One of the biggest questions about Stephen Colbert’s move to CBS has likely been answered, with the network’s announcement of a new online service.
“Will the Late Show, hosted by Stephen Colbert, be on Hulu on another digital service for set top boxes like Hulu, Apple TV, Amazon Fire, etc.?”
The answer is likely not Hulu, but probably the new CBS All Access. This $5.99/month package will feature new and past episodes of current and former CBS programming. It will also include live streams of it’s local Owned and Operated CBS stations in markets like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and other big cities. The one thing that it won’t have at launch will be live NFL games. While it is launching on PCs and mobile, set top box support will follow.
What the press release didn’t mention was Colbert. My guess, is since CBS will own the show (compared to Letterman, who’s Worldwide Pants company owned his show and the Late Late Show), and will not have licensing problems to put Colbert on its online pay service.
Colbert is probably going to be a big selling point for this new service, as his current show, “The Colbert Report”, is on Hulu Plus, along with virtually all late night talk shows that are not on CBS. I have long argued that there would be a backlash if the Colbert Late Show is not widely available online at launch. This is not merely being available on the CBS website, but also on mobile devices and set top boxes like Roku, Apple TV and Amazon Fire.