CBS All Access Summer Reboot Eyeing Animation Originals As Part Of Expansion

ViacomCBS has announced that this summer will see a reboot offering of the already strong CBS All Access streaming service in a strategy that is seen to be more of a pivot to effectively challenge the likes of HBO MAX and Netflix. Pillars of success that the company hopes to build on include the extensive catalog of original series that networks like Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and MTV already have, with hopes to launch new IP that will actually see the streaming service become “first window”.

This also includes 1000s of Paramount films like South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, Team America: World Police, Beavis and Butt-Head: Do America, and more. From the sounds of a conference call on Thursday, this service will likely replace BET+ and Paramount+ and act as a complement for services like Showtime and streaming TV service PlutoTV.

Animation will be a key focal point. Already, CBS All Access has Tooning Out The News, which is growing in popularity, and is expected to get a new series from the brilliant Brad Neely, and another one from Mike McMahan in the form of Star Trek: Lower Decks which should bow later this year. MTV’s catalog is legendary, with the likes of Daria, Beavis and Butt-Head, and Liquid Television all expected to be part of the service to join Comedy Central’s animation offerings which will be minus South Park which is part of a five-year deal with HBO MAX.That said, Comedy Central does have Crank Yankers, Drawn Together, Ugly Americans, and more, which should satiate adult animation fans in the near-term while we await originals like maybe a Malltown series ordered.

With no real signs of other streaming services interested in investing in IP being shepherded by the studio affiliates of the aforementioned networks (other than the Daria spin-off), ViacomCBS has a chance to cultivate some of the premiere animation brands of the world. CBS All Access has a chance to be a dominant player in this arena, one in which HBO MAX has already stumbled in with their launch.