Paramount Global will feed whatever nostalgia viewers have for broadcast TV by putting 6,300 episodes of classic CBS shows on its free, ad-supported streaming platform Pluto TV in the next two months.
Frasier and Cheers will be anchoring a new Sitcom Legends channel; the Star Trek channel will feature the original Star Trek series and a More Star Trek channel will stream Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; the Westerns TV channel will be showing Have Gun – Will Travel and The Wild, Wild West and a Classic TV Comedy channel will offer Petticoat Junction.
Dozens of new series and new seasons of series will also be coming to Pluto TV's on-demand menu for the first time by the end of the year.
"Pluto TV and CBS are both proven leaders delivering world-class entertainment to global audiences," Paramount Streaming president and CEO Tom Ryan said. "With unrivaled access to the coveted CBS library, Pluto TV is able to deliver the best of both worlds to our viewers — world-class, evergreen programming with flexible viewing options, all for free."
Nielsen recently declared Pluto TV to be one of the top streaming destinations, generating 1% of all viewing in September. Paramount — then called Viacom — acquired Pluto TV for $350 million in 2019.
"Pluto TV and CBS are a great example of how having a BIG network and studio partnered closely with a FAST platform can supercharge our streaming ecosystem," said George Cheeks, President and CEO, CBS. "Both of our teams are continually benefitting from insights and learnings around FAST programming performance to help define future strategies that benefit each of our businesses. The overwhelming success of the CSI and 48 Hours channels on Pluto TV are just two recent examples of how our broadcast franchises are connecting with a growing and often unduplicated streaming audience. We think we’re just getting started in how we can work together with Pluto TV for the benefit of our content and the company."
The shows being added to Pluto on demand are: The Andy Griffith Show, Becker, Beverly Hillbillies, Beverly Hills 90210, Brady Bunch, Charmed, Criminal Minds, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, Diagnosis Murder, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Everybody Hates Chris, Family Ties, Flashpoint, The Fugitive, Girlfriends, Gunsmoke, Half & Half, Have Gun Will Travel, Hawaii Five-O, Hot Bench, JAG, Laverne & Shirley, The Love Boat, MacGyver, Man With a Plan, Matlock, Mission Impossible, Moesha, Mork & Mindy, Numbers, The Odd Couple, One On One, The Parkers, Perry Mason, Petticoat Junction, Pink Collar Crimes, Rachael Ray, Rescue 911, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Scorpion, Sister, Sister, Taxi, Touched By An Angel, The Twilight Zone, Webster, The Wild Wild West, Wings and WoW - Women of Wrestling. ■
