Pluto TV is an American internet television streaming service owned by Paramount Global, formerly ViacomCBS. Based in Los Angeles, California, Pluto TV is a free, advertiser-supported video on demand service that primarily offers a selection of programming content through digital linear channels designed to emulate the experience of traditional broadcast programming. The service's revenue is generated from video advertisements seen during programming within ad breaks, again structured to emulate the experience found on conventional television.
Originally a domestic service, co-founded by Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf on 31 March 2013, the streamer was acquired by Viacom (one of the two former independent parts of Paramount Global) on 22 January 2019 for US$340 million. [1] Even before the sale to Viacom, the owners had already decided on an international expansion strategy of their streaming service, with the UK becoming its first stop of an international roll-out on 1 October 2018, [2] after which it quickly expanded into other overseas territories (notably South America), now under the Viacom auspices.
In July 2020, Pluto TV launched a full-time Star Trek-themed channel. Initially airing Star Trek: The Next Generation and a few Star Trek films, the channel promises that "more Star Trek series [will be] added later." [3] [4]
In November 2021, following the sudden removal of Star Trek: Discovery from Netflix in all markets ahead of its fourth season, Pluto TV became the exclusive broadcaster of the program in markets in which Paramount+ had yet to roll out. The service premiered the first two episodes of the fourth season on 26 November 2021, with additional new episodes releasing weekly, most conspicuously in the UK. [5] In Austria, Germany and Switzerland, the program also released as a simulcast on Pluto's Star Trek channel. [6]
The German Pluto TV Star Trek channel also aired Star Trek: Short Treks from 1 February through 23 February 2023, [7] prior to their 6 February through 9 March 2024 airings of Discovery's first three seasons. [8]
External links[]
- Pluto TV – official site
- Pluto TV at Wikipedia
- Unofficial schedule archive