Julie McNamara has been named as EVP of Original Content for CBS All Access, CBS’s paid subscription service. McNamara is a genuine heavyweight, having served as an exec at CBS Television Studios for the past decade. Her hiring should serve as something of a clue as to just how seriously CBS will be pursuing original content for its SVOD service. (As if it wasn’t already clear, given the upcoming launch of a new Star Trek series and a spinoff of The Good Wife, both set to run as CBS All Access-exclusives beginning next year.) Much more so than any of the other major networks, CBS has taken the SVOD model and run with it. The rationale seems fairly clear: The Netflix-es of the world are gaining steam. It’s inevitable that audiences will pursue digital content, and in some cases flee broadcast TV altogether. So as long as you’re going to lose viewers, you might as well lose them to yourself.
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