Jordan Catalano said: "Good luck getting a large part of your audience - older people, to figure this out and subscribe and pay to watch the awards show that’s always free on Channel 2.
And will the Theater Wing have a special 800 Number to help Grandma figure out how to log onto Paramount+ and tell her if she doesn’t want to watch it on her Jitterbug phone that she’ll have to watch it on her computer and then explain SmartTV to her and how to set that up."
Well... That's just unnecessarily insulting. We are the TV generation, after all. We were born, and grew up with OTA TV, and we're here to witness its unfortunate demise.
It's not that we can't "figure this out". Speaking for myself, it's that I choose not to make a [bad] choice to pay for a subscription based on ONE show (or ONE live, OTA network channel for that matter). I've already done the free trial, and it didn't take very long to burn through the limited smattering of content ("thanks!", pandemic) that I found worth watching. Normally, I never watch CBS, save for once a year when the Tonys are broadcast.
If we truly are "a large part" of the viewing audience for the Tonys, then the powers that be may have made a decision that bites them in the patootie, later (who knows?). Since "The awards are a commercial for theater and there’s nothing to advertise right now", I don't see myself paying for a subscription to Paramount+ just to watch the Tonys.
Patience is a virtue. I mean, it's not like that content won't be available the following day (Heaven forbid!! Must.Have.NOW!), or even in real time via alternate (free and legal) Internet sources.