CBS to Offer All Access, Showtime Combined Streaming Package

4 May, 2017 By: Erik Gruenwedel

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CBS will soon offer a combined CBS All Access, Showtime package to subscribers, CEO Les Moonves announced May 4 on the company's fiscal call.

“Starting next week, we will begin offering [the two SVOD services] as a combined package for the very first time,” Moonves said. "Yes, the skinny bundles we've long told you about are now here." 

Launched in 2014, All Access represents CBS’ effort at a proprietary SVOD service offering new, catalog and live TV for $5.99 a month. The service also bowed original programs, such as “The Good Fight,” a spin-off from “The Good Wife,” in addition to “Big Brother: Over the Top,” and the pending “Star Trek: Discovery” series.

Later this year, All Access will make Thursday night football broadcast “NFL on CBS” available to subscribers on connected TVs only.

Showtime’s $10.99 OTT service topped 1.5 million subs earlier this year — a tally All Access reportedly mirrors. CBS has a stated goal of 8 million combined subs for the two services by 2020.

Showtime OTT has slated a revival of “Twin Peaks,” director David Lynch’s groundbreaking series from 1980.

"With more than 2 million subs between them already, we are confident that this will be easily achieved,” Moonves said earlier this year.

He added on the call that OTT services, including Sling TV, Hulu Live With TV and others, would become contributors to affiliate and subscription fee revenue beginning this year.

"As these new players continue to come on the scene, it's the must-have content that will thrive. This is when the marketplace will separate the wheat from the chaff. And remember, as we've said many times, for any bundle to be truly successful, it must have CBS. We are not being affected in any way by any changes in subscription numbers throughout the industry."

When asked how the OTT services are faring with subscriber churn (percentage of subs dropping service) and no long-term contracts, Moonves admitted the inclusion of specific programing fluctuates the data.

"I'm not going to give you an exact [numbers], but you guys knew. You're in the neighborhood. Look, we only had the NFL on All Access for the last two weeks, and it spiked a lot during those two weeks, which leads us to be very excited about having it for a full season, able to promote it," Moonves said.

Separately, CBS announced a deal with Canal+ in France to bring Showtime programing across all of Western Europe. 

 

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