U.S. Affiliates Sign Up to Carry CBS All Access

NEW YORK: Twelve station groups, representing 56 U.S. markets, have agreed to carriage terms for the newly launched live streaming service CBS All Access.

CBS Corporation reached an agreement with the CBS Affiliate Board, and already secured early deals with a number of affiliate partners, including Dispatch, Graham Media, Gray, Hearst, Lilly Broadcasting, Meredith, Morgan Murphy, Morris Network, Neuhoff Media, Nexstar, Raycom and Withers. With the addition of these affiliate partners, as well as the 14 owned-and-operated CBS stations that participated in CBS All Access’s October launch, the live linear feed coverage of CBS All Access is set to reach 55 percent of U.S. households.

Though specific terms of the agreement were not disclosed, each affiliate partner will participate in a revenue-share and will also benefit by having live viewership in their markets applied to their Nielsen rating.

“This is another key step in the company’s long-standing strategy to grow our business in a way that complements our existing ecosystem,” said Leslie Moonves, the president and CEO of CBS Corporation. “Adding CBS affiliates to the mix will give viewers the opportunity to watch more CBS programming whenever they want on whichever device they choose. We look forward to adding more affiliate partners to build CBS All Access nationwide.”

Michael Fiorile, the vice chair and CEO of Dispatch Broadcast and chairman of the CBS Affiliates Board, added, “We are excited to have in place a groundbreaking agreement which begins a new era in distribution for CBS affiliates. CBS All Access is designed to take advantage of the growth in place-shifting by giving our viewers the utmost ease of accessibility to their favorite local programming. We see it as an opportunity to expand our reach to consumers by delivering our stations anywhere and anytime our viewers want to watch.”