NEW YORK – CBS’ direct-to-consumer over-the-top video on-demand service, CBS All Access, launched this week in Canada, its first expansion into an international market.
For C$5.99, CBS All Access is now offering Canadian viewers more than 7,500 commercial-free episodes on demand, spanning full current seasons of select CBS series, including several available on Canadian broadcast TV channels (such as Bull and Madame Secretary), entire previous seasons and classic shows (like The Brady Bunch and Family Ties), as well as the ability to live stream CBSN, its 24/7 streaming news service.
However, there are shows available to American CBS All Access customers which aren’t available on the portal in Canada such as The Big Bang Theory and Star Trek Discovery, both of which are currently Bell Media properties here. Also in the U.S., there are two price points for CBS All Access, US$5.99 for one with commercials and $9.99 for one with no ads. The Canadian version is launching ad-free.
CBS All Access is available cbsallaccess.ca, on iOS and Android mobile and tablet devices, and on Apple TV and Chromecast. CBS All Access will be launching on other connected devices in Canada in the coming months.
“The launch of CBS All Access in Canada is a significant milestone for the service,” said Marc DeBevoise, president and COO, CBS Interactive, in a press release. “We’ve experienced incredible growth domestically and see a great opportunity to bring the service and CBS’ renowned programming directly to international audiences across a range of platforms and devices. We look forward to continuing to expand CBS All Access across additional platforms, with even more content, and bringing the service to other markets around the world.”
CBS All Access first launched in the U.S. in October 2014 and on March 15, 2016, the company said it would have eight million subscribers combined for CBS All Access and Showtime’s direct-to-consumer products by 2020. The company said it’s ahead of that pace with both services reaching a combined total of more than five million subscribers in the first quarter of 2018, according to the release.
That said, Bell Media has a multi-year licensing arrangement with CBS for all of the best Showtime content (primarily for Bell channels TMN and CraveTV), so don’t look for a Showtime branded direct to consumer play in Canada soon.
