CBS has launched ET Live, a free 24/7 direct-to-consumer streaming network dedicated to all things entertainment. It is the third ‘free’ OTT service from the broadcaster, along CBSN (news) and CBS Sports HQ.
The channel will offer news, features, event coverage and more designed to complement and not replace the on-the-air Entertainment Tonight. It will be free to viewers and supported by ads; it’s available first at ETLive.com, through an Android/iOS app, and Apple TV and Amazon Fire TV. More devices are planned for later adds. It will also be integrated into the paid CBS All Access service, as with streaming news feed CBSN.
“From CBS All Access to CBSN and CBS Sports HQ, we are dedicated to bringing consumers best-in-class streaming services,” said Rob Gelick, Executive Vice President and General Manager, CBS Entertainment Digital for CBS Interactive.
“ET Live is a natural expansion of our strategy and expertise in this area. We have the great advantage of being able to apply key learnings from our leading digital entertainment properties and marry that with the #1 entertainment brand in Entertainment Tonight to create a new offering for the next generation of entertainment consumers, those that are platform-agnostic and expect content to be accessible anytime, anywhere.”
“For almost four decades, Entertainment Tonight has set the gold standard for entertainment news, utilising our unique access to celebrities and sets to bring original reporting and great storytelling to every defining pop culture and entertainment topic and event,” said Becky Brooks, Senior Vice President of Multiplatform Programming for CBS Television Distribution. “We were the first to invent the daily entertainment news genre, and now the first to bring an always-on, 24/7 entertainment streaming channel to serve our expanding audience of loyal and new viewers.”
ET Live replicates CBS’ highly successful model used to launch CBSN, the 24/7 streaming news service from CBS News and CBS Interactive, and CBS Sports HQ, for sports news, highlights and analysis. Like CBSN and CBS Sports HQ, viewers will be able to control and personalize their experience – they can watch live, or jump back to watch previous segments on-demand depending on what they’re most interested in.
