ViacomCBS announces plans to expand and rebrand CBS All Access

ViacomCBS and its portfolio of brands

Say goodbye to CBS All Access! Don’t worry, the service isn’t going anywhere...but the name is.

Yesterday, ViacomCBS held their Q1 earnings call with investors, and in the call, CEO Bob Bakish laid out his plans for their flagship streaming-video-on-demand service, and it looks like some pretty big changes are on the horizon. According to Variety, Bakish told investors that CBS All Access will be rebranded.

Now, it doesn’t look like something that will be happening tomorrow...Variety says that the rebranding will happen “as soon as [CBS All Access] expands to incorporate more of the company’s cable brands and library programming.” What they’re referring to is that CBS All Access is planning, in the near future, to grow its offering by finally working in films and television series from the other networks across ViacomCBS. That sharing of property between brands is something that we’ve been expecting since the merger happened back in December of last year.

Some of the content sharing is already happening. If you go to CBS All Access today, you’ll see the addition of 100 titles from the Paramount Pictures library available for you to watch. That’s titles like The Godfather series, Patriot Games, Pretty in Pink and A League of Their Own. A few Star Trek films have made it on as well: Star Trek IV: The One with the Whales, Star Trek Generations, Star Trek First Contact and Star Trek Nemesis.

Variety says that more content is coming from ViacomCBS’s cable brands such as Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, BET, Smithsonian, MTV and Paramount Network. All those networks are also expected to eventually produce original content for the new CBS All Access in the future.

And then there’s the name. No details on that yet, but there is this (quoting Variety): “CBS All Access will see a user-interface overhaul this summer in preparation for a relaunch with a new name farther down the road.” Surely, to reflect the broader base of content beyond just CBS.

In the meantime, if you’re already a CBS All Access subscriber, then it’s worth a trip over to the app or website to have a look at the new film offering from Paramount Pictures; it’ll be the first of many steps to a new and improved All Access service.