US broadcast network, CBS, will begin making its high-profile reality TV series, "Survivor," available for download on its Web site (CBS.com) a few hours after the latest season of the show premieres on linear TV tonight (Thursday). Episodes of the show will be offered on the site following their West Coast broadcast, and will be available on-demand through June. They will be priced at $1.99 each, and consumers will have 24 hours to view them. "This is a first in network television," CBS president and CEO, Leslie Moonves, said in a prepared statement. "Never before has primetime hit programming been available for a fee on a wholly owned Web site. It's been our strategy to exploit content across as many platforms as possible, and putting this hugely popular series online is a natural fit. 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."
While "Survivor" is the first of CBS's primetime programs to be offered on its Web site, the network already offers a number of free, Web-exclusive original programs on the site. These include "Survivor Live!," a companion show that features interviews with the latest contestant to be voted off the show, as well as show highlights and chat; "The Finish Line" and "House Calls," which are companion shows to the reality series, "The Amazing Race" and "Big Brother" respectively; and "CBS Soap Box," a weekly hour-long companion show to CBS's daytime soap operas. In an interview with news agency Reuters, Wednesday, Larry Kramer, CBS's president of digital media, said that the network plans to eventually offer other programs on its Web site, including both CBS-owned shows and shows from third parties. The network also sells episodes from a selection of its shows on Google's recently launched Google Video Store, as well as on Comcast's VOD platform.
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