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CBS Launches $5.99 A Month Subscription Streaming Service

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Here you go, cord-cutters: It’s called CBS All Access, and it will offer streams of broadcasts from the 14 stations that the network owns, as well as VOD for “thousands of episodes from the current season, previous seasons and classic shows,” the company says. It’s available today at CBS.com as well as iOS and Android apps for mobile devices.
http://deadline.com/2014/10/cbs-launches-subscription-streaming-service-852895/
 
umfan said:
Likely means that the free content of current network shows will soon be a thing of the past.
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Yes, too bad. I've been watching The Good Wife on cbs.com for free. I have to tolerate the commercials, but the quality of the stream is good. I personally, would not pay. As a DirecTV subscriber, I can watch On Demand, or using the DirecTV app. I had been using CBS because their online platform was more stable than Direct. Unlike Direct, I was able to get through an entire program on the CBS stream without waiting multiple times for the spinning pinwheel of death. But it's not worth $5.99 to me just to watch one program I like.
 
Some CBS shows are already available on demand and online through existing services like Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime (among others) - not to mention on demand services from cable companies for their subscribers.

Lest we forget, so-called "cord cutters" can also watch TV over the air (and record shows on a Tivo or other DVR).

Of course, "cord cutters" can't use this service without a cord. Internet access comes from the same companies and through the same cable as cable or fibre optic television.

Where the press release was not clear is the bit about programs from a number of CBS stations. Does this mean local news and whatever from different stations or are you restricted to the station in your area? I'm not sure many people would want to watch out of market local news anyway. I can't even stand CBS' local news where I am. It's bad enough I have to see the teasers during prime time.

It's also not clear if this service will be offered through Roku, Chromcast, etc.

I don't see CBS as a big deal. The BIG DEAL is HBO's announcement yesterday that they will over their service via streaming to non-subscribers to cable (or to cable subscribers who don't get HBO through the cable company).
 
CBS also launches an online-only streaming service

Remember yesterday, when HBO announced it would offer an online-only streaming service? Well, another, very different kind of channel has followed suit.
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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tampabaycom/blogs/media/~3/RtLG9GCs_gc/2202401
 
I wonder with this news, and HBO's own announcement yesterday, will CBS offer Showtime in a standalone over-the-top subscription as well.
 
ShawnHill1 said:
I wonder with this news, and HBO's own announcement yesterday, will CBS offer Showtime in a standalone over-the-top subscription as well.
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For the record, HBO's announcement was first. CBS "followed suit."

Showtime is part of Viacom. Both Viacom and CBS are controlled by National Amusements but they are separate companies.
 
FredLeonard said:
For the record, HBO's announcement was first. CBS "followed suit."

Showtime is part of Viacom. Both Viacom and CBS are controlled by National Amusements but they are separate companies.
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True enough, but Showtime is controlled by the CBS side; Viacom has its own premium network service--Epix
 
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FredLeonard said:
Some CBS shows are already available on demand and online through existing services like Hulu, Netflix and Amazon Prime (among others) - not to mention on demand services from cable companies for their subscribers.

Lest we forget, so-called "cord cutters" can also watch TV over the air (and record shows on a Tivo or other DVR).

Of course, "cord cutters" can't use this service without a cord. Internet access comes from the same companies and through the same cable as cable or fibre optic television.

Where the press release was not clear is the bit about programs from a number of CBS stations. Does this mean local news and whatever from different stations or are you restricted to the station in your area? I'm not sure many people would want to watch out of market local news anyway. I can't even stand CBS' local news where I am. It's bad enough I have to see the teasers during prime time.

It's also not clear if this service will be offered through Roku, Chromcast, etc.

I don't see CBS as a big deal. The BIG DEAL is HBO's announcement yesterday that they will over their service via streaming to non-subscribers to cable (or to cable subscribers who don't get HBO through the cable company).
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When Amazon Prime got the The Good Wife, it seemed like good news. Only, it was kind of a sham as it didn't have the current season episodes. Even Hulu added the show, but without the current season episodes. CBS has always been reluctant to deal with Hulu, and when it does, it's for old seasons.

The Good Wife is available on cable Video on Demand, but commercials can't be fast forwarded and if one is on cable, it's not cord cutting. I find it odd that Fios on Demand lacks certain ABC shows, or Fox shows that air on ABC like Modern Family, but atleast Comcast and Fios both carry the CBS shows. I found Blackish on Comcast, but couldn't find it on Fios on demand the other day.

LKellerIII said:
Yes, too bad. I've been watching The Good Wife on cbs.com for free. I have to tolerate the commercials, but the quality of the stream is good. I personally, would not pay. As a DirecTV subscriber, I can watch On Demand, or using the DirecTV app. I had been using CBS because their online platform was more stable than Direct. Unlike Direct, I was able to get through an entire program on the CBS stream without waiting multiple times for the spinning pinwheel of death. But it's not worth $5.99 to me just to watch one program I like.
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Will The Good Wife no longer be available free on cbs.com?
 
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FredLeonard said:
Where the press release was not clear is the bit about programs from a number of CBS stations. Does this mean local news and whatever from different stations or are you restricted to the station in your area?
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1. At first, only CBS's owned-and-operated stations will be available. Affiliates will likely be able to opt in sometime next year.
2. You are restricted to the in-market CBS outlet, whichever one it is at your location. Sorry, no Denver station in New York, etc.
3. Presumably, the local newcasts will remain available on the stations' own websites for those interested.
4. All programming, especially sport and syndicated product, is subject to blackout. If someone says no to streaming, it's not available.

Personally, I don't see any use in feeding CBS's pig for this. Other than the fact that reception of my local CBS affiliate's translator (only a few miles away) is sucky I can pull in most of the shows I'm interested in from the nearby Vancouver, BC market. Antennas are wonderful things.
 
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So, if there's nothing I can't get off an antenna, what's the point?

Heck, even if they allowed access to other, outside my market CBS owned stations, what's the point? Except for local newscasts, there's nothing local in local TV any more. And local newscasts are already available, as pointed out, on station websites. A lot of them are available on devices like Roku. So why give CBS more money? Or put another way, why buy this cow when milk is free. And yes, all these on-demand subscriptions will add up.

The big money broadcasters killed Aereo and now they are trying to make bad copies of it.

The HBO thing is the only one here that makes any sense.
 
For now you can get it OTA, with all this spectrum auctioning, that too may soon be a thing of the past.

CBS is a bigger deal than HBO, more subscribers, more original content. CBS may keep the ad supported programs available, but cut back on how long they are available. I hope something is kept for free, we'll see.

A Showtime standalone would interest me, for 'Homeland' and 'Inside the NFL' if nothing else. That would be worth $5.99 a month to me from August through December.
 
HBO has unique content. CBS won't have more subscribers as long as there are all those other ways to see CBS programming - easier and cheaper. Don't hold your breath waiting for the FCC to pull the plug on OTA TV any time soon. If anything, the networks will be the ones to shut it down but not anytime soon.

HBO shows boobs, even full frontal nudity. People will pay for that.
 
Go shopping in the video aisles of stores like Best Buy sometime, and see how many OTA and Cable TV series are available for purchase by the entire season. My wife and I have a few favorite shows we don't like to miss, and we depend on Comcast's OnDemand to catch up on episodes we missed. We didn't watch Big Bang Theory or Two and a Half Men for their first few seasons, but started watching them when they were syndicated at dinner time. Once we got caught up, we started looking forward to the new episodes. The same sometimes happens for drama or action/adventure shows.

I never watched The Blacklist last season, but people have told me it's pretty good. OnDemand only has the most recent episodes. I might be willing to shell out a few bucks to be able to binge-watch season 1 to get caught up.

CTListener said:
But you'd have only channels you really want to watch.
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The trouble is, most folks don't want to watch channels, they want to watch shows. Those change every season.
 
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