WAFB-TV will soon be available to the relatively small but growing number of people who now get their TV programming from the Internet. Later this spring, the local CBS affiliate will join dozens of other affiliate stations in rolling out a new subscription-video-on-demand service called CBS All Access, which will enable users to access both WAFB and CBS network programming whenever they want on the device of their choice.
CBS introduced All Access last fall in 14 markets where the network owns and operates TV stations. Last week, it inked a deal with 12 station affiliate groups—including WAFB’s parent company Raycom Media—which will make CBS All Access available in 56 TV markets in the country, Baton Rouge among them.
“Consumers have more choice than ever before,” says WAFB General Manager Lee Meredith. “This will be a way for us to be more responsive to them.”
Currently, CBS All Access is available to anyone via a paid subscription that allows users to watch current CBS programming like Survivor and The Big Bang Theory as well as vintage classics like Cheers, Star Trek, and I Love Lucy. Once the service is available locally, users will also be able to watch local news and other locally produced programming via a live linear feed.
CBS All Access is the latest example of a growing trend in “cord cutting.” More than 7.6 million U.S. households have left pay television behind, and those numbers are rising steadily. About 6.5% of households nationwide have cut the cord over the past five years, up from 4.5% in 2010, according to research by Experian Marketing Services. A separate study by the Diffusion Group suggests that 15% of adult broadband users who subscribe to a pay TV service are considering ditching it within the next six months.
Though specific figures are not available for the Baton Rouge TV market, Meredith says the local market is changing as is the rest of the country.
“It’s all so new, everybody is doing it a little differently,” he says. “We have to be responsive to consumer demand and make ourselves available on as many platforms as possible.”
—Stephanie Riegel
