CBS Strikes Amazon Streaming Deal After Netflix Pact Read More At Investor's Business Daily

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CBS Strikes Amazon Streaming Deal After Netflix Pact http://news.investors.com/business/...reaming-series-deal-netflix.htm#ixzz3nQXBJbdw

Just a few days after CBS (NYSE:CBS) said it agreed to give Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) exclusive streaming rights to the first seasons of "Zoo" and "Jane the Virgin," the TV network announced a multiyear deal with Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) to make three new series available on Prime Video just days after they air on television.The partnership between CBS and Amazon isn't new — the two have previously paired up to make "Under the Dome" and "Extant" available online to Amazon Prime members shortly after being broadcast. The new deal extends the relationship through 2018, starting with "BrainDead," a 13-episode comedic thriller about a young Hill staffer who discovers that aliens have been eating the brains of D.C. politicians. The show airs in the summer of 2016.The agreement also makes more CBS and Showtime series available to Amazon Prime users, including "Medium," "The Amazing Race" and "The L Word."Streaming TV providers have been ramping up their content stables as more consumers cut the cord and viewing habits shift online. Amazon, Netflix and Hulu remain the three major competitors for eyeballs online.Only a limited portion of CBS' content is available on Hulu, which is co-owned by broadcast rivals Walt Disney (NYSEIS) (which owns ABC), Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA) (which owns NBCUniversal) and 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA) (which owns Fox). Hulu streams a number of FOX, ABC and NBC shows soon after being broadcast, but of CBS' shows, only "Entertainment Tonight" clips are available on Hulu the day after it airs.

 

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CBS's Showtime Looks to 'Homeland' to Propel Streaming Service http://www.thestreet.com/story/1331...in-media-business.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO

The highly anticipated season premiere of Homeland on Sunday could well be a cliffhanger for Showtime and CBS (CBS - Get Report) executives when it returns to the network in an over-the-top streaming app.The success of the streaming service and its low monthly price vs. traditional monthly cable subscription packages hinges on good content. As the network's most popular show, viewership for the night and the binge run-up to its return could foreshadow the service's success or failure.CBS needs something. The stock is down nearly 40%, compared with its price a year ago. The company's second-quarter earnings were down 24%.Streaming services are the new battleground for viewership. For consumers, monthly fees are a fraction of monthly cable costs and the service allows them to pick and choose programming.For CBS, the $10.99 app provides higher revenue per subscription and provides potential in the 75 million homes that currently don't subscribe to Showtime, which has about 24 million subscriptions in the 100 million-household market. It will also help target the 12 million broadband-only U.S. households."Every million subs we have for Showtime OTT represents $100 million in new annual revenue, much of which will drop right to the bottom line," Les Moonves, CBS president and chief executive, said in the second-quarter earnings call in August.Showtime's biggest hit returns at 9 p.m. with the usual tummy-twists of CIA operative Carrie Mathison. But it has been 10 months since Homeland Season 4 wrapped up with 6.1 million viewers. The time marks two years in the life of Mathison and nearly a decade in media years as the market continues to shift rapidly.