CBS All Access Adds Over 70 Shows From Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon & More, Will Be Rebranding In 2021
Among the plethora of streaming services now available, CBS All Access was probably the one with the most disappointing library. Sure, they have good originals like the new Star Trek shows and the reboot of The Twilight Zone, but otherwise, it's mostly a collection of old CBS shows and other TV series that have been endlessly licensed at all the other streaming services. But that changes today.
CBS All Access has added over 70 new shows from Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and other channels from the Viacom family. This comes after CBS and Viacom recently merged, and now that the programming is expanding even further beyond what CBS has to offer, they're looking at rebranding the entire service in 2021.
CBS All Access Library Expansion
CBS All Access announced their library expansion today, with shows like Chappelle's Show, SpongeBob SquarePants, Ru Paul's Drag Race, Siesta Key, Real Husbands of Hollywood, and more coming from the likes of Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1, MTV, BET and more. Other popular shows in the expansion include Beavis and Butt-Head, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Rugrats, Reno 911!, Tosh.0, and a slew of reality shows that we'd rather not mention. In total, there are over 70 new shows with over 3,500 episodes that have just been added to the library today.
On top of that, CBS All Access will get a brand new user interface that will make it easier to search for shows and movies, discover curated content based on your interests, and breaking out TV shows from the aforementioned Viacom channels, presumably not unlike the hubs that HBO Max created for Turner Classic Movies, Studio Ghibli, DC Comics, and more.
These big changes are all leading up to an overall rebranding of CBS All Access, which will get a completely different name sometime in 2021. Early next year, the service will have a relaunch with a library that will include thousands of TV episodes and movies from Viacom, CBS and Paramount Pictures. But don't worry, the expanded CBS All Access won't be going up in price. The service will still only cost $5.99 per month with ads, and $9.99 monthly for an ad-free experience.
Helping to usher in the launch of the new CBS All Access will be Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants: Kamp Koral. The animated prequel series will focus on the yellow guy and his friends as they "spend their time building underwater campfires, catching wild jellyfish and swimming in Lake Yuckymuck at the craziest camp in the kelp forest, Kamp Koral." It was originally slated for Nickelodeon, but Deadline reports CBS All Access will now use it to entice new subscribers next year.
However, don't expect CBS All Access (or whatever it ends up being called next year), to expand their library beyond what Viacom and CBS already own. In the future, they don't have any plans to license other content from any other networks, cable channels or streaming services (though they do have some licensed content right now). They're confident in the 30,000 hours of content they'll have on their own, which already puts them ahead of NBCUniversal's Peacock with 20,000 hours, and HBO Max's 10,000 hours of content.
Stay tuned to see what else is in store for CBS All Access as we get closer to their relaunch next year.