U.S. television network CBS is in discussions with Internet media company Google for video search and on-demand video, CBS chairman Leslie Moonves said on Tuesday.
Viacom-owned CBS, which is in the process of splitting itself apart from the faster growing MTV cable networks and Paramount film studios, is seeking other distribution outlets for its top ranked shows including the CSI franchise.
“We’re talking to them about a whole slew of things including video-on-demand, including video search,” Moonves told Reuters in an interview regarding Google, ahead of Reuters’s Media and Advertising Summit next week.
The talks are occurring across the media industry at a time when entertainment companies are wary of new technologies like the Internet and video games that appear to siphon off consumers of traditional media.
Moonves, however, said he saw opportunities to boost CBS’s reach and bottom line.
Google in plan to put world culture on internet
Google has thrown its weight behind an ambitious and potentially controversial US-led project to put the world’s cultural memory online.
CBS’s discussions have not been restricted to Google and have also included talks with Yahoo, although deals with none of them have yet been struck.
“They need our content, we need their technology,” he said, referring to broader discussions with Internet companies. “We argue about which is more important. I think ultimately my content, no matter how you get it, content is still the most important thing.”
CBS announced a one-year deal to let Comcast cable customers view episodes of some of its shows at the click of their remote for 99 cents earlier this month.
Moonves, who is also the co-chief operating officer of media conglomerate Viacom said the company was in talks with satellite television operator DirecTV for similar deals, although he did not specify when, or if any deal would be struck.
“We’ve spoken with DirecTV, sure,” he said. “I think you’ll see more and more of those deals happening along the way, as well as you’ll see more and more deals like ABC did with the iPod.”
