CBS Studios International has set a multi-year licensing deal with PPTV, China's leading video streaming service.
The deal will cover streaming rights to CBS and Showtime programming in China. PPTV has 400 million users streaming programming on PCs and mobile devices, so the deal widens the broadcaster's range considerably.
CBS Studios offers 18 channels in 24 languages crossing 100 territories, with an aggregate 70 million households before this deal, to put things in perspective.
The content partnership may also make a watershed difference in CBS plans for its upcoming new Star Trek TV series, which will be exclusively distributed via streaming. It should debut in January 2017.
The programme will be the first original series developed specifically for CBS All Access, a cross-platform over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, which costs $5.99 per month. In the US, CBS will offer a preview broadcast on the CBS broadcast network, but the premiere episode and all subsequent first-run episodes will then be available exclusively on streaming platforms.
"So right away, we're going to be more than half way home just on the cost of the show just on international alone," CEO Les Moonves said on the company's last earnings call.