“CBS announced a new subscription Internet streaming service on Thursday that allows people to watch its live television programming and thousands of its current and past shows on demand without paying for a traditional TV subscription,” Emily Steel reports for The New York Times. “The new ‘CBS All Access’ service, costing $5.99 a month, is the first time that a traditional broadcaster will make a near-continuous live feed of its local stations available over the web to non-pay-TV subscribers. At its start, the live stream will be available in 14 markets in the United States.”
“After much anticipation, this new era of à la carte TV has suddenly arrived — all at once and more quickly than many industry executives, observers and television fans had expected. And with it, the virtual monopoly that cable, satellite and telecommunications companies have had over TV programming is dissipating,” Steel reports. “Subscribers to ‘CBS All Access’ will be able to watch local CBS television stations in 14 markets, including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas and San Francisco. More affiliates are expected to join. Available in all other United States markets beyond the initial 14 markets are episodes of current prime time shows like ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and ‘NCIS’ the day after they are shown, and more than 5,000 episodes of such series as ‘Star Trek,’ ‘Cheers’ and ‘MacGyver.'”
“In a notable carve-out, National Football League games will not be available on the service. CBS executives said they are now in discussions with the N.F.L. and that other live sports are already available for streaming. A similar service from Showtime, the premium cable network owned by CBS, is likely in the ‘not too distant future,'” Steel reports. “The service will be available on CBS.com and mobile apps beginning Thursday. In the coming months, it will also be available on other devices that allow people to stream Internet video on their television screens, such as Apple TV, Roku and Google’s Chromecast… For the live stream, the ads will be the same as those on the traditional television broadcast. For the on-demand programming, the typical 12 to 16 minutes of ads an hour will be reduced 25 percent. CBS Classics — shows like ‘Star Trek’ and ‘Cheers’ — will stream without ads.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: You know, it really has been way too long.
Today’s Apple event just got even more interesting!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “David G.” for the heads up.]
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