CBS's TV.com Goes International

Written by Ryan Lawler

Tuesday, February 24. 2009 at 11:59 AM EST Post a comment

Digg   Del.icio.us   Reddit   Email This

no ratings

• Login to Rate

CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) is expanding the reach of its online video portal TV.com, opening some of the content up to international audiences.

CBS Interactive announced the international availability of certain video clips on TV.com today. While making some content available could help build the site's audience abroad, it's worth noting that the video clips in question mostly include older television programming, as well as CBS News content.

While TV.com boasts thousands of videos from CBS, as well as partners such as MGM, Sony, Showtime, Endemol, and PBS, the international initiative will only allow international audiences to view clips of Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place, Star Trek, MacGyver, and Love Boat. CBS News programs such as 60 Minutes and 48 Hours will also be made available.

Anthony Soohoo, senior vice president of CBS Interactive's Entertainment and Lifestyle division, says that for now, the assortment of content is limited to short-form clips, but that as time goes on the company will look to make more long-form content available internationally.

"Our goal is to make as much content available online as possible," Soohoo says. "We were able to get the international rights of these clips. At this point, we're learning to walk before we can run." 

The announcement comes just a week after NBC Universal and Fox Broadcasting Co. joint venture Hulu LLC pulled its content from TV.com, citing contractual rights.

While Hulu shares much of its content through distribution agreements with other online video sites, the company also now competes head to head with TV.com, which was recently relaunched as an online video portal.

Hulu content remains unavailable at TV.com, but CBS issued a statement last week saying that it believed it has the rights to stream Hulu content on TV.com, and that the company was "evaluating next steps" to bring that content back. Soohoo declined to comment on the Hulu situation.

The move to offer content internationally will help TV.com to reach audiences that Hulu doesn't serve yet. While the site has been a huge success in the United States, its videos so far have been unavailable to international audiences.