CBS Television Studios said today a “totally new” series will arrive in January 2017. But it will be available exclusively on CBS All Access, CBS’s subscription streaming video service. Only a preview episode will be aired, free of charge, on the broadcast network, CBS said.
CBS is the first broadcast network to include digital audience measurement in its television ratings by incorporating Nielsen’s SDK metering technology into the CBS All Access experience within the network’s mobile apps and online video player.
CBS All Access — CBS’ standalone digital video streaming service — will expand its live local TV station feeds to 75% of U.S. TV homes. The $5.99 a month platform, that launched last October, will now cover 124 markets across the country. Forty affiliate groups have signed up along with the 14 owned-and-operated CBS stations.
Midwest Television-owned CBS affiliate KFMB San Diego (DMA 28) today launched on CBS All Access, CBS’s subscription video on-demand and live-streaming service. For $5.99 a month, CBS All Access subscribers […]
CBS continues to build out the over-the-top All Access video-subscription service, announcing deals Thursday with 13 additional station groups to provide live-streaming of local affiliates.
The broadcaster today launched live linear streams of KKTV Colorado Springs, Colo.; KBTX Waco-Bryan-College Station, Texas; WCAV Charlottesville, Va.; WTVY Dothan, Ala.; and KXII Sherman, Texas, to the OTT service. More launches are coming soon, Gray says.
Exclusives
Reactions from affiliates after a briefing on the CBS All Access streaming service show recognition that the move into program streaming is inevitable, and not unwelcome, in their view, despite the many challenges still to be overcome.
The nascent OTT service took up most of Monday’s meeting between the network and the CBS Affiliate Advisory Board and is likely to be the topic of today’s special meeting of all the affils, who now have the contract language that calls for CBS to increase payments to participating affiliates as they reach various goals.
The OTT service has signed up 12 TV station groups with CBS affiliates in 56 markets. Counting the 14 O&O that were part of the service when it launched last October, CBS All Access will reach 55% of U.S. TV homes. The groups include Dispatch, Graham Media, Gray , Hearst, Lilly, Meredith, Morgan Murphy, Morris Network, Neuhoff Media, Nexstar, Raycom Media and Withers.
The network announced today that its streaming service is available on Roku devices, expanding the in-home reach of the subscription service, which until now has only been available online and on mobile.
CBS affiliates’ “piece of the action” for participating in the CBS All Access OTT service is up to $1 per sub per month, according to a “template” agreement between the network and the affiliate board. CBS is offering the service in its O&O markets for $5.99 a month.
The CBS boss said Thursday he expects to announce CBS All Access carriage deals with affiliates, in which they would share some portion of the monthly fee, “in the fairly near future.”
CBS wants you to watch more of The Good Wife and Blue Bloods — even if you don’t use the company’s broadcast-television network to do it. The company is readying a promotional blitz for its newly launched All Access subscription-video-on-demand service on the broadcast network and across its many digital properties..
TV Stations Flip-Flop On Consumer Choice
American Cable Association President Matthew Polka: “The arrival of CBS All Access means at least two positive developments: The forces in favor of consumer choice have won the debate and critics like TVFreedom need to find a new agenda because it is impossible for broadcasters to explain how it’s possible to be ‘just a little a la carte.’ “
AP technology writer Anick Jesdanun tries out CBS’s new All Access streaming service to see whether it’s worth its fee of $6 a month. The service is a good start, he says, but “the network needs to do more to make it worth the money — especially as HBO and other channels start to compete for online dollars.”
CBS All Access A Smart Move For Net, Affils
While all the broadcast networks are working on some form of streaming service, CBS’s version unveiled yesterday is different. It combines its on-demand offerings and station streaming into one service marketed directly to consumers. CBS is creating a whole new revenue stream for itself as well as its affiliates who choose to stream their signals locally on the platform.
Having been briefed in advance, CBS affiliates seem enthusiastic about the network’s online video service and interested in participating — if the terms are right. Said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook: “CBS will handle all the billing and affiliates will get a piece of the revenue this generates in market. It demonstrates the power of the network-affiliate model.”
The five-year-old company, which is part owned by CBS, has been working with the CBS O&Os and affiliates in preparation for the launch of the network’s online video service. To participate, each station must equip itself with a Syncbox server, which digitizes and compresses the station’s signal and then passes it along to the Syncbak Dynamic Rights Resolution Engine in the cloud that determines who gets to access it.
CBS To Stream O&Os, Offer Digital VOD
For $5.99 per month, CBS All Access delivers full seasons of current primetime shows, leading daytime and latenight CBS programming and thousands of episodes from CBS’s library of classics. It will also offer live streaming of CBS’s 14 O&Os, with more stations to come. CBS All Access will be measured by Nielsen and work is underway to add affiliates to the mix.
