Buoyed by the success of last year’s March Madness on Demand and, presumably, its experiment with live streaming on Joost, CBS is making video coverage of the college basketball tournament available to owners of Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch. Available through a dedicated iPhone app, users will be able to view live games (WiFi only) and access real-time scores, stats, and other related content. Interestingly, the app isn’t free but costs $4.99 available through iTunes and the iPhone’s App Store, another example of media companies using Apple’s mobile software store as a way of charging for content.
Posts Tagged ‘CBS’
CBS to stream NCAA's March Madness on iPhone and iPod touch
March 12th, 2009 | Posted in Mobile, Net TV | 
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NBC continues experiment by putting TV shows online before their network premiers
September 17th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | 1 Comment
If you just can’t wait to see what the new “Knight Rider” or “Chuck” TV shows are all about, you’re in luck. For the third consecutive year, NBC is making new series available online a week before their network premiers.
You can also find “Kath & Kim,” “Crusoe,” “My Own Worst Enemy,” “Life,” Lipstick Jungle,” and “30 Rock” everywhere you look — NBC’s Website, iTunes, Amazon’s Unbox, Microsoft Xbox and Zune, Hulu, and through TV providers such as Comcast, Cox, Charter, Dish, and Verizon FIOS.
Did NBC leave anybody out?
“We want to make (programs) available in as many ways as we can so we can get fans,” NBC’s marketing boss John Miller told USA Today. “If you don’t embrace people’s behavior, you can be lost by it.”
NBC’s early-release strategy is at odds with most other networks.
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CBS to introduce new online video player with promising social features
June 2nd, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | 1 Comment
CBS Interactive is launching a new online video player this week, with more features to be added throughout the summer. It’s one we may actually end up cheering about.
Our normal reaction to news that a traditional media company is releasing a new online video player might go something like this: Big deal. They’ll just cripple it so we spend time watching shows on their network.
No so fast buckeroo.
AdAge wrote today that the CBS player will use a content and advertising engine powered by technology acquired in the purchase of Last.fm, the popular streaming music site. The new player will include an HD viewing experience that does not require a separate download, sharing features, and social viewing rooms that let people watch and discuss content together.
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Viacom seems to have cooled on Joost; is it headed to the Deadpool?
May 23rd, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | 4 Comments
It looks as though the once high-and-mighty Joost is running out of juice.
Joost, the peer-to-peer Internet TV service that once raised $45 million in 2006 from investors such as CBS, Viacom, and Sequoia Capital Index Ventures, is revamping its tech platform [last100] with a Web-based service that requires only a plug-in to play in browsers. It’s due sometime this summer.
Currently Joost requires a downloaded desktop client to play peer-to-peer content. It works with Microsoft operating systems XP and Vista and Apple’s OS X (but Intel processors only).
The Web plug-in is clearly a move to stay afloat and relative amid the success of an online streaming site like Hulu, but two of Joost’s biggest investors, CBS and Viacom, have little to say about the service these days.
Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman was less than enthusiastic about Joost in an interview with paidContent, which asked: “Is the service where he [Dauman] thought it would be?”
“We come at Joost or any other platforms from the point of view that we cannot predict — nor did we in that case or any other case — predict which ones are going to be hugely successful, moderately successful, which won’t work,” he said.
OK then.
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Find out who shot Laura Palmer; CBS adds five classic TV shows for online viewing
May 20th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | 3 Comments
Can’t remember who shot Laura Palmer?
Miss the wacky romantics on “The Love Boat?”
Despair no more. CBS has added select seasons for online viewing of five “classics” at CBS.com and on the CBS Audience Network, which includes sites such as AOL, Joost, CNET, VideoEgg and bunches more. The shows include “Beverly Hills 90210”, “The Love Boat,” “Twin Peaks,” “Family Ties,” and “Perry Mason.”
In addition, CBS has also added seasons for three shows already available online: “MacGyver,” “The Twilight Zone,” and “Hawaii Five-O.”
So who did shoot Laura Palmer?
[Interested in watching vintage TV on the Web? Check out the last100 post “From ‘Alfred Hitchcock’ to the ‘A Team’”]
In just two months, Hulu becomes 10th largest online video streaming site
May 20th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | No Comments
In just over two months, Hulu has moved from private beta to the No. 10 online video streaming site.
In doing so, Hulu bests all of the major networks — NBC and Fox (Hulu’s parents), ABC, and CBS. It’s an impressive feat.
At the same time, Hulu is expanding its content footprint by adding seven partners, meaning its library of current and vintage TV shows will be more widely available. Hulu videos will be distributed on entertainment and social networking sites TV.com, TVGuide.com, BuddyTV, Flixster.com, MyYearbook.com, Break.com, and Zap2it.com.
“While it is extremely early in terms of Hulu’s history of serving users, we’re quite excited to see such positive trends in Hulu’s growth and viewership,” Jason Kilar, Hulu’s chief executive officer, told Reuters.
In April, people watched 63.2 million videos on Hulu and its partners’ sites and spent on average 129.3 minutes per month, beating nearest rival ABC.com (60.8 million videos, an average of 57.3 minutes).
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CBS scores big with March Madness on Demand
April 14th, 2008 | Posted in Net TV | No Comments
No surprise here, unless of course you were a Memphis fan, but CBS’ online March Madness on Demand was a big hit.
CBS said it had 4.8 million unique visitors throughout the three-week tournament, a 164 percent increase over 1.8 million uniques in 2007. Of course, that’s apples and oranges: This was the first year CBS made the entire NCAA men’s basketball tournament available from start to finish.
Total hours consumed live online were 4.9 billion, up 81 percent from 2.7 billion in 2007. Again, apples and oranges. (via paidContent)
As you might figure, interest in the tournament was greater at the start, when 64, then 32, then 16 teams were involved, expanding the number of fans who might tune in via the Web. The busiest time was during business hours, when people did not have access to a television and the boss was out of earshot.
CBS has not said anything officially about the profitability of March Madness on Demand, but a spokesman got in touch with the folks at NewTeeVee to say it estimates revenues at $23 million, up from an earlier prediction of $21 million.
All in all, not bad for CBS, the NCAA, and tournament winner Kansas. Memphis, however, may see it a bit differently.