Hit television shows such as CSI and Survivor are to become more widely available on the internet, it has been revealed.Selected content is to become available free of charge and will be funded by advertising.
The development is the result of a new project called the CBS Interactive Audience Network, which is a partnership between US television network CBS and leading online media distributors including Joost, Comcast, Netvibes, Veoh, AOL and Microsoft.
Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of the CBS Corporation, announced, "Today marks an important step in our strategy to distribute content broadly across the online interactive landscape on an open, non-exclusive basis."
Mr Moonves described CBS as "the most watched network on television" and claimed that his company would now offer "the most widely distributed professional content online."
The president of CBS Interactive, Quincy Smith, insisted that the new deal was "really all about the user" of the internet.
"In building the CBS Interactive Audience Network", Mr Smith said, "we are bringing our content to each unique platform of their choice."
CBS is positioning itself to "flexibly cater to their changing consumption habits," according to Mr Smith.
The race to place television programmes online is being fuelled, in part, by advances in portable media technology.
The latest Apple iPod, for instance, has a capacity of 80 gigabytes - enough to hold 100 hours of video.
