CBS First Network to Sell TV Show Episodes on Own Website

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 2, 2006 - 7:20am.

Los Angeles - CBS has become the first network to sell downloadable episodes of its TV series on its own website, eliminating third-party distributors like Apple's iTunes Store and Google Video. "It's been our strategy to exploit content across as many platforms as possible," said CBS CEO Leslie Moonves. "This is not only a boon to fans of the show, who can now watch it at their leisure, but it also represents a great way to generate traffic for CBS.com while opening a whole new revenue stream for CBS." Episodes of shows including "CSI" and "Survivor" will be available for $1.99 after midnight on the night they air, and accessible for a 24-hour period after they are downloaded from CBS.com -- unlike on iTunes, where episode downloads do not expire.
http://www.latimes.com/technology/la-fi-cbs2feb02,1,5854521.story
http://www.cbs.com