Where did you see that? I would ask you to provide a link to this if I didn't already read the Cord Cutters' article and see the YouTube Cord Cutters' video, which was just a waste of time since both are equally confusing and currently "incorrect" (as of 1/10/24), which is why I'm not providing a link.
So, after reading the article and watching the YouTube video (at least the part that pertains to this), which doesn't even mention Roku, the gist of it is that, well according to the article's title: "Paramount+ is Now Free For Cable TV & Streaming Customers Including Spectrum & Hulu, Who Pay For Paramount+ with Showtime Network."
Huh?
Even if you can forget for a moment that "Free" and "Pay" are in the same title, it's currently (as of 1/10/24) inaccurate. I know this because I logged into my Hulu account and, as of 1/10/24, Hulu doesn't even offer Paramount+ with its add-on subscriptions -- just Showtime. Then I go to the Paramount Plus website, and as far as I can tell, there isn't any way to log in using a Hulu link to enter my Hulu login credentials.
Yet I'm not ready to go so far as to claim that this is "fake news" because perhaps the article will ring true tomorrow, so it's just giving us a heads-up for now. Although, in middle school, I remember trying to rush to class before we were cleared to leave the cafeteria, trying to get ahead of myself just like this article appears to be doing by posting something that may be true tomorrow, and I was landed in detention. So, should the writer of this article be given detention for claiming something that might be true tomorrow but isn't today? My inner tween wants to know.
What the article is implying is that if you pay the providers listed in the title $11.99 a month, which is the same as paying Paramount Plus directly, then sometime soon (but not "now" as the misleading title says) you'll be able to use your provider's credentials to access the Paramount Plus website for free just like when you could access Showtime Anytime on your Roku device for free. You still have to pay the provider, but you won't have to pay twice for the provider and for access to the Paramount Plus website, which you would have to do "now" or today or on 1/10/24.
And I want to pay a provider like Hulu or YouTube TV instead of directly paying Paramount Plus since then I could have the option to watch all the live channels included with the provider (but not with Paramount Plus as they only offer Showtime East and West live feeds). Yet I would also want the option to log into the Paramount Plus website and watch all their VOD content since they don't have the annoying "Showtime" on-screen channel logo that Hulu shows on the bottom right of the screen with its VOD content. I'll probably pick YouTube TV since (if they allow one to use their credentials to log in to Paramount Plus) if I understand this correctly (unlike Hulu), they offer this premium channel without having to pay for their base plan and it includes access to their DVR service for the live Showtime and Paramount Plus stations, which would make my $11.99 go a long way. And I don't think the VOD content on YouTube TV's Paramount+ channel has that annoying on-screen channel logo like Hulu does on its Showtime channel.
As of now, however, I can't find a way to use these providers listed in the article to log into the Paramount Plus website, and Hulu (mentioned in the article) has yet to rename Showtime to Paramount+ in its add-on section or even provide a hint that it's doing this. Yet I'm fully aware of the rebranding that Paramount is doing with Showtime, so perhaps that will change with Hulu tomorrow since Hulu never gave a heads up about changing HBO to HBO Max to just Max, so I'm assuming the name change is coming soon.
So, what will happen (perhaps tomorrow?) is that Showtime will finish its rebranding to Paramount+ with Showtime on all the linear provider channels. I'm assuming this is taking place tomorrow (1/11/24), not just because this Cord Cutters News article came out the day before about this potentiality, but because Hulu is upping its Showtime subscription fee to match that of the Paramount Plus website of $11.99. On an interesting note, YouTube TV already rebranded its Showtime subscription to Paramount+ with Showtime and hasn't yet changed its $10.99 fee to $11.99, so I'm wondering if that provider will be listed on the Paramount Plus website. Perhaps YouTube TV will soon change its premium channel's fee to match the Paramount Plus website of $11.99. I haven't been notified if they are doing this because I don't currently subscribe to YouTube TV.
Once you can input your provider's credentials into the standalone Paramount+ channel on your Roku device (not to be confused with the Premium Roku channel: "Paramount+ with Showtime on the Roku Channel"), you'll then be able to watch the Paramount+ with Showtime channel through your Roku for free even though you'll still have to directly pay your provider to access Paramount+ with Showtime through them.
Ironically to your post, if you subscribe to "Paramount+ with Showtime on the Roku Channel" you will probably not be able to use your Roku credentials to log into the Paramount Plus website in order to access that channel for free just like you couldn't log into Showtime Anytime through the Roku Showtime subscription. Perhaps I'm wrong about this, but the only way you would be able to access the Paramount Plus website through your provider's credentials is if you pay the provider directly and not pay the provider through Roku Pay. But I think you were implying that if you subscribe to the Paramount Plus standalone channel from your Roku device (through Roku Pay), you could get this service for free through some extended promo offering, which I don't see anywhere -- especially not through Cord Cutters.
So, unless you know something I don't, and can provide a link, this has nothing to do with "Paramount+ with Showtime on the Roku Channel." That's a separate channel that will never be free. And this has nothing to do with paying for the Paramount Plus standalone channel through Roku Pay, in which you will be charged a monthly fee until you cancel. The Cord Cutter's article and YouTube video are about the standalone Paramount+ with Showtime channel you can add to your Roku device, which will soon be free to use by logging in with your provider's credentials (but not "now" as of 1/10/24); however, you still have to pay the provider. You're just not paying 11.99x2 for both the provider and the Paramount Plus channel.
I guess a less confusing way to explain this is that you would be getting this combined service for half the price since you would be paying $11.99 instead of $23.98 per month, which you would have to do today (1/10/24) if you wanted to subscribe through both a provider and the Paramount Plus website.
Now there is an article through Cord Cutters in which you can get a free month of Paramount Plus (directly through the Paramount Plus website) by using a promo code, but there’s nothing new about this as Paramount Plus is always offering those, which you can find through an internet search.
Update:
Well, I just found out as of today (1/11/24) that the article is correct, but the writer of that article failed to provide the link since it's not yet on the paramount plus website.
If you go to paramountplus.com/link, the website will now direct you to a page where you can click on either Hulu or Spectrum and sign in through those providers. If your provider isn't listed, then keep checking back.
More info is here: https://help.paramountplus.com/s/article/PD-I-have-a-subscription-to-the-Paramount-with-SHOWTIME-net...
