When U.S. streamer Paramount+ goes dark on Korean streaming platform TVing on 19 June after two years, a piece of CJ ENM’s global dream, laid out with much optimism in December 2021, crumbles.

Reasons for the decision to end the alliance have not been disclosed.

TVing, which added Paramount+ to its Korea platform in June 2022, started telling subscribers about the exit last week, but no other announcements have been made.

The exclusive distribution agreement for Paramount+ on TVing was part of a sweeping deal that included channel distribution in the U.S. and funding/distribution for a slate of premium Korean drama series.

Paramount has confirmed the end of its agreement with CJ ENM, including Paramount+’s exit from TVing, and the end of a co-production/distribution initiative, but has given no details. 

CJ ENM’s channel on Paramount’s Pluto TV in the U.S., which was part of the original agreement, is also going dark. The Korean channel launched on Pluto TV on 14 December 2021.

Announcing the alliance at the end of 2021, the companies said they were leveraging “their combined global reach, production capabilities, world-renowned IP and hit-making pedigree to deliver key synergy opportunities across both companies”.

Highlighting mutual production and distribution benefits, CJ ENM CEO, Kang Ho-Sung, said the deal was part of CJ ENM’s growth “into a global leading entertainment company”.

The statement at the time said the companies would “leverage their combined global reach, production capabilities, world-renowned IP and hit-making pedigree to deliver key synergy opportunities across both companies”.

Paramount+ rolled out in Korea on 16 June 2022 with, among other titles, Steven Spielberg’s "Halo", "Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber", "Star Trek: Discovery", "Yellowjackets", "Mayor of Kingstown", "1883", "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, NCIS", "SpongeBob SquarePants", along with Paramount Pictures’ film franchises such as "Mission Impossible", "Top Gun" and "Transformers".

Seven Korean drama series were produced as part of the partnership. 

The first was Korean sci-fi series "Yonder", made public in February 2022 and released in October the same year.

Produced by Doodoong Pictures and CJ ENM and directed by Lee Joon-ik ("The King and the Clown"), "Yonder" is the story of a man who receives a message from his dead wife inviting him to the unknown space called Yonder, where the dead are able to live on by uploading their memories.

The series went out as a TVing original in Korea and on Paramount+ platforms in the rest of the world. 

The six titles that followed were "Bargain", "A Bloody Lucky Day", "Queen Woo", "Dongjae, the Good or the Bastard", produced by Studio Dragon and Ace Factory; romantic comedy Dreaming of "Cinde Fxxxing Rella"; and the most recent, "Pyramid Game".

The TV shows premiered exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, Latin America, Brazil, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and were distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution outside of Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Paramount retains the rights for the originals outside of Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

Speculation on the ground in Korea now is that the hoped-for synergies that drove the alliance did not pan out, and that Paramount’s U.S. series had little impact on domestic Korean audiences. 

Local observers also talk about TVing’s massive spend on Korean professional baseball rights, which put the brakes on content investment elsewhere. 

Now in the middle of sale discussions, Paramount’s priorities have also clearly changed since the original agreement was signed.