Yellowstone did not leave Paramount, but the first four seasons can be streamed on Peacock because Paramount sold the licence to NBCUniversal.
Yellowstone has become one of the most popular modern western television shows and it has recently started airing its fifth season.
However, fans who want to catch up on the show after the episodes have aired on Paramount Network may have some trouble, because Paramount Plus does not have the rights to stream the first four seasons, only NBCUniversal does.
All about Yellowstone
Yellowstone was created for Paramount Network by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson and the first episode of the show aired on 20 June 2018.
The show is a new take on a classic American western drama, where the Dutton family squares off to threats from the outside world about the ownership of the family ranch and try to find a resolution for the internal squabbles of the family itself.
Since its first season aired, the show gradually started picking up steam and now it is one of the most popular shows on cable television.
The most recent, fifth season of the show premiered on 13 November 2022, and it reached 12.1 million viewers in its first night.
This season focuses more closely on John Dutton, who is played by Kevin Costner, and his struggles to maintain his power over his family and the community as a whole, while having to make one important decision after the other.
Why did Yellowstone leave Paramount?
However, with the growing popularity of Yellowstone, more and more people have started to notice that although this show premieres its episodes on the Paramount Network, the episodes are no longer available on the Paramount Plus streaming service.
Paramount Plus is Paramount’s streaming service, and it is the place where most Yellowstone fans go to catch up on seasons of the show or episodes that they may have missed.
However, due to a licensing agreement that Paramount signed with NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast, it give them the streaming rights to Yellowstone in the United States early on when the show first began airing.
Therefore, even though Yellowstone continues to produce new seasons of the series, Peacock has the rights to air the reruns of the first four seasons of the show.
Paramount also cannot have these episodes on their own streaming service, though this would be much more convenient for the fans of the show, because they do not actually own the rights of their own show.
Although it may seem silly now, it is worth noting that selling licencing rights to shows is one of the main ways that television networks make money in the modern age.
It is unlikely that Paramount knew early on what a big success Yellowstone would end up being after its lacklustre start.
The difference between the Paramount Network and Paramount Plus
Yellowstone is produced by and first airs on the Paramount Network. This is a traditional cable television network that you get by paying for it through your cable provider.
This means that when a new episode of Yellowstone airs, you can watch it on the Paramount network on Sundays at 8:00 p.m. EST or 7 p.m. CT, if it is available through your live television provider.
However, there is a distinction between this Paramount Network and Paramount Plus. Although they are both owned by the same company, Paramount Plus is a streaming service that has different packages ranging from $4.99 per month to $14.99 per month.
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On this service, you can stream live and on-demand content. Although the Paramount Network does licence some of its shows to Paramount Plus, Yellowstone is not one of these shows.
Where can you stream Yellowstone if it is not on Paramount Plus?
If you missed an episode of the first four seasons of Yellowstone or you just want to watch the show all over again, you can stream it on Peacock, which is one of the streaming services that is owned by NBCUniversal and which owns the licence to air the program.
A subscription to Peacock costs between $5 and $10 a month, but there are discounts for clients that have Comcast, Cox, or Spectrum.
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Shows that are similar to Yellowstone on Paramount Plus
Even though the first four seasons of Yellowstone are not available to watch on the Paramount Plus, the streaming service does have some Yellowstone-related content that you can watch if you already have a subscription.
This includes 1883, 1923, which is a show about the origins of the Yellowstone Ranch and family. It is also created by Taylor Sheridan, as are similar shows like Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown.
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