Advertising Slides Into Amazon Channels With CBS All Access

Amazon Channels, which allows Prime members to subscribe to and view premium video content, is adding CBS All Access to its lineup.

The addition is particularly notable because CBS will be the first major streaming service on Amazon Channels to feature advertising. Until now, Channels has focused mostly on premium ad-free options from HBO, Starz, Hallmark Channel and others. CBS will also be the first Channels partner to offer a linear feed of a broadcast network.

For now, only the $9.99 limited-advertising version of CBS All Access will be available, though CBS says the $5.99 ad-supported subscription will be available through Amazon Channels “in the coming months.”

The $9.99 subscription includes a linear feed of the CBS broadcast network, and includes the same ads that appear on the network feed. It also includes some promotional interruptions during select on-demand programming. The $5.99 subscription adds full advertising breaks during on-demand programming.

CBS All Access combines a linear feed of the CBS broadcast network (including local programming from most markets) with a library of 10,000 classic TV episodes, and full seasons of current CBS programming. It also includes exclusive shows like “Star Trek: Discovery” and “The Good Fight.”

Amazon has significantly expanded the programming it offers, both through its own Prime Video product, and through Channels. Prime Video programming is largely ad-free, though the companies simulcasts of NFL “Thursday Night Football” do contain the regular commercial breaks that the TV networks carry. Likewise, after it acquired the video game streaming platform Twitch, Amazon made it ad-free for Prime members.

By showing that is is open to including services with more extensive advertising in the Channels product, Amazon is potentially opening itself up to new entrants beyond the premium, ad-free category.

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