CBS branding to be dropped from UK channels.

[Keith]

Still no indication on what the on demand catch up service will be called once it loses CBS branding?



The current "CBS Catchup Channels UK" has always sounded rather clunky.

Might it be scrapped and folded into Paramount+? 

Ratings wise the latest monthly figures for the channels from BARB give us a shares of:

CBS Drama - 0.18%
CBS Justice - 0.26%
CBS Reality - 0.64%
CBS Reality on Local TV - 0.06%
Horror Channel - 0.31%

The non-linear element is given a zero rating for PCs/Tablets/Smartphones with no data for non-linear via a TV set.

As per previous post these new channel names feel like a potential stepping stone of going from CBS to Channel 5 branded. We've previously seen the merry-go-round of Spike > 5Spike > Paramount Network > 5Action.

With this in mind I wonder if eventually the new names will be tweaked to become 5Legends and 5Reality. If this were to happen then it would be easy to imagine CBS Catchup and Horror Bites merging into My5.

For the time being though if the CBS Catchup service remains under the existing name it'll look odd. If it were renamed 'Paramount Catchup' that would cause confusion with their premium streaming service. Putting their originals into Paramount+ and closing the existing catchups sounds plausible. I doubt anyone will miss not being able to use catch up to watch Judge Judy or Diagnosis Murder.