CBS bringing a new Twilight Zone to CBS All Access

[Flint]

Now CBS is saying they are bringing a new Twilight Zone to CBS All Access, making the streaming service the only place to get Star Trek: Discovery, The Good Fight, No Access, and now the new Twilight Zone.

That's four shows limited to their service. Much like HBO, Disney, Netflix, Amazon Prime TV, and Hulu, CBS is banking on original locked-in content to drive subscribers.

Now are you guys signing up?

 

[Towen7]

Nope

 

[PaulyT]

What's this "CBS" thing you keep bringing up?

 

[Huey]

That's a big nope from me as well. I hope this business model fails as I don't want to see a bunch of other companies try this crap.

 

[Haywood]

Think of the world we are entering as a la carte cable. It isn't cheaper, but at least you can pick what you want to pay for and have the option to buy your way out of watching ads.

 

[Huey]

Think of the world we are entering as a la carte cable. It isn't cheaper, but at least you can pick what you want to pay for and have the option to buy your way out of watching ads.

No, I already pay for CBS with my Dish subscription fee. My fear is that we will end up with basic and premium levels of subscriptions for most channels. Want to watch Game of Thrones, well now you need to subscribe to HBO premium. That kind of crap.

 

[mzpro5]

No, I already pay for CBS with my Dish subscription fee. My fear is that we will end up with basic and premium levels of subscriptions for most channels. Want to watch Game of Thrones, well now you need to subscribe to HBO premium. That kind of crap.

I wouldn't be too concerned - the free market will get those things straightened out.

 

[Towen7]

Think of the world we are entering as a la carte cable. It isn't cheaper, but at least you can pick what you want to pay for ....

I don't understand the advantage of paying the same (or more) to have the privilege of not having channels I may not want.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for streaming but I'm not super excited about paying more for less and having to bounce into and out of a bunch of different apps.

 

[Batman]

As streaming services are concerned, I think DirecTVNow and Sling are on the right track but continue to need some fine tuning. I’ve had both and find DirecTVNow to be a better overall service though a little more expensive. Some of the streaming apps/companies, like CBS AA, seem to want to be both alternatives and supplementary. Although $7 isn’t a lot of money, that shit adds up when you have 5,6,7 of these apps simultaneously and they wind up actually being just as inconvenient as they are convenient. Not to mention CBS trying to force you to subscribe with “exclusive” content. If I REALLY want to watch something I’ll come as go as I have been, but I can’t see myself staying on board each and every month. This transition away from traditional pay tv is probably years from being over, but I do like where things are headed.

*As far as HBO is concerned, the best value for it that I’ve seen is thru DirecTV Now. It’s only a $5 add-on and allows you to access HBO GO with your account credentials.

 

[Flint]

I don't understand the advantage of paying the same (or more) to have the privilege of not having channels I may not want.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for streaming but I'm not super excited about paying more for less and having to bounce into and out of a bunch of different apps.

Just being nerdy, but Amazon Fire TV will open the app and start the show when you say to it (via Alexa), "continue watching Star Trek: Discovery. "

No need to jump between apps.

 

[Towen7]

It's not always that easy when what you want is available on more than one app. For example the other day I wanted to watch a specific movie. I used the universal search function on Roku and was presented with options via 5 different apps. Four of them were rentals requiring an additional fee. I had to select the fifth option which was free.

 

[Haywood]

Inconvenience and fragmentation are why I resorted to my current "content management" stack. I don't object to paying for content, in fact I feel obligated to do so. I subscribe to lots of stuff and buy a lot more. What I object to is having to figure out what show is going to be on what service at what time, which shows are switching services when and so on. It is really hard to keep track of it all. So, I have my subscriptions to pay the piper and use my stack to consolidate all of my media in a single place with an intelligent queue. It doesn't matter which service the show airs on. I just set up the show and get the episodes as they show up. The next episode for any show I follow is right there in my On Deck list. Any new show or new season of a show I have not watched lately shows up in Recently Added. No hunting around. No trying to figure out if the show moved from Netflix to Amazon or from Amazon to Hulu. No going, "Oh crap, I completely forgot about that." It is quite a bit more expensive, but I will likely continue doing it until a provider finally gets it right.

 

[Huey]

No, I already pay for CBS with my Dish subscription fee. My fear is that we will end up with basic and premium levels of subscriptions for most channels. Want to watch Game of Thrones, well now you need to subscribe to HBO premium. That kind of crap.

Looking for the GOT thread and this popped up. Didn't take me long to come full circle. lol

 

[Huey]

We were catching up on Life in Pieces yesterday, and got ads for other CBS shows on there as well. It's bad enough that you get one, but number two and three come about 4 minutes after the first one. They are only 15 seconds long each, but still, I'm paying extra for no commercials.

 

[Huey]

I was gonna post about an episode of Life in Pieces that if you wanted to watch, it would cost $2.99, which I thought was weird since I was already paying for CBS All Access. I decided to check the episode listing, and it seems, at least with this show, you can buy an episode before it airs. Not sure who would want to do that, but I guess CBS is testing the waters with it.

 

[Flint]

I've seen that movie studios are starting offer their movies for streaming at the same time, or within a week of the theatrical release, at a high fee. I find all of that strange. I know it is because I am an old fart who respects the concept of waiting a few weeks, months, or even years, to see great art and entertainment, but even as a kid I don't think I would have fallen for that trick.