CBS Archive

CBS and CBS-owned Last.fm have announced a distribution deal today that will bring CBS Radio stations across the U.S. to the Last.fm Internet music service. The deal will bring the top stations including New York’s WCBS-FM, Los Angeles’ KROQ, Chicago’s WXRT and Atlanta’s WVEE to Last.fm. CBS also notes, "A staggered rollout of CBS RADIO’s streams to Last.fm is currently underway and includes all genres, including rock, pop, country, news, talk
and sports stations, among others. The full online version of the stations will be streamed, providing Web-based advertisers additional exposure to Last.fm’s growing U.S. audience."

Basically what this means is that if you like the on-air personalities on one CBS station and move to another city, you can still live like you were in the old city before you moved to the new city where you will now listen to music and information from the old city. 

Caroline at CNET has more details and check out Jake’s review of Music 2.0 from 2007.

CBS Television stations have launched a new local widget program for bloggers in cities where CBS owns the local station. Initial stations included in the program are: Boston, San Francisco, Dallas, Denver and Chicago. New York City will be coming soon they say. The technology is provided by Syndigo Networks.

There is an application process for bloggers who want to be included. The program includes a rev-share for bloggers who install the widget. Unfortunately there is no information provided to bloggers besides their share. I’ve been against this practice for 12+ years now.  

I’ve posted an image of a widget (scaled down) below using the CBS station in Boston. It’s pretty ugly and from my limited testing, the ads are all large 300×250 square remnant ads that will probably net the publisher no more than $1/CPM. I’d prefer to see a smaller, more contextual ad in the widget. So it’s CBS that wins on both the content syndication and the advertising rev-share.

Additional commentary on Alley Insider and CNET. Here is an example widget:

Some awesome news out of Manhattan today. CBS Corporation has announced today that it will "light up" midtown Manhattan with the creation of the "CBS Mobile Zone," a wireless high-speed network enabling New Yorkers with Wi-Fi-enabled cell phones, laptops or other devices to access the Internet for free, and make voice over internet (VOI) calls.

The zone will be from Times Square to Central Park South and from 6th Avenue to 8th Avenue and is a test in partnership with the MTA.

You might be asking what CBS gets out of the deal – ad impressions! New Yorkers who access the "CBS Mobile Zone," will be greeted by an ad-supported homepage that includes hyperlocal content such as breaking local and national news, sports highlights, weather reports, music discovery, wallpapers, ringtones, maps, a social network and the ability to search for nearby restaurants, shops and entertainment complete with geographically- targeted community reviews. Citi and Salesgenie.com(TM) have signed on to be early sponsors of the Wi-Fi HotZone.

"This is another example of how the assets of CBS Outdoor are enhanced by new technologies," said Wally Kelly, Chairman and CEO of CBS Outdoor. "What better way to show we are committed to turning our Outdoor assets
into next-generation interactive platforms than providing free Wi-Fi service in what is arguably the busiest stretch of real estate in the world. This offering will allow us to evaluate the prospect of applying Wi-Fi capabilities across our Outdoor properties globally."

They are also giving routers to local businesses in the Mobile Zone to enhance the signals. I wonder what the signal will be like on New Year’s Eve! Just how many connections can this system handle was not disclosed.

Many of the companies covered on CN are included in the Homepage including: Tropos, BIG, Fon, Ning, Goowy, Veoh, Yelp, 1020, Aptilo and Can-Do Entertainment.

Very exciting news – I will do my best to test the system over the coming weeks and report back.

CBS just posted a press release that begins with, "New Deals Signed with AOL, Microsoft, CNET Networks, Comcast, Joost, Bebo, Brightcove, Netvibes, Sling Media and Veoh, Solidify CBS's Position as the Most Widely Distributed Professional Content Provider Online"

"Today marks an important step in our strategy to distribute content broadly across the online interactive landscape on an open, non-exclusive basis," said Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS Corporation.  "Each of these partners offers value to our audience and our advertisers, who can now come to CBS not only for the most watched network on television, but for the most widely distributed professional content online."

"CBS's ability to partner with leading next-generation interactive platforms is the best way for CBS to evolve from a content company to an audience company," said Quincy Smith, President, CBS Interactive.  "It's really all about the user, and in building the CBS Interactive Audience Network, we are bringing our content to each unique platform of their choice. In remaining open to all online distributors and community builders — big and small —we can learn more about our existing audience, be exposed to new ones, and flexibly cater to their changing consumption habits."

Check out the full release on the AOL web site.

This past May I was in Germany visiting my friends Till and Mark. And we all know what was on TV in May:

• Finals for Amazing Race
• 24 Season Finale
• Lost Season Finale
• Prison Break Finale
• etc, etc, etc.

Now, I do own a dvr with my satellite dish provider. So before I left, I clicked all the shows I wanted to watch upon my return. However, while I was on this three week hiatus, I got the urge to watch. What happened if Jack died and I didn't learn about it until June? What about if the losties were rescued?

So I turned to iTunes. Here are all of the episodes available for me to watch on my laptop. For the small price of $1.99, I can stay current on the American shows while enjoying the German life. My flight from Berlin to Munich was perfect because I caught an episode of 24.

So now I return to the states in late May and see that CBS is now offering Amazing Race, Big Brother and many of their other fall tv shows on Innertube. Basically Innertube allows you to watch tv shows in their full glory for free. But alas, here is the catch, there are commercials. But you save $1.99. I am guessing at some point, we might have a choice of a paid subscription with no commercials or a free ad-sponsored environment.

Last week I tried it out a few times, watching Big Brother episodes. Worked quite well, load times were quick and the video smooth.

And so, with more and more shows offering web versions, with companies like Innertube offering to allow you to watch full tv shows for free, is the TV set dead? Which network will be the first one to "creatively destroy" themselves to be the first pioneer to move to web?

Comcast offers on-demand but it is on my tv set. Who will offer on-demand but on my computer? For example, when will food network offer me Giada or Rachael on-demand on foodtv.com? When will WWE offer the old matches between Funk and Gordy on demand? 

And most importantly, which mega-super-power will offer them all (with a nice remote control!)?

Tags: innertube | cbs | tv