Paramount+ has announced plans to enter India in 2023 as part of its expansion drive, according to Paramount Global’s President and CEO Bob Bakish. Bakish broke the news in his statement during an earnings call held recently to discuss the company’s Q1 2022 report. He added that Paramount+ will be distributed in India in a joint venture with Viacom18’s platform. Bakish said that Viacom18 is set to become a significant streaming player in India following a capital infusion from Bodhi Tree Systems— an investment company floated by James Murdoch and Uday Shankar. "(India) is a fundamentally attractive market. It is a market at scale. It has a tremendous future ahead of it in the context of media. We like the model of Viacom18 which has a broad reach. We are going to do it in a capital-efficient, hard bundle way," Bakish elaborated during the call. Paramount's India strategy is in line with its broader expansion plans in other markets wherein Paramount+ is made available through “hard bundles” with the help of partners. Bakish reasoned that these bundles aid user growth without burning capital in acquiring subscribers. The company also discussed plans to roll out its service in the United Kingdom (With Sky) and South Korea (With CJ ENM) in June this year. The OTT platform will also be available in other European markets such as Italy, France, Germany, and Austria in the second half of this year, as it looks to move into more than 60 countries by the end…
