Moonves: CBS OTT Product Tops 100,000 Subs

CBS CEO Les Moonves says CBS’s over-the-top product CBS All Access has more subscribers than the 100,000 that have tried Dish’s Sling TV.

CBS has been mum about subscriber numbers for C BS All Access, and at a Deusche Bank investors conference on Wednesday, Moonves declined to provide specific figures.

He said subscribers included cord-cutters, people who want mobility and the super fans of CBS shows.

Moonves said CBS has not included the out-of-home rights to its programming in its current retransmission-consent deals with cable operators and other pay-TV distributors. ‘Out of home rights are very important. We haven’t given them to anybody,” he said. And as the value of those out of home rights become more apparent, Moonves said, they will cost distributors extra, on top of what they’re current paying for retransmission.

Moonves said CBS was close to reaching agreements with affiliate stations that would enable live streams of programming on the app within a couple of months. By being partners with stations, and cutting them in on the subscription revenues, “they are incentive to push it,” he said.

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Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.