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CBS opens up more of its classic TV library

By Tim Conneally, BetaNews

May 20, 2008, 8:34 PM

Like Nintendo doling out classic games on the Wii Virtual Console, CBS Home Entertainment has opened up its vault and pulled out some classic shows to be viewed freely on CBS.com and on its partnering CBS Audience Network sites.

Starting today, clips and full episodes of The Love Boat, Beverly Hills 90210, Twin Peaks, Family Ties, and Perry Mason will be available on over 300 participating CBS Audience Network sites. Partners include the recently-acquired CNET and its related subsidiaries, AOL, Microsoft, Comcast, Joost, Sling Media, Veoh, and Bebo.

This looks to be an ongoing process, with CBS noting that more content from "one of the largest television programming libraries in the entertainment business" will be made available in the coming weeks.

Where other networks have made their content available through strategic partnerships such as those with Hulu and SyncTV, CBS has instead opted to spread itself as widely as possible, making its content available wherever it can fit.

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By foxfyre

posted May 21, 2008 - 4:23 PM

You folks would benefit from exploring the origin of Viacom and its forced spinoff from CBS due to anti-trust regulations in 1973 due to the FCC ruling that then forbid television networks from owning syndication companies - at a time when CBS owned the syndication rights (regardless of where they originally aired!) of the top 9 of 10 shows.

Score: 0

By afinnie

posted May 21, 2008 - 8:39 AM

Your quite right, most of these shows nevered aired on CBS TV. The article is a bit misleading. The "CBS" being referred to in the article is CBS Paramount Network Television, the successor company to both Paramount Television and CBS Productions (as well as a few others thrown in such as Desilu Productions). CBS Paramount owns a lot of programming, much of which never ran on the CBS TV network.

With rare exceptions, none of the five broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CW) actually own the programs they broadcast. They pay for the rights to broadcast programming made by various studios, some of which ARE owned by the networks but run as separate divisions. For example, ABC has ABC Studios (formerly Touchstone Television), NBC has Universal Media Studios (aka NBC Universal Inc.), CBS and CW both have CBS Paramount and Fox has 20th Century Fox Televsion.

Score: 0

By CT2001

posted May 21, 2008 - 4:39 AM

Perry Mason, and the original series of Star Trek and The Twilight Zone (listed among the programs on the CBS Audience Network site) are clearly classics, but The Love Boat, 90210 and Family Ties? Classic TV? Umm...suuuuure! :P

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted May 21, 2008 - 10:49 AM

I can see Love Boat and Family Ties, but I'm with you on 90210.

...maybe it's because I hates it.

Score: 0

By psycros

posted May 21, 2008 - 2:47 AM

Uuuuh...I'm not sure about Perry Mason, but the rest of those shows didn't air on CBS. Surely they didn't buy them from the other networks? That would seem very odd.

Score: 0

By Gungistoker

posted May 22, 2008 - 8:46 AM

Yeh, and Michael Jackson didn't play for the Beatles but still owns the rights to their songs (until May 31, 2008). Free content is the point. Do you really care where it originally aired?

Score: 0

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