CBs to use Silverlight for user submitteed video

CBS partners with Microsoft for that "Always on" goodness.

From the press release:

“Central to our ‘Always On’ strategy has been the desire to create an interactive environment where our audiences can participate in the local broadcast process,” said Jonathan Leess, President and General Manager of CBS Television Stations Digital Media Group. “This project, using Microsoft Silverlight technology, allows us to empower the massive long tail of untapped local media content which is waiting to converge with the broadband and broadcast mediums.”

The new local initiative will allow users of the CBS-owned stations’ sites to view, upload, share, rate, comment, sort and search video, images, audio and text submissions. A key component of the application is its full integration into the existing content publishing workflow of the CBS
Television Stations’ digital media groups. It allows the community-generated content to be managed alongside the station’s professional content in a single workflow.

“We are excited about working with an industry leader such as CBS Television Stations,” said S. Somasegar, Corporate Vice President of the Developer Division at Microsoft Corporation. “CBS has demonstrated a commitment to unique digital media experiences and a drive to develop
platforms that incorporate the voice of the community, while also delivering the highest quality experiences.”

“Broadcasting is no longer a one-way directional medium,” Leess said. “Audiences and advertisers are looking for compelling local content that speaks to them, to their families, to their neighbors. This project allows us to help foster that connection.”

CBS mega-deal

More on the CBS mega-deal from Lost Remote:

"So in essense, you’ll soon be able to watch CBS shows just about everywhere online. Lost Remote reader Jeff sent us a note earlier this morning about his experiences with Joost, and his comments carry even more weight when you consider the new CBS distribution deals: “This demonstrates that for local TV, the license no longer is an exclusive franchise to print money. And for cable MSOs, this should further drive home that maybe they should have an alternative business plan to just provide a lot of bandwidth to the consumer and let them have at it.” It’s a new world, folks."

From the press release:

“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.”

CBS and Joost

Another big win for Joost.

From the press release:

"Through Joost, the world's first broadcast-quality Internet television service, viewers can watch CBS programs through a customizable platform with advanced television viewing features such as links that lead to more information or related websites based on the content; and a variety of plug-in applications, such as instant messaging, message boards and news tickers.

"Joost is a long-term solution for content owners seeking to expand their audiences in the online world. A state-of-the-art global distribution platform, Joost is the perfect place for CBS to offer its channels, brands and premium programming to online audiences," said Yvette Alberdingkthijm, executive vice president of content strategy and acquisition for Joost. "By working with Joost, CBS can get closer to its audiences while retaining maximum programming flexibility and control over its channels."

CW: Web to TV

From B&C:

"YouTube may soon get a taste of its own medicine if The CW greenlights a reality pilot that would put the Web’s best user-generated content on weekly TV.

Ghen Maynard, CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group’s alternative programming guru, whose company co-owns the young-adult network with Time Warner, has been spearheading the project under the working title of Viewsers.

The show, from Room 403 Prods., a traditional and new-media company headed by David Hurwitz (Fear Factor) and Paul Cockerill (Trigger Happy TV, Jimmy Kimmel Live), would air the best videos from countless Websites, blogs and user-generated materials. According to the logline, the viral videos capturing the most online attention make the cut."

CBS's Quincy Smith and The Electric Sheep

CBS will participate in a 7m round of financing for The Electric Sheep.

From Reuters:

"We believe that all these virtual worlds represent next generation communications platforms," CBS Interactive President Quincy Smith said in a phone interview last week."

From 3pointD:

"Sheep CEO Sibley Verbeck tells the news agency, “Electric Sheep plans to use the financing to create software to make virtual worlds ready for mainstream consumption.”

From ESC: (Giff)

"As Sibley told Reuters, some of the capital will be focused on our software efforts as we strive to make virtual worlds ready for mainstream consumption. A big part of this is ease of use, which is why Electric Sheep is so active in the Second Life open source effort and hosts openmetaverse.org. Another part of this is building a second layer of information services on top of virtual worlds that helps people communicate and engage."

Google Selling TV Advertising

Advertising Age has a look at the pending Google-CBS deal.

From the article:

"Under the deal, Google would offer CBS revenue guarantees for content licensing and the reselling of traditional media inventory. Those close to the talks said negotiations have included CBS making local TV spots available for Google to resell.

"Google is poised to be a major player in national ad markets in all media," said Barry Parr, analyst at Jupiter Research. "They've learned some things about self-service ad sales that will be useful to them in other markets." And he believes the struggles of local markets -- thanks to consolidation of advertisers, competition from the internet and competition with non-media marketing tactics such as direct mail -- will provide an opening for a player like Google.

Jessica Reif Cohen, an analyst with Merrill Lynch, issued a note last week and said if the CBS-Google pact included 10% of CBS Radio's advertising time, that portion of the deal could involve about $200 million in revenue. She also suggests it could lead to the disintermediation of traditional advertising buyers over time.

Indeed, a deal with CBS will help boost its struggling radio and, possibly, local TV ad sales divisions. CBS Radio revenue is down 7% through the first three quarters of 2006, and local TV is expected to face difficult comparisons in 2007, since it got a boost last year from the 2006 elections. Contrary to many assumptions, the deal wouldn't be just for remnant inventory, and would be instrumental in helping Google get its audio-advertising business off the ground."

CBS and Second Life

From PaidContent:

"Philip Rosedale, CEO of Second Life, came on stage to debut an SL version of “Star Trek” via a machinima (machine animation) developed by Electric Sheep to show what users will be able to do in the virtual Star Trek they are creating for CBS."

3pointD:

"Nice for the Sheep and Linden Lab to be involved in such a partnership — and to be mentioned in the company of a site that was bought for $1.65 billion. This is also part of the growing trend of media convergence with virtual worlds that I’ve been so interested in lately. And Moonves says there’s more to come.

“Anything is possible,” Moonves said. “Audiences know that, content people know that, and innovators in the digital space know that. In the weeks and months to come, we’ll have a lot more news on how we’ll be working with the interactive community in ways both big and small.”

CBS Leslie Moonves

From PaidContent:

"On experimenting: “At this stage, these are all experiments because we don’t know where the world will lead. So far the experiment with YouTube has been phenomenally successful. When you see that there are millions and millions of hits and it’s turning into a great promotional vehicle for us and we haven’t even begun to monetize it, which will be the next step, we’re very pleased with what has happened with that in the early stages.

What’s next? Right now, we’re looking at everything. There isn’t a day that goes by we’re not looking at some deal. There’s an enormous amount of time and energy expended—bringing in Quincy Smith, Quincy’s staff … There is rarely a week that goes by that we are not pitched by 10 different companies to invest, to acquire."