Channel 10’s new owner CBS to launch streaming service in Australia
THERE’S a new streaming service on its way to Australia, promising binge-worthy original content. But can it compete with Netflix and Stan?
CHANNEL Ten’s takeover by American giant CBS doesn’t just save the troubled free-to-air broadcaster from oblivion.
It also promises to herald a new era of streaming, with the deal announced on Monday including a plan to bring the CBS All Access streaming service to Australia.
But it remains to be seen what will be on offer for local audiences, given that the Australian rights to its first two original series are held by other service providers.
CBS All Access has emerged as a fledgling Netflix rival in the United States, with a slightly older target audience.
Its first scripted original drama series, The Good Fight (a spin-off of the popular The Good Wife, which airs on SBS at 9.30pm on Wednesdays, with catch-up viewing streamed on SBS On Demand) has been hailed by critics as “very good television”.
The legal and political drama is centred on Christine Baranski’s character Diane Lockhart, who loses her savings and is forced out of her law firm after an enormous financial scam, and opens with her watching the inauguration of Donald Trump in stunned silence.
According to Vulture, it is “a sharply written show about two women who are also reeling from unexpected upheavals in their personal and professional lives.”
The local rights to CBS All Access’ other original series, the 15-episode Star Trek: Discovery, lie with streaming giant Netflix.
So Australian viewers will likely have to wait before sinking their teeth into the service’s more tantalising offerings.
The good news is that CBS All Access has plenty of new programming in the works, with shows being produced for the 2017/18 season including SWAT, Seal Team and Young Sheldon, a spin-off prequel to The Big Bang Theory.
Marc DeBevoise, president and chief operating officer of CBS Interactive, has said the All Access service will focus on drama and comedy as it continues to roll out original series.
“What we have learned is that dramas tend to draw more interest and be more marketable, so we will be focused more on the drama side but we also will be doing comedies,” Mr DeBevoise told Deadline.
New original shows in the works for 2018 and beyond include dramas Strange Angel and $1, plus the service’s first comedy series No Activity, with Will Ferrell, Adam McKay and Funny Or Die.
Australian viewers will also have to wait to find out how much the local version of the streaming service will cost.
US subscribers pay $US5.99 a month, or $US9.99 ad-free, while enjoying access to the complete CBS back catalogue of most of its current series and a wide selection of episodes of classic series from its television distribution program library, such as NCIS, Star Trek, Cheers, MacGyver, The Young and The Restless, Twin Peaks and CSI: Miami. A limited selection of films are available on the service.
CBS, unveiled as the buyer of troubled Network Ten on Monday morning, is already a key supplier of US content to Ten, and a co-owner of Eleven.
Armando Nunez, chief of CBS Studios International, said CBS would continue to provide Network Ten with “the very best” US content as part of its acquisition.
“CBS recognises the significance of Ten in the Australian broadcasting community,” Mr Nunez said, vowing to reverse the trouble network’s fortunes.
“We are committed to the efficient, reliable and successful turnaround, operation and development of Ten to support continued growth in Australian media ... We also look forward to working with the outstanding team at Network Ten to enhance and expand on its great legacy of Australian news, drama, reality and sports programming.”
Mr Nunez added that the deal would allow for “further multi-platform distribution and growth” at Ten.
Ten chief executive Paul Anderson said the CBS acquisition would continue the relationship the two networks already had over the licence rights of its US content.
“CBS and Ten have had a strong relationship for a number of years; we are very excited about further developing that relationship with CBS as an owner and strength that they will provide to the Company at this critical time,” Mr Anderson said.
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