Advanced Television

Hulu strikes exclusive CSI SVoD deal

February 20, 2015

CSIUS online entertainment streaming service Hulu has acquired the exclusive subscription video on demand (SVoD) rights to all previous seasons of CBS’s award-winning, critically-acclaimed crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. All episodes will be available for streaming on Hulu with a Plus subscription beginning early April.

Through the multi-year agreement, Hulu subscribers will be able to stream more than 300 episodes and all complete past seasons of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Hulu also becomes the exclusive SV0D home to all episodes of the series, and will add full libraries of past seasons ahead of future series premières. The deal marks the first time CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has been licensed to an SVoD service.

The series ranked as television’s number one drama for seven seasons and became a global phenomenon, earning the title of the ‘most-watched show in the world’ on five separate occasions, most recently in 2012. CSI has also developed into major a franchise for CBS, spawning three television spin-offs, books, video games and CSI: The Experience, an interactive educational exhibit about forensic science that travels around the world.

CSI is one of the most popular television franchises in the world and we could not be more thrilled to make all episodes available to Hulu subscribers,” said Craig Erwich, Senior Vice President and Head of Content, Hulu. “This deal not only represents a huge growth in our offering of premium content, but it also represents an expansion in our partnership with CBS. We look forward to working with CBS to continue making some of the best shows on television available for viewers to stream on more screens in the future.”

“The original series from the most successful franchise in television history has been licensed to the SVoD market for the first time,” said Scott Koondel, Chief Corporate Content Licensing Officer for CBS Corporation. “This agreement and previous deals with our partners at Hulu further validates how well CBS procedural dramas perform on subscription services. And, at a time when the CBS Television Network is getting ready to première the next generation of the CSI franchise with CSI: Cyber, it’s very exciting to make available all 14 seasons of the show that started it all to Hulu subscribers and CSI’s passionate fan base.”

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