CBS retools streaming service to better resemble TV network
CBS News says it is retooling its streaming service to better incorporate programs and personalities from the television network
NEW YORK — CBS News says it is retooling its streaming service to better incorporate programs and personalities from the television network.
The CBS service is debuting a new evening newscast and prime-time lineup on Monday, from a newly-constructed Manhattan-based studio, part of what promises to be an aggressive year of building for news-based products.
The hourlong evening newscast, beginning at 7 p.m. Eastern, will feature a rotating cast of anchors and originate from New York, Washington and Los Angeles. The streaming service will continue to air a rerun of Norah O’Donnell’s “CBS Evening News” later in the evening.
For two hours beginning at 8 p.m., the service will choose from a number of programs that key off of TV, different ones each evening. They include “Person-to-Person,” an O’Donnell-hosted interview series, and documentaries under the “CBS Reports” banner. There will also be shows based on uplifting news segments hosted by Tony Dokoupil, on-the-road features by Steve Hartman and “Eye on America” reports anchored by Michelle Miller.
“Here Comes the Sun” spotlights reporting from “CBS Sunday Morning,” while the service will also air television episodes of “60 Minutes” and “48 Hours.”
The service, available through the CBS News app, on Paramount+, has operated since 2014 but mostly as a “wheel” of straight, sometimes repeated, newscasts.
CBS is also emphasizing the integration of streaming products made for its local news stations, with a 14th, out of Miami, beginning operation Monday.
“The biggest thing we’ve done is integrate the network, the digital and the local,” said Neeraj Khemlani, president and co-head of CBS News and Stations. “This is not about three separate products for three separate audiences.”
The gradual transformation of CNN, Fox News and MSNBC primarily into political talk networks, frequently opinionated, gives the streaming service an open path, Khemlani said.
“We believe in balanced, unbiased reports,” he said. “We believe in original reporting and exquisite storytelling. Those are the values of CBS News.”
Khemlani denied the timing of CBS’ facelift had anything to do with rivals. CNN, for example, has been on a hiring spree in preparation for the CNN+ streaming service to debut in a few months.
