Review: Ten All Access

I love Channel Ten. Ten Entertainment Network. CBS. Whatever you want to call it. Most of the shows I enjoy come from their hub of awesomeness (except reality TV). I also enjoy any new product that is about streaming video on demand. Plus I enjoy trying to do reviews on them.

After the U.S. network juggernaut bought the struggling Network Ten in late August 2017, there was mentions of changes to their broadcast library and maybe a spit-n-polish on what we see on TV. I was excited when the early mentions of CBS bringing their U.S. based ‘on demand’ service to Australia, which means there would be more kick-arse classic shows available. At the time, there was no set date, other than “coming late 2018”. So I did some detective work to see if ‘tenallaccess.com.au’ and ’10allaccess.com.au’ were registered, and checked them periodically.

Then out of nowhere, on December 4, 2018 – the aforementioned domains became active. Woo! For $9.99 a month, anyone could access CBS’s back catalogue as well as modern and “All Access Exclusive” content! Including 24/7 streaming of their U.S. news channel, CBSN.

So I instantly signed up for their 1 month free trial to view their wares. What could I be in for? Retro Beverly Hills 90210? MacGyver? Everybody Loves Raymond? It’s A Knockout!? Double Dare Australia? The Comedy Company? Alan Jones Live? Well, here’s the list:

• The 4400
• 7th Heaven
• 90210
• Accidentally On Purpose
• American Gothic
• The Andy Griffith Show
• The Bachelor Australia
• The Bachelor In Paradise Australia
• The Bachelorette
• Becker
• Beverly Hills 90210
• Blue Bloods
• Brain Dead
• Charmed
• Cheers
• C.S.I: Cyber
• C.S.I: Miami
• C.S.I: New York
• Diagnosis Murder
• Dogs In The City
• Dr Quinn: Medicine Woman
• Everybody Hates Chris
• Extant
• Family Ties
• Frasier
• The Fugitive
• The Game
• The Good Fight
• The Good Wife
• The Great Indoors
• Happy Together
• Hawaii Five-O (classic)
• Hawaii Five-O (reboot)
• I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here Australia
• Instinct
• Jericho
• King & Maxwell
• The King Of Queens
• Life Unexpected
• The Living Room
• The Love Boat
• MacGyver (classic)
• MacGyver (reboot)
• Madam Secretary
• The McCarthys
• Medium
• Melrose Place (classic)
• Melrose Place (reboot)
• The Messengers
• The Millers
• Mission: Impossible
• NCIS
• NCIS: Los Angeles
• NCIS: New Orleans
• The Neighborhood
• Neighbours (current season only)
• Numb3rs
• One Dollar (All Access original)
• Perry Mason
• Rawhide
• Valor
• Reckless
• Ringer
• Rules Of Engagement
• Sabrina The Teenage Witch (classic)
• SEAL Team
• Star Crossed
• Wings
• Strange Angel (All Access original)
• Superior Angel
• Survivor
• Tell Me A Story (All Access original)
• Touched By Angel
• The Twilight Zone (classic)
• Wisdom Of The Crowd

That’s a decent list, even though there’s only Australian reality / lifestyle shows and not one drama, sitcom or comedy that’s homegrown. I’ll check it out anyway.

Then…

Huh???!!?!

I’m located in Australia, with a highly regarded Australian ISP. I am not using a VPN. I have nothing blocking my access on my PC. I’m using the most modern Chrome browser on Windows 10. So I try the latest Firefox. No dice. I check my IP address, and it says I’m located in my state, which is accurate.

So, the next step. I try my Macbook. Same deal. I try the offical iPhone app. Still the same. I reboot my modem. No change. I turn off my WiFi on my iphone and use my mobile 4G. Works fine. So it’s my ISP that’s blocked.

I contact the help centre at the Ten All Access HQ, and after a week’s worth of going back and forth with correspondence, IP address sharing and going through as much troubleshooting as possible, my last e-mail I received from them was “We will forward your IP address to our technicians and will update you as soon as possible“.

That was four days ago. I haven’t heard any follow-up. According to this Whirlpool page, other TPG users, and some Telstra customers are having issues too.

So, the only review I can give you is supplying you their library as of December 11, 2018, and their geo-blocking is shit-house. Hopefully their library has expanded by the time I get access.

If you want to give it a look, they are currently offering one month free trial, then they’ll charge you $9.99 a month after that. Tip: If you cancel it a few days in (which I did) they offer another month for free (which they did to me). But I am not sure if it’ll happen to you.

Site: TenAllAccess.com.au – Both 10AllAccess and TenAllAccess work.

UPDATE December 29th, 2018: Roughly 24 – 48 hours after this article went live, we received an e-mail from the CBS Support service centre, advising that the access had been updated. When checked – we got in – using Chrome browser on a Macbook Pro.

There is not much to report, other than yes – it’s commercial-free. You are paying $9.99AU monthly for their catalogue with no commercials. Kind of like when Foxtel was ad-free… remember those days?

Since the update, there was already one Ten All Access exclusive that was axed – One Dollar. Ouch.

Navigating my way across the top menu, other than the logo which takes you to the front page, there is the Show list, and the Live News access – a 24 hour stream of CBSN in the U.S. The resolution is decent, but there isn’t much detail on the quality, other than the generic “Low / Medium / High” and “Auto” feeds. So, if you are a news junkie and a hardcore CBSN fan, then you can binge on this til your heart’s content. But it’s only accessible through the payment subscription.

All in all, for value-for-money – it’s currently not like what Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime, Hayu, Fetch, and Foxtel can offer, because it’s not much that is on offer. It feels like their TV channels (Ten, Eleven / Peach, One / Bold) just ad-free.

If you want to cut-through, bring back the vintage archives from early Australian broadcasting!