good Fight,” among other programs.

The service will also continue to offer live sports coverage, including NFL games and events from other athletic organizations like the NCAA and PGA, alongside live news broadcasts from CBSN and local news channels.

ViacomCBS also revealed last year several original series planned for the new service, including “The Offer,” a limited series dramatizing the creation of “The Godfather”; “Lioness,” a CIA spy thriller created by Taylor Sheridan; a refreshed version of VH1’s “Behind the Music,” concentrating on the last four decades; a true crime documentary series, “The Real Criminal Minds,” inspired by the popular fictional show; and a continuation of BET’s “The Game.”

The platform will also feature a wider selection of children’s programming, including a new original kids’ series, “Kamp Koral,” based on Nickelodeon’s “Spongebob Squarepants.” Furthermore, it will be the exclusive subscription video-on-demand provider for “The Spongebob Movie: Sponge on the Run.”

CBS All Access had already been increasing its content offerings in preparation for the complete rebrand, aiming to provide access to over 30,000 episodes and films by incorporating content from ViacomCBS-owned brands such as BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and Paramount Pictures.

Even with its plans to establish Paramount+ as a distinct streaming destination, ViacomCBS has continued to license its content to other streaming services. Throughout 2020, its first full year as a combined entity, ViacomCBS established distribution agreements with Comcast, Dish, Verizon (the parent company of TechCrunch), Nextstar, Meredith, Cox, and Sinclair, and reached agreements with YouTube TV and Hulu for additional revenue. As a result, both YouTube TV and Hulu added more than six ViacomCBS-owned channels to their lineups and increased their subscription prices.

Since Paramount+ is constructed on the existing technological infrastructure of CBS All Access, it will maintain the same availability across all platforms – television, web, and mobile – as its predecessor from the outset.

Currently, CBS All Access is estimated to have approximately 8 million subscribers, a figure considerably smaller than those of newer competitors like Disney+ (over 73 million) and HBO Max (12.6 million “activated users”).