Is your time worth eight cents per minute?
Starting in January you can watch Bryan Fuller’s all-new “Star Trek: Discovery” on the CBS All Access streaming service for $5.99 per month, but at that price point you’ll also have to sit through about 12 minutes of commercials per episode.
You heard me. $5.99 per month and you still have to sit through commercials.
But! CBS All Access announced Wednesday it would offer a “commercial-free” subscription for $9.99 per month.
Let’s say the service offers four new “Star Trek: Discovery” episodes per month; that works out to $1.50 per episode with commercials.
But if you’re willing to pay $2.50 per episode you won’t have to drum your fingers waiting for CBS All Access to take 12 minutes to sell you insurance, cars, fabric softener and toilet paper.
Is it worth that extra $1 per episode to zap away those 12 minutes of commercials? Assuming they’re all 30-second spots, that works out to about 4¢ per commercial.
To look at it another way, that extra $4 per month saves you from having to wait through 48 minutes of commercials per month.
But maybe, instead of paying that extra $4 per month, you can use those commercial breaks to feed the cat, balance your checkbook or (number-one answer!) urinate.
(Yes, these “Star Trek: Discovery” episodes are certain to end up on pirate streaming sites that will allow you to “watch them for free.” But are we certain CBS won’t one day decide to go to court to sue you – or your parents -- for $600,000 and garnish your – and/or your parents’ -- paychecks for the rest of your lives?)
Press release!
“CBS ALL ACCESS” ROLLS OUT COMMERCIAL-FREE OPTION FOR SUBSCRIBERSCBS All Access Subscribers Can Now Watch the Service’s On-Demand Content Commercial-Free for $9.99/Month or with Reduced Commercials for $5.99/Month
August 31, 2016 – CBS Corporation today announced the launch of a commercial-free plan for the CBS All Access subscription service. In addition to the existing subscription offering of $5.99/month, subscribers now have the option to watch CBS All Access’s on-demand content commercial-free for $9.99/month.
“The foundation of CBS All Access is not only about giving CBS fans access to more of the content they want, but also giving them more choice in how they watch their favorite CBS programming,” said Marc DeBevoise, President and Chief Operating Officer of CBS Interactive. “The addition of a commercial-free plan gives our subscribers even more ways to customize their CBS viewing experience – from which devices to whether they watch in or out of the home, and now with commercials or without.”
With the commercial-free plan, subscribers will be able to watch CBS All Access’s on-demand library of more than 7,500 episodes, including full current seasons of primetime hits like BIG BROTHER, BLUE BLOODS, MADAM SECRETARY and THE ODD COUPLE among many others, as well as late night, daytime and news programming, all without commercials. CBS All Access’s upcoming original series, including the next chapter of the legendary “Star Trek” TV franchise, STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, a spinoff of “The Good Wife” and a new digital edition of “Big Brother” will also be available commercial-free under the $9.99/month plan.
Subscribers to the $5.99/month plan will continue to experience reduced commercials when watching on-demand content and be able to watch CBS Classics without commercials. Current subscribers will have the option to move to the commercial-free plan by logging on to their account through CBS.com.
For the commercial-free plan, CBS All Access's live-streaming offering of local CBS Television stations, which is available throughout the U.S. in more than 150 markets, will continue to feature the same commercials as the over-the-air broadcast, and select on-demand shows will include promotional interruptions.
CBS All Access is available online at CBS.com, on mobile devices and tablets via the CBS App for iOS, Android and Windows 10, and on Roku Players, Apple TV, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Chromecast, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, with more connected device platforms coming soon.
For more details and to sign up for a CBS All Access subscription, visit: CBS.com/allaccess.
