Paramount+ to increase prices for its streaming plans

Paramount Global is hiking the price of its flagship streaming service as the company looks to turn around its business.

The company said Monday it will raise the price of the Paramount+ with Showtime plan by $1 to $12.99 a month, and the price of its Paramount+ Essential option will increase by $2 to $7.99 a month for all new subscribers.

The price increase takes effect on Aug. 20 for new customers for both plans. Existing Paramount+ with Showtime customers will see the price increase hit on or after Sept. 20. Existing Paramount+ Essential customers — who don't receive Showtime content — won't pay more for their plans.

The price of the limited Paramount+ commercial option will also increase by $1 to $7.99 for current customers.

More media companies have increased streaming prices as they look to make a profit on the cash-losing business. Paramount executives had said publicly on multiple occasions they see a lot of opportunities to increase the price of streaming services.

Comcast's NBCUniversal said it would raise prices for Peacock in July, ahead of the Summer Olympics, which will air exclusively on the NBC broadcast network and Peacock. It will be Peacock's second price increase in the past year.

Earlier this month, Warner Bros. Discovery announced it would increase the cost of its Max streaming service.

Paramount had combined the Showtime and Paramount+ platforms last year in a push to condense content spending, which has become a particular focus for media companies. The company increased Paramount+ prices late last year, too.

Paramount said in April it had added 3.7 million Paramount+ subscribers during the first quarter, bringing the total to 71 million. However, like most of its media peers, Paramount posted losses