CBS shows coming to MSN, Joost and others

CBS Corp. will distribute its television programs more widely over the Internet, adding new deals with Joost, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and AOL LLC to existing agreements with Apple Inc.'s iTunes and Google Inc.'s YouTube.

Steven Schwankert

CBS Corp. will distribute its television programs more widely over the Internet, adding new deals with Joost, Microsoft Corp.'s MSN and AOL LLC to existing agreements with Apple Inc.'s iTunes and Google Inc.'s YouTube.

Some of the content will be free to consumers and supported by advertising, although premium fee services, such as the purchase of episodes from iTunes Music Store, will remain in place. The expanded initiative, called the CBS Interactive Audience Network, was announced Thursday.

The advertising revenue will be shared between CBS and its online partners. Most of the programming will be available only in the U.S., with some video clips and full-length sporting events available internationally. CBS said the new services would be available in the coming weeks.

Users will be able to view new episodes and reruns of shows including "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation"; "CSI: Miami"; "CSI: NY"; the Showtime series "Fat Actress," starring Kirstie Alley; and CBS and Showtime sporting events, the online video site Joost said in a separate statement. CBS did not specify whether the shows will be available for download or streaming.

The other distributors named in the agreement are CNet Networks Inc., Comcast Corp., Bebo Inc., Brightcove Inc., Netvibes, Sling Media Inc. and Veoh Networks Inc. Akamai Technologies Inc. will provide the content delivery system, CBS said.

CBS previously featured clips from popular shows such as "Late Show with David Letterman" and CBS News on YouTube, Amazon.com LLC and iTunes.