Paramount Streaming (formerly CBS Digital Media Group, CBS Interactive, ViacomCBS Streaming), a division of

Paramount Global Paramount Global (Trade name, doing business as Paramount) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and entertainment Conglomerate (company), conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquar ...

, oversees the company’s streaming technology and offers direct-to-consumer services, free, premium and pay. These include Pluto TV, which has more than 250 live and original channels, and Paramount+, a subscription service that combines breaking news, live sports, and premium entertainment.

History

As CBS Interactive

On May 30, 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for £140 million (US$280 million). On June 30, 2008,

CNET Networks ''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...

was acquired by CBS and the assets were merged into CBS Interactive, including

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

, TV.com, and Movietome. On March 15, 2012, it was announced that CBS Interactive acquired

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

-based website

Giant Bomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news, and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time'' ma ...

and

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. ...

-based website Comic Vine from Whiskey Media, who sold off their other remaining websites to

BermanBraun Whalerock Industries is an American media and technology company. Based in West Hollywood, Whalerock partners with public figures and brands to create, build and operate direct-to-consumer multi-media apps which integrate music, video, live stream ...

. This occasion marked the return of video game journalist Jeff Gerstmann to the CBS Interactive division of video game websites, which includes

and

GameFAQs GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databas ...

, and has Gerstmann once again working directly with some of his former peers at GameSpot within the same building at the CBS Interactive headquarters.Giant Bomb, Comic Vine join CBS Interactive
GameSpot.com On April 17, 2012, it was announced that Major League Gaming and CBS Interactive would be entering a partnership alongside

Twitch Twitch may refer to: Biology * Muscle contraction ** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation ** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction ** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...

to be the only exclusive online broadcaster of their Pro Circuit competitions, as well as for advertising representation. CBS Interactive Logo

CBS Corp./Viacom re-merger and afterwards

On November 4, 2019, '' Variety'' reported that Jim Lanzone would be leaving the company after 9 years to become an executive in residence at Benchmark Capital and would be succeeded by Marc DeBevoise. CBS Interactive's parent

CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, an ...

merged with sister company Viacom on December 4, 2019, forming

ViacomCBS Paramount Global (doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. It w ...

. On September 14, 2020, it was announced that

Red Ventures Red Ventures is an American media company, which owns and operates brands such as Lonely Planet, CNET, ZDNet, The Points Guy, Healthline and Bankrate. Red Ventures focuses on sites that dispense news, advice, and reviews. The company's corpo ...

would acquire the “CNET Media Group” from ViacomCBS for $500 million, which was finalized on October 30, 2020. After the divestment of the “CNET Media Group”, CBS Interactive was dissolved after an organizational restructuring and renamed ViacomCBS Streaming in order to accelerate

'direct-to-consumer streaming strategies.

On March 4, 2021, ViacomCBS Streaming renamed CBS All Access to

Paramount+ Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Med ...

, with additional streaming content and rebranding taking place at that time. ViacomCBS Streaming was renamed as "Paramount Streaming", in-line with the rebranding of parent company ViacomCBS to Paramount Global in February 2022.

Properties

Some of the digital media properties under Paramount Streaming are *

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global ...

Pluto TV Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported video streaming service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Co-founded by Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in Los Angeles, California, in the United S ...

BET+ A bet is a gambling wager. Bet or BET may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Bet Lynch, a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' * Elizabeth "Bet" Yeager, protagonist of ''Rimrunners'', a science fiction n ...

* Noggin *

CBS News (streaming service) CBS News (formerly CBSN, also known as the CBS News Streaming Network) is an American streaming video news channel operated by the CBS News and Paramount Streaming divisions of Paramount Global. Launched on November 6, 2014, it features blocks ...

CBS Sports HQ CBS Sports HQ is a streaming video sports channel operated by the CBS Sports and Paramount Streaming divisions of Paramount focused on airing sports news, highlights and scores, similar to pre-2010 ESPNews. CBS Sports HQ is co-headquartered in St ...

* ET Live (broadcast syndicator)

Divested/defunct

When the company was known as CBS Interactive, it owned several websites, most of which were sold to

in 2020. Its former websites are: Radio.com, BNET, CNET, Download.com,

TechRepublic TechRepublic is an online trade publication and social community for IT professionals, providing advice on best practices and tools for the needs of IT decision-makers. It was founded in 1997 in Louisville, Kentucky, by Tom Cottingham and Kim S ...

ZDNet ZDNET is a business technology news website owned and operated by Red Ventures. The brand was founded on April 1, 1991, as a general interest technology portal from Ziff Davis and evolved into an enterprise IT-focused online publication. H ...

, onGamers,

TVGuide.com TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news. The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008. Corporate ...

, Chowhound, TV.com,

, Comic Vine,

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

MetroLyrics MetroLyrics was a website dedicated to song lyrics. It was founded in December 2002, and its database contained over one million songs by over 16,000 artists. Unlike other lyric websites, MetroLyrics places a warning on songs that contain expli ...

and UrbanBaby.

References

{{Portal bar, San Francisco Bay Area, Companies 2005 establishments in California American companies established in 2005 Companies based in San Francisco Mass media companies established in 2005 Online mass media companies of the United States Streaming