The flood gates have just opened. First HBO announced an online streaming service, now CBS has unveiled "CBS All Access," which is a subscription service that gives users access to full seasons of current shows, daytime and late night content and thousands of episodes from the network's library of classics.
For $5.99 a month, viewers will have access to the following programming on their computers and mobile devices, with more programming to come in the months ahead:
- Full current seasons of 15 primetime shows, though episodes aren't available until the day after they air.
- However, 14 of the largest markets in the U.S. will have the ability to live stream the local CBS stations, with more affiliates to be added as the service expands.
- Full past seasons of eight major current series, including "The Good Wife," "Blue Bloods" and "Survivor."
- Over 5,000 episodes of CBS classics, including "Twin Peaks," "Cheers," "MacGyver" and "Star Trek." This content will appear add-free.
- Access to exclusive additional content for special events, like The Grammys, The Academy of Country Music Awards and the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.
- Ability to stream the "Big Brother" live feeds for no additional fee when the show returns next summer.
"CBS All Access is another key step in the Company's long-standing strategy of monetizing our local and national content in the ways that viewers want it," says CBS president and CEO Les Moonves. "This new subscription service will deliver the most of CBS to our biggest fans while being additive to the overall ecosystem. Across the board, we continue to capitalize on technological advances that help consumers engage with our world-class programming, and we look forward to serving our viewers in this new and exciting way."
Jim Lanzone, president and CEO of CBS Interactive, adds, "Our focus is to develop the best cross-platform video experience possible. We want our audiences to be able to watch CBS' industry-leading content live and on demand whenever and wherever they want. CBS All Access delivers on that promise by giving our audience not only more CBS content, but also more ways to watch in a seamless user experience. We've integrated the service into our existing offerings and look forward to bringing it to all major digital platforms - including additional connected devices - in the coming months."
Non-subscribers will continue to have access to the most recent current episodes of CBS programming on CBS.com, select CBS Audience Network partner sites and through the CBS App. Programming will be available the day after the shows air on TV, with an eight-day delay on mobile devices for primetime series only.
As you may remember, when the Aereo case was being fought in the Supreme Court, Les Moonves said CBS could take their content online. Well, they won the Aereo battle, and now have CBS All Access. No word on how this might affect their local affiliates.
For more information, visit http://www.cbs.com/allaccess.
