CBS All Access

Name: CBS All Access
Rating: 2.8

Is This Your Business?

2.8

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56 User Reviews

3.5

Overall Score

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2.8

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56 User Reviews

3.5

Overall Score

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The Good

The Bad

Bottom Line

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Company Details

Monthly Price

Starting at

$5.99

Minimum Contract Length

Monthly

Number of Reviews 56

info Source of Information

Author: Kaitlyn Short

LAST UPDATED: August 29th, 2023

Owned and operated by CBS Interactive, CBS All Access is an over-the-top subscription streaming service. Those who subscribe have access to view content from CBS’s library.

The subscription service offers two plans to viewers: The Limited Commercials Plan and the Commercial Free Plan.

The Limited Commercials Plan allows users to watch CBS All Access on-demand shows with limited commercial interruptions for just $5.99 per month (plus any applicable state taxes).

The Commercial Free Plan is just as the name suggests and allows viewers to watch CBS All Access on-demand shows without any commercials for only $9.99 per month (plus any applicable state taxes).

With CBS All Access, viewers can stream more than 10,000 episodes of their favorite daytime, primetime, and late-night shows. It comes with content from more than just the obvious CBS channels. CBS All Access gives you content from BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, and Smithsonian Channel. You also get access to live streaming of sports, news, and other programming with your local CBS channel, CBSN, CBS Sports HQ, and ET Live. CBS All Access also comes with original show content available only with a subscription.

Additionally, CBS All Access users can watch on their phone, tablet, desktop, or streaming media player. It is compatible with Android and iPhones, Apple TV, Roku, Chromecast, Fire TV, and more.

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The Good

7-Day Free Trial
Ways to Save
Good Content Variety Including Live Sports
Parental Controls

7-Day Free Trial

CBS All Access offers customers a free seven-day trial period of its streaming service. This is in line with other streaming services. Some offer a longer trial period but most offer a standard seven days. This will give you a chance to see the content offered on the service and verify that it is a good fit for you.

Ways to Save

Not all streaming services offer an annual plan to save its customers money. CBS All Access allows customers to save over 15 percent off the monthly subscription plan price by signing up for an annual plan. Both its Limited Commercial and Commercial free plans are offered at an annual plan price.

Limited Commercials Annual Plan — $59.99 per year with a one-week free trial
Commercial Free Annual Plan — $99.99 per year with a one-week free trial

You can also save money if you are a university student. CBS All Access gives students (you must verify your university) a 25 percent discount.

Good Content Variety Including Live Sports

CBS All Access provides a solid variety of streaming, original and live content for the price. It offers over 20,000 episodes of current show programming as well as full seasons of past shows. Shows included CBS hits like The Big Bang Theory, and NCIS, as well as older shows such as The Twilight Zone and MacGyver. It also offers a changing selection of movies; a rather small number of 150. You also get live TV content which often costs significantly more from competing streaming services.

One feature that really sets CBS All Access apart are its sports channel and live sports game coverage. This is something that sports lovers have to typically pay extra to watch with competing services. Sports fans can watch NFL games, March Madness, SEC football, UEFA Champions League, Europa League, PGA golf, and more.

Parental Controls

Joining some of the major players in online streaming, CBS All Access offers parental controls in the account settings. Its parental control settings allow you to lock potentially mature or inappropriate content with a four-digit code. Content restrictions are separated into four categories: all kids (TV-Y, G, TV-G) up to adult (R, TV-MA, NC-17, UR, and NR). You can also require watchers to provide the PIN in order to watch live TV content.

One downside of CBS All Access is that it does not support multiple account profiles as other services do. This means that if you set up parental controls on your account, it will apply across all account users.

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The Bad

CBS Live May Not Be Available
Commercials on Live TV
Offline Downloads Only on Commercial Free Plan

CBS Live May Not Be Available

One of the primary appeals of CBS All Access is the live stream of CBS that comes with your subscription. But not all subscribers will have this feature available to them depending on where they live. If you live in a participating region, then you’ll be able to watch CBS live online through CBS All Access. There are 206 markets where this is possible and the list is available on its website, so you can check in advance of subscribing. If you do not live in one of these markets, then you will likely not have access to CBS live.

Commercials on Live TV

For all those commercial-haters out there, even if you subscribe to CBS All Access’ Commercial Free plan you will have to watch commercials when viewing live content. This is standard even when you’re viewing live content on other streaming services, but it is something you should be aware of.

Offline Downloads Only on Commercial Free Plan

There are many scenarios in which you or your family might have no service and need to be able to download content directly to your device to watch offline. CBS All Access offers its Download & Play feature to its Commercial Free subscribers only. This feature allows you to tap a download icon and store up to 25 episodes or movies offline. Besides the plan limitation for this feature, it also restricts downloaded content to within the United States. This means that if you’re planning to stock up on content before you take off on that international flight or trip, you won’t be able to watch your downloaded content once you leave the United States.

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The Bottom Line

CBS All Access provides quality streaming content with a low price tag. If you are a die-hard CBS fan who loves shows such as The Big Bang Theory and other CBS hits, then it will be likely worth it for you to subscribe to CBS All Access. If you don’t regularly watch CBS content, then you won’t see as much benefit from this service over other streaming services that provide content from a variety of channels and sources.

If you subscribe to CBS All Access you will also be able to watch CBS live and a lot of sports content including live NFL games. For the sports love, CBS All Access could be a great deal. We like that CBS All Access includes some features such as parental controls, offline downloads, and free trial for interested customers to try before they buy. Before you subscribe, you should be aware that not all features are available in its less expensive Limited Commercials Plan.

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User Reviews

Star Rating

2.8

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56 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

23%

4 grade

20%

3 grade

11%

2 grade

1 grade

39%

Sentiment Criteria

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Kaylee Gay Columbia, MO

I love all of the shows and movies that CBS All Access has on their streaming service. My favorite shows to watch are Hawaii Five-O, NCIS, and Blue Bloods. I can watch all of my favorite TV shows with no ads and at such an affordable price. I also don't have to wait for the new season to come out but I can watch the shows as they get aired. I also have access to all of the seasons. I love CBS All Access for their criminal shows.

3 years ago

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Verified Customer

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Dana

I have joined their free "1 week" no ad service which will turn into $9.99 per month. THIS CHANNEL CONSTANTLY GOES OUT, IS SLOW. I HAVE TO GO OUT AND GO BACK IN, and when I do, it isn't at the show I was watching?? The worst! I will NOT be joining. Joined to watch Jordan's Twilight Zone's. Would have probably stayed if it worked (but $9.99 is steep for no ads, come on CBS).

4 years ago

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Teresa Bills Little Rock, AR

I really like this, it has everything. The shows, games, and movies. CBS has always been a favorite channel I like Y&R since I was 4 watching with my mom. I enjoy television. CBS All Access is the place to be.

1 year ago

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Amanda George IL

CBS has a great streaming app. Good selection of movies and tv shows. They add new things all the time. The prices are fair and they don't have hidden fees. Definitely recommend!

1 year ago

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Mike Ika West Valley City, UT

Picard. Can I say anymore? With all the networks streaming their own content now, CBS All Access has been a must for me since I am a huge Star Trek dork. I love being able to geek out on the amazing Star Trek content that is only available with this service.

4 years ago

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Toni Montuori

A broadcast company that I trust. I love this streaming app with it’s variety of topics and engaging discussions on current affairs. It’s my GO-TO!

3 years ago

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DealStar Salt Lake City, UT

I signed up for CBS All Access so I could watch The Good Fight, a spin off from The Good Wife. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough content to keep me as a long term subscriber. Maybe in time there will be more quality content, and I may re-subscribe at that time.

3 years ago

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Kimberly Ogden Love Reynoldsburg, OH

It doesn't even deserve one star. The TV shows on CBS all access should cancel their contracts and move to ANY other TV channel because CBS all access is literally the only channel that is absolute trash. They have the nerve to charge people for a channel you can never watch a whole show on. And you can bet money when it's time for a commercial you will lose your show. The absolute worst. All those good shows are losing audiences because you can't even finish a whole TV show. It always cuts off, freezes, cuts off TV. Then CBS a access answer is to shut down our wifi and TV connection to reboot?? It's not our wifi or TV it's there junky service. If we rebooted every time our tvs would always be off, our homes wifi would never be on. CBS needs to fix THEIR streaming service not the customers!!!! Canceling my subscription......again.....and won't ever be getting CBS all access again. I'm tired of being ripped off then they tell the customer to keep rebooting???? Its not our problem. DONE.....won't use it again!!!

3 years ago

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Steve Ashby Portland, OR

I like the content on this service but the app is crap, especially through Xfinity. I would like to see more show and actor information. It is worth it though for the Star Trek series!

3 years ago

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Jen Hamilton, ON

DONT DO IT ! DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY INFORMATION ON YOUR CREDIT CARD OR CHECKING ACCOUNT! I’d give zero stars if I could . It’s old videos of old seasons . They advertised a show I watch but dont get where I am . They had 2 old episodes. I canceled before the free trial ended . They still took the money. I canceled again explaining I had already canceled why are they taking yet another payment . Now I get an email, thank you for your payment . 3 months in a row! I’m contacting the better business bureau and making a complaint. During a pandemic at Christmas they won’t stop. I cancel 3 times after misleading advertisement , Now I have to figure out how to block them from my account. Or get a new card so they can’t keep stealing and messing with other funds coming out of my account , disgraceful and stressful. Thee worst experience I’ve ever had with any app in my life !

3 years ago

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N. Lee ,

It's crap. I was tricked into it because I'm a Trekkie. I wanted access to the exclusive Star Trek shows Discovery and Picard. I kept avoiding it for months because I thought it was greedy of them to make people pay for content that was usually free. In the end I caved and have been rewarded with below subpar service. You get access to things like Comedy Central and MTV but you can't even view most of it. It's "scrambled", freezes, or starts you at the beginning when you're near the end (and if you didn't opt out of commercials you get to rewatch those too). There are no features like play from the beginning and it's not always easy to pick up from where you were. If you're watching a series and you see it's on the wrong episode you have to browse it, find it and play from there instead of hitting the back button on the current episode and searching episodes. Older episodes of Young Sheldon aren't available, nor is Mom or Judge Judy. Even the live CBSN never works. I had to download another app to watch that uninterrupted by a loading screen. Emailing support gets you no response and calling results in an automatic hang up. In sick of getting error messages. It's absolutely ridiculous at this point. It's funny because everything worked fine up into my free trial ended... wonder why? Save yourself the money and the headache. $59.95/ a year only gets you maybe 4 hours of viewing time a week and it's not uninterrupted. It's a waste. I have yet to finish a single show I wanted to stream and it's been 2 months. CBS All Access is the worst piece of trash out there. Rating systems need to change for the option of zero instead of 1

4 years ago

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Maria Robinson

Use the service to watch new Star Trek, and classic episodes. The new series is amazing with cinematic effects! Looking forward to the new series "Strange New Worlds."

4 years ago

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Gail Souare Titusville, FL

This is a horrible streaming service. The shows buffer constantly and commercials interrupt very frequently - even less than a minute after the previous commercial. And the episodes bounce back and forth. I had signed up for a "free" trial, and after the bad experience with commercials, I upgraded to the "no commercial" plan - believing I was still within my trial. BEWARE OF SMALL PRINT. If you upgrade during your free trial, you will be charged. I only found out when my PayPal was charged. I immediately cancelled the next day. I called customer service, but they said it was my problem I should have read the small print better, and it was nonrefundable. WHAT A RIP OFF.

4 years ago

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Bill C Bellevue, NE

Horrible streaming service -- I'd give it zero stars if the systemallowed: I've tried 5 different shows, at differenttimes of day, give them over 5 minutes to load, and so far the ONLY thing that streams is the previews and commercials. I've called tech support twice; the call just drops after approximately 5 minutes (I'd rather get a busy signal). I emailed tech support 26 hours ago: so day only the automatic 'your ticket number isn't response. I understand the significant increase in demand right now -- but we are not having any problems with Netflix or Amazon Prime. the ONLY good thing is that I'm still in the free trial period

4 years ago

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Teresa Yacolt, WA

I chose to get CBS All Access because DIRECTV couldn’t come to an agreement with Nexstar, the owner of CBS about cost of airing. Shame on CBS All Access to force their political views on the consumer. I started watching The Good Fight an original CBS All Access series and was bombarded with the liberal opinions of the creator of this series. I like the series, the stories and characters but strongly dislike the biased political content. Not every consumer is going to be on the same page as another person but this series takes it to a new level of extreme liberal, racism implications and deliberate bashing of our President of the United States. Will probably be leaving DIRECTV to another company that has CBS so I won’t have to pay this despicable service anymore! My friends and family feel the same way. Create entertainment without shoving your views down the throats of the consumer!

5 years ago

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Ted Johnson Pleasant Grove, UT

I like the CBS All Access, because I can stay up to date on the latest shows on CBS, as well as watch all of the episodes that I missed. I can access it anywhere and at anytime. It fits great into my busy schedule.

5 years ago

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Reese Pleasant Grove, UT

I have the CBS All Access and it gives me access to my favorite shows all the time and if I miss them on regular tv, I can catch up or bing watch them on my CBS All Access. any time and anywhere.

5 years ago

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Dusty Engstrom Baxter, IA

Never signed up for this. The only thing we can think of is that it was bundled in with Paramont when we had that for a short time. CBS is IMPOSSIBLE TO CANCEL!! We've never watched it or have any desire to. We have tried to log in using both of our email addresses but it can't find our account nor will it send us an email with log in help. SCAM!! we've been charged $10.69 per month for who knows how long now. I would definitely think twice before signing up for this or even a trial. BUYER BEWARE!!

2 years ago

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Teecee Anderson Daytona Beach, FL

The worst app EVER!! What good are New shows if you can't watch them?! Screen is always frozen or loading. The guys left game day because of paramount freezing up. Any who, they still get their money every month, although 80% of the time my screen says "content unavailable ". Don't do it!! P.S. Paramount, please don't purchase NFL or MLB games. You're ruining game day.

2 years ago

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Michael Stanchfield Frederick, MD

Horrible!! I have xfinity for my cable at home and log into it through roku at my friends place to watch football on Sundays. Cbs all access is the ONLY station where i cannot stream. Fox, nfl, espn, and nbs all have no problems. Cbs tries to get you to pay for paramount+ to stream live but why should i have to pay for something that i am already entitled to just because im not physically at my house? Cbs needs to get their act together because i already pay for cable so i SHOULD be able to stream cbs for free like the other streaming channels on roku

3 years ago

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Armando Menocal ,

Cheap and not even worth it. CBS All Access is horrible. Poor connection. I just finished streaming PBS New Hours w/o problems or buffering and sports on Sling. Have not been able to watch a minute of CBS all day, a Sunday with several NFL games on CBS, despite many attempts. It's always trying to find location, buffering and showing spinning ball. Not a minuet of programing. Finally cancelled after now 1 month.

4 years ago

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Damian Duncan Redlands, CA

After you pay a subscription and watch the many many commercials they play with your paid subscription, their programming then tries to trick you into paying for programming that you are already entitled. You may go back to a show you were just watching and it will default you to a paid version of the same series. CBS can't really be trusted, it appears that they are attempting to deceive their customers to increase revenue. BUYER BEWARE.

4 years ago Edited September 14, 2021

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Coyotedude Tyler, TX

Decided to do 7 day free preview and using android on a new Sony tv it buffered constantly. Checked for fix online and found recommendations to go though Amazon channels and that fixed buffering issue. Out of town due to funeral and was unable to cancel on time. Actually had two charges, Amazon Prime cancelled and refunded my payment, CBS all access told me they never give refunds. Have service for a month now but won’t watch due to buffering issue.

5 years ago

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Yosvani Lopez Lawrence, MA

They really do not care about their customers at CBS all access. I forget to cancel my trial by 2 days and hadn't used the account since the first day I got it. They refused to give me a refund. I know most other companies, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Video would have given me a refund because they use commonsense and quality service to make their profit, instead of trickery like CBS.

5 years ago

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abby becht Pleasant Grove, UT

CBS all access in my opinion I think that it isn't worth your money. They are a good product, however it is not a necessity. Regular CBS (which is just the free version of CBS all access) is just as good, even though it doesn't have past seasons of shows.

5 years ago

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Don Boren American Fork, UT

We used this service when we lived in my parents basement. I liked that you could watch all the episodes of "Big Bang Theory." The stream speed was so-so. There was a fair amount of buffering and the ads were repetitive.

5 years ago

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erin American Fork, UT

this is perfect for watching all the award shows you need. personally i use it for the tony awards. it gives good connections and really good too speed love connection!

5 years ago

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Gina Donofrio Lafayette, TN

CBS All Access has been my favorite App for years! It's Series' are always fresh and up to date on new episodes.

1 year ago

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Jamie Langston Madison, MS

Signed up today at 3:13 pm with the 30 days free offer. At 4:02 my PayPal account was charged for this month. Customer service said they had no record of the charge (while I'm actually looking at the PayPal statement) and then said they don't do refunds anyway. I'm furious at being scammed by what seems to be a legit business.

4 years ago

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Doug Wong Calgary, AB

At first CBS All Access was good but now there are technical difficulties which prevent me from watching certain shows. I reported this over 3 days ago. Tech support sent an e-mail asking for details which I provided and I have not heard back from them since. I have followed up each day and am extremely disappointed in their lack of service.

4 years ago

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Virginia Anderson Apopka, FL

CBS All access has really gone downhill! You pay to be able to watch an episode the same day & now there is a 24 hour delay. What’s up with that? Why the change? Look for another provider or a DVR service. This is unacceptable! I’m moving on!!!!

5 years ago

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Ponch Thompson South Jordan, UT

We did get to use this option for viewing a few shows. The technology is solid. Is Stable. Although we used the option for "free episodes", the app seems like a decent offering to also view additional content.

5 years ago

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Mark Dorch Las Vegas, NV

Can cannot believe a company that charges so much and has many updates the service is so bad. In a very important part of the live news the system freezes. With every update it get worse. FIX IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!

2 years ago

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PKCM Saluda, NC

Buffers constantly. I have yet to watch an uninterrupted episode of anything. Picard has rebuffered over 30 times tonight. CBS blames it on my server, but I don’t have this problem with Netflix or Hulu.

4 years ago

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Sharon Blomquist

They have so many good shows. They have local live tv as well as all your shows backed up via recordings.

6 years ago

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Amanda Montebello, CA

I just started using CBS All Access and I enjoy being able to have a wide variety of shows and seasons to watch for an affordable price.

4 years ago

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Erika Douglas Cedar Fort, UT

We are willing to pay extra for this, because of the quality of shows on CBS. We use this in addition to other streaming services.

4 years ago

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Amanda Warrendale, PA

CBS All Access is overpriced for content that you already pay for with your cable subscription. To pay on top of that for only a few shows i like isn't worth it.

5 years ago

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Keeli Hansen San Jose, CA

This app is amazing because all you need is your TV provider and you can watch all the shows that are in CBS

5 years ago

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Lindsey A Brown Lehi, UT

I Love CBS All Access! So easy to be able to find and watch all my favorite CBS shows all in one place. Easy to navigate as well.

5 years ago

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Verified Customer

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Jim Schmidt

Often will not load programs or freezes up frequently during a program

4 years ago

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Nicole Collins Fort Carson, CO

Absolutely frustrating app. Giving fatal error message and check connection when literally every other app is working just fine. Do not download. Waste of your time

3 years ago

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April aphe8493 Castle Rock, CO

Very nice for watching big brother. Easy to use and accessible. There are also other good shows on here.

4 years ago

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Tony Riverton, UT

Purchased the NCAA Tournament one year and streaming quality was fantastic and easy to navigate between games.

5 years ago

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Vincent Leuzze San Jose, CA

Only a limited amount of shows, but the shows that they do have are good. Still, there are many commercials which do lessen the experience.

5 years ago

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Mazi Marcel Womack Cedar City, UT

CBS All Access has great variety of shows and great quality of picture. No complaints here.

5 years ago

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Erin American Fork, UT

cbs is fantastic, it’s a perfect way to get newly released tv shows and is pretty affordable

6 years ago

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Shawn American Fork, UT

I have use this app mostly to stream sports it seems to be really easy I wish I had more content available.

6 years ago

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Karina Aguilar Managua, MN

I purchased cbs all access to be able to watch criminal minds season 13 but they were only streaming season 15, and then I cancelled it and they still charged me

4 years ago

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Darbles32 Managua, MN

I like CBS because it has a lot of my favorite British tv shows that I like to binge

4 years ago