CBS joins 'TV Everywhere' trial
July 15, 2009
CBS has become the first network to sign up to trials of an online VOD in the US. The broadcaster's alliance with Comcast, the cable group which unveiled plans for its On Demand Online service last month, could help CBS build up an alternative to Hulu, the fast-growing online video site backed by three rival US networks – NBC, News Corp's Fox and Walt Disney's ABC.
To date, CBS has declined to offer its content through Hulu, preferring instead to build up its own online video site, TV.com, which has not matched Hulu's traffic.
Comcast said the technical trial would start "in the coming weeks" with 5,000 customers across the country, in the industry's first big test of the 'TV Everywhere' idea that consumers should have access to full length video online if that have already paid for it through a pay-television subscription.