New Look, New Name: What to Know About CBS All Access’ Rebranding
CBS All Access has consistently bulked up its subscriber base over the past six years — thanks in particular to original programming like Star Trek: Discovery and The Good Fight — but the service trails behind some of the better-known streaming platforms. That all could change in the coming months, though, as CBS All Access gets a new name, a new look, and new content.
News of a CBS All Access overhaul first made headlines in early February. Variety reported that, following the remerging of Viacom and CBS two months prior, the newly-formed ViacomCBS planned to “expand and possibly rebrand” the service and to include more content from MTV, Comedy Central, BET, and other Viacom properties.
ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish confirmed the news to investors on May 7, teasing “major changes coming this summer as we track toward the rebrand and relaunch of a transformed product,” per Variety.
First up is a new user interface, expected this summer. Then, at an unspecified later date, the service will change names.
Additionally, the service will carry old and current series from MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Smithsonian, Nickelodeon, and Paramount Network; and those brands will also introduce original content onto the service later on.
CBS All Access series STAR TREK: PICARD (Matt Kennedy/CBS)
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the expanded CBS All Access will also include national and local news from more than 200 CBS affiliates and a “critical mass of live sports” from NFL, NCAA, PGA, and UEFA games.
The expanding and rebranding will surely boost the service’s subscriber numbers. Variety reports CBS All Access and sister streaming platform Showtime currently have a combined 13.5 million subscribers, which is up from 8 million in February 2019 but still far behind competitors Netflix (183 million), Disney+ (54.5 million), and Hulu (32.1 million).
In the meantime, CBS All Access—which costs $5.99 per month with ads or $9.99 without—is offering more than 100 films from CBSViacom’s Paramount Pictures catalog, including Airplane!, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The First Wives Club, The Hours, Patriot Games, Pretty in Pink, Star Trek: First Contact, Terms of Endearment, To Catch a Thief, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and the Godfather trilogy.
“Expanding CBS All Access’ library of films with these iconic titles from Paramount Pictures is just one of the many ways we’re integrating the phenomenal catalog of IP available to us within the ViacomCBS family,” Julie McNamara, Executive Vice President & Head of Programming at CBS All Access, said in a statement. “The service is on a growth trajectory with two record-breaking months in March and April, and we look forward to bringing even more premium content and value to our subscribers in the coming months.”
