7 Secrets Your Paramount+ Subscription Includes for Free

With the price of streaming services constantly rising, you always want to make sure you’re getting the most out of the subscriptions you do choose to keep. That can be tough sometimes, though, because not every service likes to put their coolest features front and center. On occasion, you have to really dig around to find everything a subscription service can actually offer you.

Paramount+ is one of those services. This is a streamer that has a lot more going on than what you may see on the surface. So we dug around and took notes about all of the secrets, tricks, and bonus features that make your Paramount+ subscription even better than you might realize.

An Actual Live TV Network

Basically every streaming service has some version of live channels now, but they are almost exclusively channels programmed by the streamer itself. Some services — like Peacock — even air specific network TV programs live on the service. Paramount+, however, is the only major service that actually broadcasts a network channel full-time.

If you have a Paramount+ account, you have access to CBS as a channel. Whatever is airing on CBS live, you’ll see it on the channel’s Paramount+ feed. Even new episodes of shows like Survivor or Matlock will air live on Paramount+ via the CBS channel, before becoming available on-demand the next morning.

More Live Sports Than You Realize

Having the built-in CBS already gives Paramount+ a massive boost as far as live sports are concerned, as the CBS network is home to some of the biggest sporting events around. That includes live NFL games every week during football season, plenty of college football, and all of the biggest games from the annual NCAA March Madness tournament.

Paramount+ might also be the best destination for soccer fans, with the service acting as the streaming home for Serie A, the UEFA Champions League, and several other international leagues and tournaments.

An Entire Second Streaming Service (Sort of)

Depending on which Paramount+ subscription you sign up for, you could be getting two entire streaming service lineups in one location.

For a long time, Showtime was an exclusive, standalone subscription (in addition to its premium cable channel). Showtime was ultimately merged into Paramount+, but only part of the Paramount+ with Showtime subscription — which has become the streamer’s popular option.

With the Showtime plan, you get access to everything on Showtime and all of the network’s originals, including Yellowjackets and Dexter.

[RELATED: Things You Didn’t Realize About Your Prime Video Subscription]

Earlier Streaming Premieres for Big Movies

Now that studios have gotten back on track with releasing their biggest titles in theaters, streaming debuts have rightfully taken a back seat. Theatrical blockbusters have been proven to be bigger hits on streaming than a lot of films that get released as streaming exclusives, creating a win-win scenario for all formats.

With that in mind, it’s worth noting that Paramount+ is often the quickest of the big studio services to debut its major films on streaming. For example, Gladiator II has been available on Paramount+ since January, while Disney’s Moana 2 isn’t set to hit Disney+ until March 12th. Those two movies were released less then a week apart from one another back in November.

Access to Some Special Features

Speaking of major releases, streaming services have started to put some of the bigger new movies online with access to certain special features from the Blu-ray releases.

Not every big Paramount film to hit Paramount+ gets a slew of special features, but there are enough to keep movie fans busy. Some of the standouts include Gladiator II and Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

The Wider Yellowstone/Taylor Sheridan Universe

The Yellowstone streaming situation is a bit confusing. Even though the series airs on the Paramount Network, Yellowstone is only available to stream on Peacock. There’s an exclusive deal in place that keeps the hit series on NBCUniversal’s streaming service for the foreseeable future, but that isn’t the case for the rest of Taylor Sheridan’s TV empire.

Paramount+ has made up for the absence of Yellowstone by putting the other shows in the franchise — as well as Sheridan’s other titles — exclusively on its lineup. That includes 1923 (the new season just started), 1883, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, Tulsa King, Lioness, Landman, and Mayor of Kingstown.

One of the Biggest Kids TV and Movie Libraries

Disney+ is often thought of as the go-to streaming service for families and people with young kids, but Paramount+ might actually be the biggest rival to the Mouse House on that front.

Thanks to Nickelodeon’s library, Paramount+ has more kids content than almost every other streaming service out there. From SpongeBob Squarepants to Paw Patrol, kids of every age are covered on Paramount+. That includes several 24/7 streaming channels made just for kids.