NEW YORK – In a move sure to send shock waves through the Canadian television business, CBS Corporation said Monday it will be expanding the availability of CBS All Access over-the-top VOD viewing portal internationally through a partnership of its CBS Interactive and CBS Studios International divisions, starting here in Canada in the first half of 2018, with other markets to follow, the company said in a press release.
“CBS All Access is growing faster than we anticipated domestically, and now represents a whole new opportunity internationally as well,” said Leslie Moonves, chairman and CEO, CBS Corporation, in the release. “By going direct-to-consumer around the world, we will facilitate new connections between the global audience and our industry-leading premium content. I look forward to introducing CBS All Access to Canada in early 2018, followed by a number of other markets in multiple continents around the world.”
CBS All Access launched in the U.S. in October 2014 and has grown its subscribers rapidly since that time, adds the release. On March 15, 2016, the company stated that by 2020 it would have 8 million subscribers combined for CBS All Access and Showtime’s direct-to-consumer products, however, CBS announced that it is ahead of that pace and will exceed more than four million subscribers combined by the end of 2017.
There is no word yet how this move will affect sales of CBS shows to Canadian broadcasters, who traditionally have had exclusive rights to the Canadian marketplace for such U.S. fare. On the face of it, this move north by CBS would seem to significantly alter or end that scenario.
There are bound to be some differences in available titles, however, just like Netflix in the U.S. is different than the catalogues it offers to customers in Canada and other countries. For example, the much-ballyhooed Star Trek: Discovery, an exclusive to CBS All Access in the States, will premiere in Canada simultaneously on CTV and Space on Sunday, September 24, with episode two following immediately that same evening, only on Space. The 15-episode season will roll out in two chapters, with the first eight episodes running Sunday’s from September 24 through November 5. The second chapter will resume in January 2018. After that though is not yet publicly known.
“CBS All Access offers CBS fans the ability to watch more than 9,000 episodes on demand, including current shows from primetime, daytime and late night, as well as past seasons of select series and classic TV hits, in addition to its growing slate of original programming,” adds the release, which did not indicate how many of those titles will be available outside of the U.S.
For example, several popular CBS titles available on CBS All Access anchor the prime times of Canadian broadcasters such as Big Bang Theory on CTV and Comedy, Survivor on Global and 60 Minutes on CHCH. Watch for follow up stories on Cartt.ca for more on what will happen to those and other CBS titles.
(And, for that matter, we'd also say to watch for the launch of Hulu in Canada too, sometime soon, as a competitive reaction by its owners Disney, NBCUniversal, Fox and Time Warner.)
“Subscribers also have access to CBSN, CBS News’ 24/7 streaming news service. CBS All Access is currently available online at CBS.com, on mobile devices via the CBS App for iOS, Android and Windows 10, and on Roku Players, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Fire TV.
The U.S. subscription offering is available for US$5.99/month, with a commercial-free option available to subscribers for US$9.99/month. Prices for Canadians will be announced at a future date.
