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Grammy Report: Taylor Wins, CBS Live Stream Loses

Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
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Barb Darrow
By
Barb Darrow
Barb Darrow
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 16, 2016, 9:12 AM ET
The trophy of the Grammy Awards in Los A
Los Angeles, UNITED STATES: The trophy of the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles 11 February 2007. AFP PHOTO/Gabriel BOUYS (Photo credit should read GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/Getty Images)Photograph by Gabriel Bouys — AFP/Getty Images

CBS (CBS) certainly got attention with its live stream of Monday night’s 2016 Grammy Awards, which featured another star turn by Taylor Swift. It was just not necessarily the sort of attention it wanted: Viewers complained that streaming video of the awards show was either wonky or nonexistent.

The idea of streaming the annual music awards gala to all manner of devices was to entice people into paying $5.99 a month for the CBS All Access subscription service that competes with Hulu.

MORE: This Year’s Grammy Trophies Have a Built-in Go Pro

This was the first time the network made a live event available to iOS, Android, and Windows 10 phones and tablets as well as connected gadgets like Apple TV (APPL) , Roku players, Chromecast (GOOGL), Android TV, Xbox 360 (MSFT), Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV stick (AMZN).

For more on the 2016 Grammys, watch:

The only problem was the access wasn’t all there, according to complaints aired very publicly on social media.

https://twitter.com/thatgeekdad/status/699413221908807680

https://twitter.com/AbbyDockum/status/699412952982499328

@CBS *monopolizes the Grammy's live stream….makes you sign up for a free trial…still can't watch the Grammys pic.twitter.com/KhxOX6Mdrx

— Brandon Brooks (@thebrooksbrand) February 16, 2016

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A CBS Interactive spokesperson acknowledged that some users “experienced temporary difficulty accessing the live online feed, because the location services provider had a temporary problem verifying user locations. That issue has been resolved.”

About the Author
Barb Darrow
By Barb Darrow
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