Paramount+ to Launch in Korea Exclusively through TVING in 2022

The Korean media giant CJ ENM has entered into major content development and licensing partnership with ViacomCBS, which is aiming to launch its streaming service Paramount+ across Asian and European territories starting next year.

The Paramount+ platform will make its Asian debut in Korea next year, where it will be made available exclusively as a package on TVING, CJ’s growing streaming service. 

The companies will also collaborate on developing new content across several languages and mediums. Viacom’s Paramount Television Studios and CJ’s Studio Dragon will co-develop and co-produce English-language content based on pre-existing CJ ENM IP. ViacomCBS and CJ ENM will also co-develop and co-finance feature films intended for theatrical and streaming distribution, with a goal of one title per year to be released theatrically. ViacomCBS and TVING will co-finance new Korean-language shows to be distributed globally on Paramount+.

The wide-ranging deal will also give Paramount+ the chance to license titles from CJ’s vast Korean-language library. Finally, Pluto TV, ViacomCBS’ ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service, will launch a dedicated CJ ENM-branded channel on December 14 for US audiences.

The deal follows several other major advances into the international content market for CJ ENM this year. Earlier in 2021, the Korean studio made a USD 275 million strategic investment in Skydance Media, the company behind the recent Mission: Impossible films last month, the company acquired a controlling 80% share in Endeavor Content, the former production arm of Endeavor, one of Hollywood’s leading talent agencies, in a deal that was valued at USD 775 million.

“Korean entertainment has become a cultural juggernaut with unprecedented demand, and CJ ENM is behind some of the biggest international hits that transcend borders, including Academy Award-winning film Parasite (2019),” related Dan Cohen, ViacomCBS’s Global Distribution Group President. 

Kang Hosung, the CEO of CJ ENM stated: “CJ ENM’s vast library of original IP will create synergy with ViacomCBS’ production capabilities and distribution channels to develop into global smash-hit content.”