USA distribution -CBS All Access discussion

[jefferiestubes8]

This thread is USA-centric since CBS All Access will only be in USA. This thread only deals with the legal means without loopholes to watch ST DSC in USA.

13-episodes delivered weekly and most likely only 2-4 episodes available on CBSAA after each week until episode series embargo is lifted which is probably going to be in late Spring sometime or possibly just after the blu-ray of season 1 is released.

So business-wise It is a minimum 4 month CBSAA subscription for USA viewers.

CBS could be very greedy and release one a week, then insert a mid-season winter break which lasts 4 weeks...stretching things out to 5 or 6 months. It has not been discussed before but is possible.

We all know It's a marketing tool for CBS to launch their streaming service on the mass market.

CBS All Access will start in America but it doesn't need to turn a profit right away, just set up the groundwork for global expansion. Following in Netflix's footsteps.

SOURCE
Kind of like a loss leader but really until they show that they have any other premium content Star Trek is the only series people are paying to subscribe to since it has a built-in fan base similar to Howard Stern radio show add-on subscription on Sirius XM Satellite radio.

"The Howard Stern Show is still the single most important piece of content that Sirius XM has—and the most expensive," Barton Crockett, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets told Bloomberg in March.

Buried in the fine print of CBSAA, not in the announcement itself, is the fact that CBS is differentiating between "commercial free" and "promotional interruption-free". They don't count ads for other CBS shows as ads, and they say they'll be running them during some, more recent shows. Star Trek DSC and any other CBSAA

pricing strategy for CBSAA?
Will they keep it at $5.99 (ad-sponsored) to make it successful for season 1 only in USA and then raise the price in Q4 2017 for season 2?
What if in December 2017 go up to $7.99/month and 18 episodes for season 2 and lock people in with an "annual subscription discount"? And the possibility that starting February 5, 2018 the day after the Superbowl price goes up more the week season 2 starts?
Also what about will CBSAA in the future allow downloads to watch offline? A 2018 price hike "feature" announced probably june 2017. Must only watch using cbs app the downloaded DRM'd episodes similar to Amazon Video app.

Another future feature that they can justify a price hike? CBSAA offering 4k UHD streaming of all original CBSAA shows in 2018 but not available to download to watch offline? Netflix Now Charges Extra for 4K Ultra HD Content.

Let's have an open discussion about CBS Interactive Entertainment's CBSAA product and their tactics and strategy near and long-term for subscriptions.

 

[Marsden]

Well, that about does it for me. I wasn't too terribly interested, but this just about kills any incentive I have to see this.

I realize I'm in the minority here, so I'll show myself out.

 

[tomalak301]

Wait, is CBS really going to use this streaming platform to get people to subscribe and then not show the series straight through? That should be illegal.

 

[Overgeeked]

Everything there just fuels piracy.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Discovery will wind up on iTunes someday. I'm fully confident of that. Don't see a need to jump on CBS.

 

[Starbreaker]

Buying a subscription and watching could possibly lead multiple seasons and series on CBS All-Access. Maybe even some other sci-fi and CSI shows and other things with cult followings. We're being used as guinea pigs and I'm OK with that. I bet they'll offer a week free trial, too.

 

[JD]

My only issue with CBSAA is just that I don't want to have to pay for subscription service, especially when there's only going to be one piece of new content I'm interested in.

 

[chappaai]

I think the best case scenario is if they keep the whole season up once all the episodes have been released, so folks can watch the whole thing in 1 month. Don't think that'll happen.

I'm reluctant to pay for CBSAA, since I don't know if I'll even like the series. I haven't been too thrilled with what I've heard so far. I might be mistaken, but I think the first episode is going to be broadcast on CBS. Then all subsequent episodes will only be on CBSAA in the US and on Netflix in other countries.

 

[BillJ]

I don't have an issue paying for All-Access. I do have an issue with the shitty apps associated with it.

 

[shivkala]

It would be nice to see some sort of incentive program. As someone with cable and a DVR, the feature of being able to watch their backlog of shows is not that appealing. Either I've seen it, it's readily accessible, or for the new stuff, I can record it and watch at my leisure (and fast-forward through commercials). So, for me, I'll subscribe for the duration of the show (as long as I like it!) and then cancel when it's over. Then, I'll re-subscribe for season 2. There is absolutely no reason for me to subscribe for longer, unless they either have a great incentive or offer other content I'm interested in.

I really hope that they don't look at us and find ways to mess around with our "guaranteed" subscription (by guaranteed, I mean those of us who will subscribe because it's Star Trek). If the hiatus does happen, I'll cancel until it's over. If they have a good offer for a year's subscription, though, I'd consider that, but it'd have to be a drastic savings over cancelling and resubscribing when it's back on.

 

[The Overlord]

13-episodes delivered weekly and most likely only 2-4 episodes available on CBSAA after each week until episode series embargo is lifted which is probably going to be in late Spring sometime or possibly just after the blu-ray of season 1 is released.

Has this been confirmed or is this just some fan theory? Because if it is true, that seems like one of the dumbest moves CBS All Access could do. How are they supposed to complete with Netflix, when Netflix releases every episode at once and CBS can't be bothered to keep older episodes of a new show after newer episodes are releases. Older episodes of Daredevil, Stranger Things, House of Cards, etc, don't disappear when newer ones are released why should anyone subscribe to CBS All Access if they actively try to gouch their customers like this?

I think I would want some citation on this, even I doubt CBS is this arrogant and incompetent.

 

[cylkoth]

Has this been confirmed or is this just some fan theory? Because if it is true, that seems like one of the dumbest moves CBS All Access could do. How are they supposed to complete with Netflix, when Netflix releases every episode at once and CBS can't be bothered to keep older episodes of a new show after newer episodes are releases. Older episodes of Daredevil, Stranger Things, House of Cards, etc, don't disappear when newer ones are released why should anyone subscribe to CBS All Access if they actively try to gouch their customers like this?

I think I would want some citation on this, even I doubt CBS is this arrogant and incompetent.

At the moment, it is conjecture, based on how the networks have handled internet distribution of first run weekly series to services such as Hulu and their own websites. This model preserves the financial or monetization chain by ensuring that limiting access to their series on these services, will not jeopardize the disc sales period that follows the end of the season's airing.

This is why Hulu, though owned by Fox, ABC/Disney, NBC/Comcast (Time-Warner Inc just recently bought a piece, not to be confused with Time Warner Cable a separate entity), structured the "5 last episodes shown on air" setup, so as to protect home video profits, as well as sales to basic cable channels and Netflix, who license programs and receive them in season packages months after the season ends. If a show has all its episodes available for viewing during the season, their value to buyers- cable nets and Netflix decreases, since they would not want to pay the extremely high prices for the reruns.

We don't know how CBS will handle release of the shiw beyond that it will be weekly and not season dropped as Netflix has popularized. There are advantages to going the weekly route that Netflix is deprived of. No ability to promote individual episodes, no featured press articles beyond the initial season drop, lack of anticipation for upcoming event eps, are but a few criticisms lodged at Netflix shows. The old guard just doesn't know how to work beyond the comfort level of the time worn strategies, and they have to learn as they go.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

My only issue with CBSAA is just that I don't want to have to pay for subscription service, especially when there's only going to be one piece of new content I'm interested in.

Then we end up waiting for the blu-rays, right? I'm already subscribing to Hulu and Amazon Prime for multiple shows each. Like you, I'm not gonna subscribe to any of them for just one thing, even if it's Star Trek.

At least they could charge per program like Amazon Prime does (if you're not a subscriber). I bought an episode of Orphan Black after a DISH interruption one week, but before I had subscribed.

 

[The Overlord]

At the moment, it is conjecture, based on how the networks have handled internet distribution of first run weekly series to services such as Hulu and their own websites. This model preserves the financial or monetization chain by ensuring that limiting access to their series on these services, will not jeopardize the disc sales period that follows the end of the season's airing.

This is why Hulu, though owned by Fox, ABC/Disney, NBC/Comcast (Time-Warner Inc just recently bought a piece, not to be confused with Time Warner Cable a separate entity), structured the "5 last episodes shown on air" setup, so as to protect home video profits, as well as sales to basic cable channels and Netflix, who license programs and receive them in season packages months after the season ends. If a show has all its episodes available for viewing during the season, their value to buyers- cable nets and Netflix decreases, since they would not want to pay the extremely high prices for the reruns.

We don't know how CBS will handle release of the shiw beyond that it will be weekly and not season dropped as Netflix has popularized. There are advantages to going the weekly route that Netflix is deprived of. No ability to promote individual episodes, no featured press articles beyond the initial season drop, lack of anticipation for upcoming event eps, are but a few criticisms lodged at Netflix shows. The old guard just doesn't know how to work beyond the comfort level of the time worn strategies, and they have to learn as they go.

I live in Canada, where we don't have Hulu, but the system you described sounds crappy.

What is the point of signing up for a streaming service, where the center piece show is losing episodes when new episodes appear, what is the point of spending money on such a service? We are talking about a series with an ongoing plot, if you are getting this service to watch Star Trek and CBS All Access is only showing the middle part of the season, there is no reason to get All Access until they finally decide to put the entire season up, that is a pretty flawed system, it does not encourage people jump on after a certain point.

They don't have drop every episode at once like Netflix, but frankly I do expect once an episode is released on the service, that it stays there.

CBS is just acting like an old corporate dinosaur, it doesn't want to admit the home video market is dying, so it pulls BS tricks that undermine its own service. No wonder Netflix is the most popular streaming site, if CBS and Hulu pull tricks like these. It makes me think this show would have been better off being released on Netflix, they are ahead of the curve and their library is a million times better then CBS All Access' library.

 

[eyeresist]

It would be logical to assume they are relaunching CBSAA, and will have a bunch of exclusive programming to attract viewers. However, we have had no indication of this yet.

If they would commission a couple of other genre series (on lower budgets), that would help to attract viewers to their platform.

 

[cylkoth]

A spin off The Good Wife is also heading to All Access next year.

 

[Hey Missy]

They really need to change their minds on this. I can't get CBS All Access on my Samsung Blu-ray player; it's not available as a downloadable app.

 

[Shalashaska]

Wait, is CBS really going to use this streaming platform to get people to subscribe and then not show the series straight through? That should be illegal.

Now you know how UK/Ireland Games of Thrones fans feel trying to watch that show legally on SKY GO. You have two weeks if you're lucky to catch up on a missed episode.

If you don't, you have no other option but The Pirate Bay.

 

[Kor]

We sure have things easy, compared to the old days when TV had three networks and there was no way to record anything. If you missed a show, you had to wait who knows how long until they aired it again!

They really need to change their minds on this. I can't get CBS All Access on my Samsung Blu-ray player; it's not available as a downloadable app.

You can get Roku.

Or, what about playing on a computer and connecting to the TV via HDMI? Will CBS All Access permit that?

Kor

 

[BillJ]

They really need to change their minds on this. I can't get CBS All Access on my Samsung Blu-ray player; it's not available as a downloadable app.

App available on Xbox One. Shitty app. But, its an app.

I only need it to work right once a week!