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CBS's rebranded Paramount+ streaming service is finally available
Another streaming service to pay for
Last year, ViacomCBS (the newly formed entity from the Viacom and CBS merger) announced that it would relaunch its All Access streaming service in 2021 with a new name, Paramount+. The new service is now finally available and even app store listings have been modified to reflect the change.
CBS All Access finally supports user profiles, sparing you from your roommate's bad taste
There are special profiles for kids with parental controls, too
There are a lot of streaming services out there these days. Each of them have different pros and cons, but one of the most universal features is being able to create multiple user profiles for different individuals. Now it looks like CBS has finally added this seemingly basic ability for All Access members using its mobile apps.
CBS All Access will change its terrible name in 2021
The service will continue adding content from Viacom's reserves
CBS All Access might have had the most lukewarm reception of a new streaming service to date when it launched in late 2014, though the mountain of new terrible Star Trek shows has given it periodic bumps in subscriber counts. Now that CBS has merged with Viacom (after splitting in 2005), the combined media conglomerate is preparing to re-launch CBS All Access with more content and a new name.ViacomCBS announced today that CBS All Access will be rebranded as Paramount+ starting in 2021. The move comes after the service has already started adding Viacom-owned content to All Access, including movies and shows from Paramount, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central, and others. The company plans to expand its content offerings to "more than 30,000 episodes and movies" by the time the rebrand takes effect.[EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnfDBLIprkQ[/EMBED_YT]Viacom has historically been hesitant to bring most of its productions to other streaming services, so there's certainly a market for something that has a decent backlog of shows and cartoons from the company. The company has experimented with limited services like NickHits and Pluto TV, but nothing as extensive as the plans for Paramount+.[EMBED_APP]https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cbs.ott[/EMBED_APP]Source: ViacomCBSVia: TrekCore
According to the changelog for an update that is now rolling out, CBS All Access for Android TV now supports HDR content, though your mileage may vary. We installed the latest update on a Hisense H8G Android TV, which supports HDR formats including Dolby Vision through other streaming services, and it didn't seem to work for content known to be available in that format on other platforms.
You can watch every episode of Star Trek ever for free for two months (Updated)
Jean-Luc Picard himself shared the news on Twitter
If you've run out of stuff to watch on Netflix while you're "working" from home, you're in luck. Patrick Stewart — real-life Picard — has announced that CBS All Access is offering a free month of service for anyone who signs up by April 23 and uses promo code GIFT.
CBS has announced that its streaming video service, CBS All Access, will stream NFL games to mobile devices beginning with the 2018 season, including Super Bowl LIII. CBS All Access has streamed NFL games since 2016, but this season marks the first during which they'll be available to watch on smartphones.
CBS All Access subscribers can now enjoy a redesigned and much-improved version of the Android app. The 3.0 update brings a brand new look, support for your CBS account, the ability to stream three channels of live TV, and more.
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- A couple of Google support pages have been updated to add the CW (CWTV) as an option for video and photos services compatible with Google Home. First, CWTV is now in the official list here next to YouTube and Netflix, and second it's also mentioned in the voice commands here. Based on the latter, it appears that CWTV support is quite limited: it will only play the latest aired episode, not the next unplayed one based on your watched history, and it doesn't support next/previous episode commands or turning on/off dubbing.
Like promised at Google I/O, the Google Home team has been rolling support for more music services (Spotify free, Deezer), but the new video services were yet to be seen. If you own a Google Home, you could control Netflix and send random YouTube video searches to your TV, but not more. Google had promised HBO Now, Hulu, CBS All Access, CW, and more would come and now one of them seems to be available: CBS All Access.
The TV landscape has shifted an enormous amount in the past decade. We've gone from requiring a TV subscription to watch almost any new show, to centralizing everything on services like Netflix, to every major TV network creating their own subscription service. CBS launched its 'All Access' site in 2014, allowing users to stream content the day after it airs, and the company is looking to expand it outside the United States.
Report: Google reaches agreement with CBS for 'Unplugged' web TV service - Fox and Disney may follow
The future of cable cutting, getting rid of expensive cable or satellite television service in favor or more economical web subscriptions, is murky. Currently users need to choose between competing libraries on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and other big-name streamers, or negate some of the savings of cable cutting by subscribing to multiple services. Some newer offerings like SlingTV and PlayStation Vue are bridging the gap, and it looks like Google wants to join them, according to the latest report from the Wall Street Journal.
It seems awfully strange that services like Hulu and the various TV apps require you to pay or log in to access content, especially when that content originally aired for free on terrestrial television. They broadcast the shows with ads in the first place, and they're making money on the ads embedded in the streaming video too, so why put up any barrier to entry and lower your potential revenue? CBS, the self-styled "Most-Watched Network in America," takes this one step further with a full, Netflix-style paid service just for its shows. It's called CBS All Access, and it costs $5.99 a month.