DirecTV NOW Gets 25 Local CBS Channels, Showtime, The CW And More

DirecTV NOW just announced a major expansion involving CBS Networks. Among other things, DirecTV is rolling out 25 local CBS stations to its NOW subscribers, enabling those users to watch their local CBS affiliate station over the Internet. In addition to the local stations, this new expansion will bring SHOWTIME, The CW, CBS Sports, and more. The nation's biggest cities will most benefit from this particular expansion.

The expansion is made possible via a new agreement between CBS Networks and DirecTV, the latter of which says 25 regions are getting both local CBS and The CW stations. Those regions are the following:

New York

Los Angeles

Chicago

Philadelphia

Dallas – Ft. Worth

San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose

Boston

Detroit

Minneapolis-St. Paul

Miami-Ft. Lauderdale

Denver

Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, CA

Pittsburgh

Baltimore

The addition of CBS and The CW channels spans all tiers of DirecTV NOW plans, and it is also joined by the addition of Pop, though the lowest tier that will be available on is 'Just Right.' If you're on the 'Go Big' or higher plan, you'll also get access to CBS Sports Network. Showtime, meanwhile, is an additional monthly charge of $8/month, which is the cheapest add-on rate for which you can get the service (compared to competing OTT providers).

Things will be looking up in the 'coming weeks,' according to DirecTV NOW, which says it will be introducing a minimum of 30 NBC, ABC and FOX affiliate stations on its live-streaming service. Overall, more than 80 metro areas will have access to more than 170 channels once that future rollout happens.

DirecTV NOW has revealed ambitious plans to expand its service over the coming months. We learned in July, for example, that the service will be getting a new interface, as well as user profiles, the option of downloading content for viewing away from home, and 4K HDR content. Many of these new features will be rolling out in early 2018.

SOURCE: PRNewswire