Paramount Plus will launch its cheaper $5 plan next week

On Monday, Paramount Plus will launch a new ad-supported plan for $5 per month, which is half the price of its more premium plan.

Aside from the addition of advertisements, the primary difference between what the service calls its “essential” plan and the more expensive commercial-free plan is some missing content.

The $10 commercial-free plan includes local and national news coverage on CBSN and CBS live, whereas the new essential plan only includes national news on CBSN. There is also more sports coverage on the commercial-free plan, and premium users have access to offline downloads.

Both plans include access to tens of thousands of TV episodes and movies, as well as the platform’s originals, but premium tier subscribers will only see advertisements on live TV programming and a few series.

A spokesperson for the service confirmed to The Verge that the new budget plan, which will replace an existing limited-commercial tier, will not include a user’s local live CBS channel, which is also included in the limited-commercial experience.

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The new tier will replace an older $6 option that was carried over when the service rebranded from CBS All Access, as announced when the service officially launched in March. Normally, the commercial-free plan costs $10 per month, but the company offered a limited commercial programming option for $6 per month. Those who are currently on the $6 plan can stay on that tier if they wish.

If you are a current subscriber to a CBS All Access $6 plan that has been grandfathered in, you may want to stick with the slightly more expensive plan you are currently on — at least if local news coverage is important to you.

Furthermore, if a limited-commercial subscriber chooses the new $5 plan, they will not be able to switch back to the $6 tier after June 7th.

In other words, if you’ve been thinking about getting a Paramount Plus subscription and want local news coverage as part of your ad-supported experience, now’s the time. If limited advertising is less important to you than saving a buck on your monthly streaming bill, keep an eye out for the new plan when it goes live on June 7th.