Kevin Bostic
iPad and iPhone owners will soon be getting access to hit shows like NCIS, CSI, and How I Met Your Mother, as CBS announced on Thursday the launch of its new app for iOS with full-episode streaming.
The new CBS app lets users stream full episodes of daytime and late-night shows within 24 hours of their airing. New episodes of primetime television programs will be available for streaming on the eighth day after broadcast.
The app will by the start of the Fall TV season, integrate with the existing CBS Connect App, allowing users to take advantage of the iPad or iPhone as a second-screen device. The app will have integrated social feeds, live events where fans can engage directly with talent, and content synched to live broadcast shows.
CBS will also roll out similar full-streaming apps for "all major mobile and tablet platforms later this year," including Android and Windows 8.
Bringing full-episode streaming, even in the limited form in which it exists in the new app, is a considerable step for CBS, which has usually been reluctant to move its programming away from its traditional broadcast television setting. Speaking on the new app's release, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves said the company had been cautious to step forward onto mobile devices while protecting its home turf.
"We have been methodically and strategically finding new ways to satiate the appetite for our content on new platforms, while tapping into the tremendous revenue provided by doing so," said Moonves. "Our announcement today achieves both of these objectives, while protecting our very healthy current ecosystem. In addition, by making our shows available on all the leading mobile devices out there, we are confident we will bring a whole new set of viewers to the CBS Television Network and build upon our standing as the #1 network in the business."
The new app is available as a free download in the iTunes App Store. The 20.6MB app is compatible with iDevices running iOS 5.0 or later.
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47 Comments
Here comes iTV ....
The in parrallel streaming for NCIS:L.A. is fun, but I happen to like the behind the scenes bits of that sort of thing. That it can sync to a playback of the show based on the audio is rather awesome. Far better than another where you apoarently have to be following the show in real time.
Wow. It "just works." And the app-ification of TV continues. Maybe, just maybe, this is what Apple needs to work on first. Get all the deals signed, get the iCloud infrastructure in place. Then unveil the solution. All-software on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac. The final step, if Apple ever wants to do it, would be the TV set. And it would probably just be a 55" Thunderbolt Display. Connected to a slightly upgraded Apple TV box. IMHO.
[quote name="umrk_lab" url="/t/156474/cbs-brings-full-episode-streaming-to-apples-ipad-iphone-with-new-app#post_2293464"]Here comes iTV ....[/quote] Correct, URMK! :) it's the future...crap tv and commercials on ur iPhone! Although 60 Minutes is OK... The real nut to crack will be sports, e.g., Formula One!
[quote name="SockRolid" url="/t/156474/cbs-brings-full-episode-streaming-to-apples-ipad-iphone-with-new-app#post_2293486"]Wow. It "just works." And the app-ification of TV continues. Maybe, just maybe, this is what Apple needs to work on first. Get all the deals signed, get the iCloud infrastructure in place. Then unveil the solution. All-software on iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Mac. The final step, if Apple ever wants to do it, would be the TV set. And it would probably just be a 55" Thunderbolt Display. Connected to a slightly upgraded Apple TV box. IMHO.[/quote] I like it! Can't wait! :)