Paramount, which three years ago had three SVOD platforms available in the U.S. – Paramount+, SHOWTIME and BET+ – will soon have only one. Paramount+ will absorb BET+ at the beginning of June, when more than 1,000 hours of BET+ content – originals, movies, and specials – will migrate to the flagship streamer.
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| Landman, Tulsa King, Yellowjackets, Special Ops: Lioness, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, All The Queen's Men, Zatima, The Ms. Pat Show and Diarra From Detroit | Paramount+ and BET+ | Composite by Deadline |
The news was shared internally earlier today (March 13) by BET Networks President Louis Carr in a memo, a copy of which was provided to Deadline by a Paramount spokesperson.
“This powerful next step ensures the stories we champion, the creators we support and the culture we represent go further than ever before,” Carr wrote. (You can read his email in full below.)
The consolidation – part of the new Paramount leadership’s effort to gain scale and improve economics in the streaming space – became possible after Paramount bought out Tyler Perry Studios’ ownership in BET+, believed to be 25%. Financial details have not been revealed, but Perry’s stake had been valued at tens of millions of dollars.
“As part of this evolution, Paramount acquired Tyler Perry Studios’ equity stake in BET+,” a Paramount spokesperson said in a statement. “We share the same ambition to expand the reach of BET content, and Tyler will continue to be a valued and important partner through his overall programming agreement.”
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| Tyler Perry | Presley Ann/Getty Images for Netflix |
Perry’s most recent nine-figure overall deal with BET Media Group, which was announced in 2024 and goes until 2028, has him delivering hundreds of new episodes to BET and BET+ (soon to be Paramount+) across existing and new series.
Current BET+ users who subscribed directly through the app will be offered a discount to join Paramount+ when the app is sunsetted. (BET+ prices are $5.99/month for essential, $10.99/month for premium; Paramount+ rates are $8.99 and $13.99, respectively.)
Transferring to Paramount+ will be all content currently on BET+ – original and acquired – subject to rights restrictions and license expirations. That includes the extensive Tyler Perry library of film, TV, and stage works.
BET+ series whose upcoming seasons will launch on Paramount+ this year after the transition include Perry’s Ruthless, Divorced Sistas, All the Queen’s Men and Zatima, as well as Average Joe and Diarra from Detroit. Divorced Sistas last summer logged the most watched series premiere on BET+.
Original series that originated on BET+ will also continue to be renewed following the move to Paramount+, with some pending, including flagship comedy The Ms. Pat Show whose fifth season just wrapped its run on BET+.
On Paramount+, BET+ content will live in the existing BET Hub, which currently houses scripted and unscripted originals and acquired content carried by the linear BET network as well as library titles from other Paramount cable brands that feature Black stories. (There already has been some overlap, with most BET Network series also streaming on BET+.)
The hub can be accessed via the platform’s Collections in Navigation, via a tile in the Brand Selector Carousel and via the BET Collection Carousel on the homepage.
The relocation will expand BET+ content’s reach and visibility, moving from a platform with a number of subscribers estimated to be close to 3.5M to Paramount+’s 80M. (Though BET+ has a strong identity, with all subscribers coming specifically for its programming.)
The folding of BET+ into Paramount+ follows a similar move Paramount Global made in June 2023 with Showtime’s standalone streaming platform. The Showtime content was integrated into the top subscription tier, Paramount+ Showtime, which was recently rebranded as Paramount Premium, dropping the Showtime name.
Two other big media companies, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery, also have done some integration of their streamers, though they have stopped short of one fully absorbting another. Hulu has become a tile on Disney+, but it is also still available as a stand-alone service. After the 2022 WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, flagship streamer HBO Max added a considerable amount of Discovery programming, but Discovery+ was also kept as a separate offering.
Following Paramount Global’s August 2025 acquisition by Skydance, the combined company’s new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) David Ellison announced the consolidation of Paramount+, BET+ and AVOD platform Pluto TV onto one shared technology platform. With that process still ongoing, the company is now taking that one step further with Paramount+ and BET+.
The number of Paramount’s current streamers won’t go up again if/when the company closes its proposed $110M acquisition of WBD. Ellison recently said that Paramount+ and WBD’s HBO+ will become one streaming service post-merger. (Internationally, Paramount is part of the SkyShowtime joint venture, which operates a streamer in a number of European markets. Its future is unclear.)
Ellison and his senior team have cited the streamlining of streaming platforms as an example of their ability to take costs out of mature media businesses, with the Paramount+/BET+ consolidation a possible preview of what is to come for Paramount+ and HBO Max. Paramount says it will be able to realize $6 billion in cost savings with efficiencies from the WBD merger. Some of it, inevitably, will come from layoffs.
The integration of BET+ into Paramount+ had been in the works for months, long before Paramount reached an agreement to acquire WBD two weeks ago. It was telegraphed during the December restructuring of the BET Media Group following the departure of the division’s President and CEO Scott Mills. The realignment was unveiled by George Cheeks who, following the Skydance-Paramount merger, added BET Media Group to his portfolio as Chair of TV Media. He addressed BET Networks, now run by Carr, and BET Studios, led by Aisha Summers-Burke, which became a label within CBS Studios, but not BET+ or its future.
In his company email today, Carr echoed comments the new Paramount leadership has made after the merger about their plan to hold onto BET due to the strength of the brand.
“BET is a cornerstone of Black culture and an essential part of Paramount’s portfolio and long‑term content strategy,” he said. “BET’s linear channel will continue to have a strong presence, and BET Studios remains fully active, producing the compelling, creator‑driven content that defines who we are. BET Digital remains central to our multiplatform strategy as well, driving real-time conversation, audience engagement and measurable growth across social and emerging platforms.
Perry had been a minority owner in BET+ since the platform’s 2019 launch as a joint venture between BET and TPS. In 2023, he made a bid to acquire a majority stake in the entire BET Media Group from then-Paramount Global but the sale did not materialize.
Read Carr’s memo to staffers about the move to phase out BET+ as a stand-alone service and move its content over to Paramount+:
Team BET,As we continue to drive BET’s growth, our stories have to live in more places. Beginning in June, we are expanding our reach by making Paramount+ the new home for BET+ content. This powerful next step ensures the stories we champion, the creators we support and the culture we represent go further than ever before.Paramount+ will bring global fans over 1,000 hours of iconic series, films, originals and cultural touchstones that reflect the full spectrum of the Black experience, including hits like THE MS. PAT SHOW, ALL THE QUEEN’S MEN, ZATIMA, AVERAGE JOE and DIARRA FROM DETROIT. Our celebrated Black storytelling will live alongside Paramount’s premium series, sports, specials and films, where it will be clearly branded, prominently featured and easy to find in the BET Hub.BET is a cornerstone of Black culture and an essential part of Paramount’s portfolio and long‑term content strategy. BET’s linear channel will continue to have a strong presence, and BET Studios remains fully active, producing the compelling, creator‑driven content that defines who we are. BET Digital remains central to our multiplatform strategy as well, driving real-time conversation, audience engagement and measurable growth across social and emerging platforms.BET has already seen strong momentum by meeting audiences where they are. Through the growth of our FAST channels, we have expanded reach, increased engagement and introduced BET content to new viewers.What I want you to take away today is this: BET remains strong because of you, your creativity, your resilience and your unwavering belief in the power of our stories. This moment is about growth and about ensuring BET’s voice continues to shape culture at an even greater global scale.Thank you for everything you’ve done and continue to do to move this brand forward.– Louis
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Originally published: March 14, 2026 at 00:2x GMT.
Additional source: Variety; H/T: @kalenvx123.
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