CBS Will Have Full Slate of Web Video on the iPad
CBS may have the most aggressive plans to enable viewers to watch web video on the iPad, but so far, that's all they are — plans. The broadcaster has made only a limited number of promotional clips available for viewing on the tablet device …
Context & Ripple Effects
CBS's announcement lands mid-scramble over who gets video onto the iPad. Apple has been circling television itself — the Financial Times reported in December 2009 that Apple was looking at an internet TV foray — while Hulu's own iPad intentions remained open, with TechCrunch reporting in February that Hulu could still launch on the iPad.
The broadcaster is choosing the open web over an app strategy: rather than building native software, it will serve full episodes through the iPad's browser, consistent with a distribution-first playbook it has run before — Silverlight March Madness coverage on a dedicated YouTube channel in March 2009 and an Entertainment Tonight iPhone app that August. It also keeps score in CBS's running feud with Hulu, where a confirmed leaked email from executive Quincy Smith called rival streams 'reckless,' and where TV.com is rumored to have been built as a Hulu look-alike.
First-order effects
- iPad owners gain the prospect of free, ad-supported full-length CBS shows through Safari instead of the handful of promotional clips currently available, making CBS one of the most aggressive broadcasters on the device.
- CBS's move pressures Hulu: with the site still weighing an iPad launch, CBS can claim the tablet audience first without ceding control of its player or its ads.
Second-order effects
- Pricing pressure follows the same logic Les Moonves confirmed in February when he said CBS would mark down some iTunes shows from $1.99 to 99 cents — cheaper, higher-volume distribution across new screens becomes the network's stated posture.
- Rival networks and portals must decide whether to match browser-based delivery or hold out for paid, app-mediated deals, splitting the industry between reach-now strategies and platform-exclusive ones.
Third-order effects
- If broadcasters keep serving the open web directly to tablets, device makers like Apple become negotiating counterparts for TV rights rather than mere hardware vendors — the backdrop to Apple's reported interest in internet TV.
- The pattern points toward ad-supported streaming as the default way broadcast reaches every new screen, weakening any single distributor's gatekeeping position over network content.
The trend: Broadcasters are making their libraries screen-agnostic by defaulting to the open web — starting with the iPad — rather than waiting on app-store or pay-TV intermediaries.