CBS will produce new shows for streaming services, says CEO Moonves
Coming to the Internet: Shows From CBS That You Won't See on CBS — CBS is working on shows that you won't see on CBS. Instead, the plan is for you to see them on the Internet, via video services like Netflix or Amazon's Prime Instant Video.
Context & Ripple Effects
CBS has spent years circling the internet without committing: an EyeLab web-video push back in 2007, an executive email fretting over 'reckless' Hulu streams in 2009, and a decision to turn down an ad-based Apple TV deal in 2011. Moonves confirming that CBS will produce shows meant for Netflix and Prime Instant Video rather than its own airwaves marks the sharpest step yet from wariness to active supply.
The timing lands days after Netflix disclosed it had edged past HBO in subscriber revenue ($1.146B vs $1.141B) while conceding it still trails HBO in Emmys and profitability — exactly the content gap a broadcaster's studio could help close. The story traveled widely the same week across Engadget, VentureBeat, Mashable and StreamDaily.
First-order effects
- CBS gains a new revenue line by selling its production capacity directly to Netflix and Amazon, monetizing shows that would otherwise compete for slots on its own broadcast schedule.
- Netflix and Amazon acquire network-grade programming without shouldering full development risk themselves — a faster route to filling libraries against HBO than greenlighting everything in-house.
Second-order effects
- HBO's content moat comes under fresh pressure just as Netflix closes in on its subscriber-revenue lead, forcing HBO to lean harder on originals and its Emmy advantage to justify premium pricing.
- Rival broadcast networks face a fork: license their own output to streamers on similar terms, or withhold it to protect advertising and retransmission economics — either choice reshapes what streaming subscribers can expect.
Third-order effects
- Production is decoupling from distribution: if networks keep supplying platforms they don't own, exclusivity shifts from channel control to whoever pays, weakening the broadcast bundle's gatekeeping role.
- The same studio-for-hire logic gives networks a low-risk way to learn streaming economics before deciding whether to launch consumer-facing subscription products of their own — though CBS has not announced any such plan.
The trend: Television production is decoupling from broadcast distribution as legacy networks reposition themselves as paid content suppliers to streaming platforms.