CBS and Showtime bundle: how do I know I have it?

[Deguello]

I went through, I thought, great care to sign up for this bundle but it turns out I somehow got only CBS All Access. I wasn’t subscribed to Showtime when I tried to watch it.

I went back through my email and followed the link for the bundle. The instructions there say subscribe to Apple TV+ (done for some time now), then subscribe to CBS All Access (done), then subscribe to Showtime (I just started the trial).

I don’t want to get double billed. Do I need to cancel everything and start over? Will they credit my account to give me the bundle price? Or does this need to show up as an actual bundle under my subscriptions? If the last one, how in the heck do I make that work, since it didn’t work last time?

Thanks...

 

[mallbritton]

I don't know if there are any regional restrictions on the bundle, but what country are you in?

Also, to get the bundle deal you must subscribe through the Apple TV app. It will be in the Channels section of the app. Scroll down a little and you ought to see an icon for the bundle. Select it and you will be prompted to sign up.

 

[Deguello]

I don't know if there are any regional restrictions on the bundle, but what country are you in?

Also, to get the bundle deal you must subscribe through the Apple TV app. It will be in the Channels section of the app. Scroll down a little and you ought to see an icon for the bundle. Select it and you will be prompted to sign up.

I’m in the US.

That‘s what I tried before, but I ended up with just CBS All Access.

I canceled my subscriptions for both CBS All Access and Showtime. Since I still have access until the end of their periods, everything still looks the same.

My plan is to let both of them time out and then try again.

I think I know what the problem was. I have Apple TV+ through family sharing (daughter bought a new phone) but I didn‘t get credit for that when I tried to sign up for the bundle. It looks like the same person has to do the subscribing to Apple TV+ and the bundle and that having access via family sharing isn’t sufficient. If that’s the problem, it feels like a bug. I won’t know for sure for a couple of weeks.

Thanks for the help. It’s appreciated.

 

[mallbritton]

I have Apple TV+ through family sharing (daughter bought a new phone) but I didn‘t get credit for that when I tried to sign up for the bundle. It looks like the same person has to do the subscribing to Apple TV+ and the bundle and that having access via family sharing isn’t sufficient.

Yes. This is exactly the reason you can't sub to the bundle. The person who controls the family account needs to sub to the bundle.

 

[pmiles]

Fair warning about bundles... you can't stop subscribing to one without unsubscribing to the others as well. If you subscribe to them separately, you can start and stop them separately. Most streamers hop from service to service as the content ebb and flows over time. Unless you are consistently watching all 3 channels, you may find that you are actually spending more with the bundle than had you subscribed individually.

It's obviously a little different in a multi-user household, but something to consider before committing to a bundle.

 

[Deguello]

Fair warning about bundles... you can't stop subscribing to one without unsubscribing to the others as well. If you subscribe to them separately, you can start and stop them separately. Most streamers hop from service to service as the content ebb and flows over time. Unless you are consistently watching all 3 channels, you may find that you are actually spending more with the bundle than had you subscribed individually.

It's obviously a little different in a multi-user household, but something to consider before committing to a bundle.

That’s an excellent point but with four people of varied interests and schedules it’s probably safest just to have them all on, at least until everyone catches up on what they want.

 

[Deguello]

Yes. This is exactly the reason you can't sub to the bundle. The person who controls the family account needs to sub to the bundle.

Can you point me to the documentation for that? I’d be surprised if the person subscribed to Apple TV+ couldn’t get the bundle.

Either way, this information was poorly conveyed, i.e. not at all, at the time I tried to subscribe to the bundle.

 

[pmiles]

I would suspect that you can't bundle a service that you aren't subscribed to. Family sharing isn't the same thing as being subscribed to the service. The person who activated the free trial is the one who is subscribed to the service, they are the one scheduled to be billed when the trial period ends. Only that person can bundle other services together with AppleTV+.

Perhaps wait out the free trial period, cancel when it's close to being due for billing, then subscribe to all three on the account you wish to have billed? Family sharing will allow you to share the content like AppleTV+ is currently doing.

 

[Deguello]

I would suspect that you can't bundle a service that you aren't subscribed to. Family sharing isn't the same thing as being subscribed to the service. The person who activated the free trial is the one who is subscribed to the service, they are the one scheduled to be billed when the trial period ends. Only that person can bundle other services together with AppleTV+.

Perhaps wait out the free trial period, cancel when it's close to being due for billing, then subscribe to all three on the account you wish to have billed? Family sharing will allow you to share the content like AppleTV+ is currently doing.

Well, since I manage the family, I’m the one who will be billed even though my daughter activated Apple TV+ when she got her phone. I suspect she could have purchased the bundle but since she now has CBS and Showtime via family sharing, she can’t do it either.

I agree that waiting for at least one of the trials to expire and seeing what happens now that I have subscribed to Apple TV+ via Apple One is probably the only option.

All that said, Apple shouldn’t have made it possible for me to select the bundle if I couldn’t purchase it. I’ll see how it sorts out once the individual subscriptions are gone.

 

[Deguello]

For the record...

CBS All Access trial expired today. Showtime trial is still in effect.

My daughter, who had Apple TV+ by virtue of a new phone, had the option to add the bundle, even though she isn't the family manager.

I subscribed to Apple One and then I had the option to add the bundle.

Apparently, to get the bundle you have to be subscribed to Apple TV+ -- family sharing isn't enough -- but you don't have to be the family manager if you're the one who initiated the Apple TV+ subscription.

Regardless, the bundle shouldn't have been a displayed option for someone who couldn't buy the bundle or, if it was displayed, selecting it should have notified the user that family sharing wouldn't work, rather than appearing to work but not having the subscription show up.

Good times.