US Television network set to buy Channel 10 and bring All Access streaming app to Australia

US television network CBS has agreed to purchase Australian tv station Channel 10 today, with the deal set to also allow the company to bring their own Streaming Video on Demand service All Access, to Australia.

After launching in Melbourne in 1964, the tv station went into receivership in July, a history acknowledged by Leslie Moonves, Chairman and CEO, CBS Corporation in the statement annnouncing the sale.

The purchase includes the main Channel 10, as well as their other digital channels, Eleven and One, as well as their digital streaming platform TenPlay. CBS has been a major provider of content to Channel 10, and had been a stakeholder in the Eleven channel, and this content will continue to flow through the station, but also through their new streaming service: CBS All Access.

CBS All Access launched in the US earlier this year, and as well as Australia will launch in Canada later this year. Launching All Access in Australia would broaden our choice in SVOD services, with Netflix, Stan, and even Amazon Video available here. With those services in place, it’s unclear how their launch would affect current distribution rights for CBS content. CBS All Access is the source of at least one highly anticipated show: Star Trek Beyond, which is a CBS All Access original series. The series was supposed to be coming to Netflix for Australians, but this could change with All Access coming to Australia.

At this stage no numbers have been announced, though Mr Moonves said ‘We have been able to acquire it at a valuation that gives us confidence we will grow this asset by applying our programming expertise in a market with which we are already familiar.’

The purchase of Channel 10 is subject to regulatory approvals, so we’ll have to wait on that.