Showtime removes short-lived exclusive shows from its streaming platform

Showtime’s merger with Paramount+ has resulted in some depressing news for television and OTT fans. Following HBO’s footsteps, the premium cable service is all set to remove some of the underperforming exclusive shows from the network’s streaming service.

The exclusive content includes last year’s star-packed Super Pumped: The Battle For Uber, Jim Carrey-vehicle Kidding, American Rust, On Becoming A God In Central Florida, On Becoming A God In Central Florida, and American Rust.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the network will also remove some of the acquired content like The End and Wakefield. The decision comes in the wake of the new merger with Paramount+, which is set to be rebranded later this year.

It is also a strategy that is slowly becoming a depressing norm in the past few months. Other streaming services like HBO Max and the recently changed CW have also done this.

Though only American Gigolo and Let the Right One In are the shows that have been officially canceled by the premium cable service recently, it is likely that all the other shows that are being removed have either been canceled or would be canceled later.

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Why is Showtime removing content from its streaming service?

While the representatives are yet to comment on the state of affairs, this comes shortly after Paramount+ and Showtime announced a merger between the two services. They will be rebranded as Paramount+ on Showtime later in 2023.

The Hollywood Reporter stated:

“Showtime is expected to let the rights holders for the impacted programs shop the series.”

This means some of the shows may shift to other streaming platforms while some will not be fortunate enough for this. Taking down content that is not generating enough profit helps networks with the tax write-down.

This has become more and more relevant in the past six months, with a stream of new content pouring in all over the internet at all times. If the trend continues, more networks will join the trend, and viewers will sadly lose out on more content.

Many shows on the platform will suffer from a terrible fate, especially something like On Becoming a God in Central Florida, which is led by the Hollywood icon Kirsten Dunst. The series has already changed hands multiple times, and it looks like it will be more difficult for this one to find another streaming platform than others.

American Gigolo is another show that has gone through myriad changes before finally arriving on Showtime and has now been canceled again. It will be messier in the coming days for both streaming giants.