CBS Interactive wants to be sure television viewers don't miss their favorite television shows when they aren't able to sit in front of the tube. Select full episodes, news updates, and clips from CBS can now be viewed by iPhone and iPod touch users by downloading a free TV.com app from Apple's App Store.
The app uses the iPhone's Quick Time Player to enable users to watch streaming video. Companies such as CBS need to make their content available in H.264 format if they want it to be viewed on the iPhone, since the device doesn't support Adobe Flash, the format used by most online sites and Microsoft  's Windows Media DRM.
CBS Mobile and partner Veveo developed the application using vTap video-search and personalization technology.
Top Shows Available
Some of the network 's top shows are available via the TV.com app, including The Young and the Restless, the Late Show with David Letterman, and hits such as CSI. More than 20 shows from the CNET iPhone site, including Today on CNET, the Buzz Report, and Loaded, are also available through the application as well as the CBS Radio Channel, according to CBS.
"CBS Mobile is excited to be on Apple's App Store with our application for TV.com, where TV lives online -- and now on iPhone and iPod touch," said Jeff Sellinger, executive vice president and general manager of CBS Mobile. "Fans can now watch their favorite shows, great clips, and create custom channels whenever and wherever they want through the iPhone and iPod touch application."
Busy families may no longer have time to gather around the television, and many viewers rely on DVR and TiVo devices to catch their favorite show when they can't be home to watch it. So the move to offer content on the iPhone isn't surprising, as companies are competing for viewers and want to make their shows available through more than just the television.
CBS is using the iPhone as another channel to increase the number of viewers. Currently the average user of TV.com is 34 years old, with 55 percent female and 45 percent male, according to TV.com's audience profile. TV.com's viewers, on average, spend 21 hours a week watching television, and 64 percent of viewers watch television shows online.
Not Alone
CBS is competing with other industry giants, including Viacom. NBC, Fox and other TV studios use Joost and Hulu to offer their shows online as an alternative to television. Hulu, a joint effort between NBC Universal and News Corp., offers streaming video using Flash video for shows such as 30 Rock, Hell's Kitchen, and Family Guy.
Joost was formed by the same developers who founded Skye and Kazaa, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. The company introduced its own ad-supported free application for the iPhone and iPod touch last November and just last month announced that more than one million Joost iPhone apps had been downloaded.
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