Robert Michelle King - H 2014
CBSAmazon has inked a multi-year, multi-series agreement with CBS to make the online retailer’s Prime Instant Video service the exclusive subscription streaming home for three CBS summer series through 2018.
The first new series included in the deal will be next year’s comic-thriller BrainDead from The Good Wife producers Robert and Michelle King. The series follows a young Capitol Hill staffer (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who discovers that aliens have eaten the brains of a number of congressmen and Capitol Hill staffers.
The pact, which will extend and expand the CBS and Showtime titles offered to Prime members, builds on the success of Amazon and CBS’ deal for Under the Dome and Extant. Like those series, episodes of BrainDead will be available for streaming four days after they air on CBS.
The first season of Under the Dome, which was a ratings hit for CBS, was also watched by more customers than any other TV season on Prime Instant Video in 2013, Amazon said when it announced the Extant deal in January of 2014.
BrainDead is the latest sci-fi summer series from CBS, which followed Dome with Extant and Zoo, which has a streaming deal with Amazon rival Netflix. The network gave the Good Wife duo’s Washington, DC-set show a 13-episode-straight-to-series order this summer.
These streaming deals have helped CBS offset the cost of launching a pricey serialized original drama in the typically low-rated summer months. After three seasons, CBS recently canceled Under the Dome, announcing that its Sept. 10 season finale would serve as the series’ end. The show continues to stream on Amazon Prime.
“Prime members have loved having access to series like Under the Dome and Extant just four days after broadcast, and we’re excited to continue to offer in-season availability of more great CBS summer series over the next three years,” Brad Beale, Amazon vp, digital video content acquisition, said in a statement. “We are also always working to ensure our Prime members have the best selection, and we know they will continue to enjoy unlimited access to a wide array of CBS titles to binge-watch anytime, anywhere.”
CBS’ chief corporate licensing officer Scott Koondel added: “We’re thrilled to build on our relationship with Amazon with new original summer series and more programming from CBS and Showtime. With a truly original, genre-bending concept from outstanding creative auspices, BrainDead will be one of the most talked-about shows next summer by CBS viewers and Prime members.”
CBS and Showtime titles available for Amazon Prime members to stream include Medium, The Tudors, The L Word, the original Twin Peaks series, America’s Next Top Model, I Love Lucy, Penn & Teller, The Amazing Race, MacGyver, Brotherhood and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch as well as CBS Films titles like Inside Llewyn Davis and Pride.
