Another global streaming platform is set to enter India, adding to the hyper-competitive market that’s now starting to look crowded, if the various domestic regional OTT platforms too are counted in the list.

Paramount+, part of Paramount Global (formerly known as ViacomCBS), will launch in India in partnership with Viacom18 in 2023, as part of a recently announced agreement and is poised to participate in this fast-growing market, the American company said Tuesday.

“Paramount is known for its leading portfolio of premium entertainment brands and a robust content engine that fuels our rapidly expanding streaming service, Paramount+. This year will be monumental…as we accelerate our global ambitions, rapidly expanding Paramount+ in Europe beginning with the UK, Italy, Germany, France and more by the end of this year and debut in Asia with South Korea in June, followed by India in 2023,” Raffaele Annecchino, President and CEO, International Networks, Studios and Streaming, Paramount Global, said on Tuesday when the company announced its Q1 earnings results for 2022.

Annecchino was quoted in a media statement released by the company in London as saying: “With an already expansive global footprint and a strong, long-term market-by-market strategy, we are well-poised to continue our positive momentum.”

Recently, Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries and Viacom18 (a joint venture with Paramount Global, formerly known as ViacomCBS) had announced a mouth-watering and potentially disrupting strategic partnership with Bodhi Tree Systems, which is a platform of James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems and Uday Shankar, to form one of the largest TV and digital streaming companies in India.

Bodhi Tree Systems is leading a fund raise with a consortium of investors to invest Rs 13,500 crore ( approx $ 1.78 billion) in Viacom18, to jointly build India’s leading entertainment platform and pioneer the media landscape’s transformation to a “streaming-first” approach, the companies involved had said in a joint press release on April 27. Separately, Reliance too would invest in Viacom18.

The  joint media statement from RIL, Viacom18 and Bodhi Tree, while not detailing the quantum of stake Bodhi Tree would hold in Viacom18 (people in the know say it could be up to 40 percent) and what would be final shareholding pattern after the new deal is closed, did state that the international partner would “continue as a shareholder of Viacom18 and supply the joint venture its premium global content”.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Maria Kyriacou, President, Australia, Canada, Israel and UK, Paramount, said, “The addition of Paramount+ to our strong portfolio of free-to-air, pay TV and streaming services will broaden the range of choice available to our audiences in the UK and Ireland.

Pricing and Distribution of Paramount+: In the UK, Paramount+ will be available online at https://www.paramountplus.com/ and on mobile and a wide range of connected TV devices via the Paramount+ app, via broad direct-to-consumer distribution through Apple, Amazon, Google, Roku and Samsung, with more platforms to be announced in the coming months.

Users will be able to sign up to the service for £6.99 per month/£69.90 per annum in the UK, after a free seven-day trial.

Paramount+ will launch on Sky platforms in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany and Austria in 2022 as part of a new multi-year distribution agreement that also includes the extended carriage of Paramount’s leading portfolio of pay TV channels. Sky Cinema subscribers will get the bonus of Paramount+ included at no extra cost.

Paramount+ will be available across a variety of devices and platforms, including mobile phones and tablets, Android TV, Apple TV, Apple TV Channels, Chromecast, Roku, Samsung TV (2017+), desktop computers or mobile web at https://www.paramountplus.com/, with more to be announced in the future.

Paramount+ is a global digital subscription video streaming service from Paramount that features a mountain of premium entertainment for audiences of all ages.

Internationally, the streaming service features an expansive library of original series, hit shows and popular movies across every genre from world-renowned brands and production studios, including SHOWTIME, BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Pictures and the Smithsonian Channel, in addition to a robust offering of premier local content. The service is currently live in the US, Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Nordics, and Australia, the company said.