CBS Corp. has announced a new affiliation agreement with station group Tegna Media (formerly Gannett), bringing 10 network affiliates covering 10 million U.S. households into its CBS All Access OTT service.
The agreement covers CBS affiliates in Washington, D.C., Houston, San Antonio, New Orleans, Tampa, Fla., Greensboro, N.C., Little Rock, Ark., Columbia, S.C., Macon, Ga. and Spokane, Wash.
With the new affiliation deal, CBS All Access subscribers in 85 percent of the U.S. have access to live linear streaming feeds from their local CBS station.
"Our largest affiliate station group realizes the value CBS programming provides to their stations," said Ray Hopkins, president of television distribution for CBS Corp.
CBS' deal with one of the largest station groups in the U.S. has significant implications for pay-TV operators, starting with the fact that CBS is the most aggressive network in terms of pressuring its affiliates to command high broadcast retransmission fee increases.
The growth of the direct-to-consumer CBS All Access platform is another key factor. CBS is seeking to grow its annual retrans revenue to $2 billion by 2020 while simultaneously distributing its new and archival series via a $5.99-a-month SVOD platform that exists outside the pay-TV ecosystem.
Entering its 11th month since launch, it remains unclear as to how many subscribers All Access has.
For more:
- read this CBS Corp. press release
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CBS All Access has now signed up 40 affiliates, covers 75% of U.S.