• by Wayne Friedman , January 15, 2009

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif.--CBS' big plans for TV.com, the under-the-radar Internet platform that came with its CNet acquisition, is a three-pronged approach: video, information and social networking.

CBS executives say this would be a new strategy for big video areas, since there is little social networking connected to other big video areas, such as YouTube, Hulu, iTunes or Veoh.

"We want to make sure that the online component is more of a new medium than just another place to watch television," Quincy Smith, CEO of CBS Interactive, said at the Television Critics Association tour.

This approach offers an opportunity for marketers. Anthony Soohoo, senior vice president and general manager of entertainment and lifestyle for CBS Interactive, cites "Gossip Girl" as an example. The teen drama pulls in 3.6 million viewers (live plus seven days of DVR playback) on a typical night.

Then add in viewed "Gossip" clips and fans who are seeking information about the show, as well as chatting about it in social-networking areas. The 3.6 million suddenly grows to five times that number in terms of audience interaction.

Because of CBS' non-exclusive big-tent approach to online video and TV, Soohoo claims that Tv.com "actually has the largest TV show library on the Web." TV.com has deals with Sony, MGM, PBS, and Endemol as well as Fox and NBC content through Hulu. There is, of course, content from CBS and CW.

Soohoo adds: "[We] are very open on the Web in terms of our approach to the Web, taking on partnerships with the likes of Yahoo, Facebook, Amazon, AOL."

TV.com says it will also distinguish itself from other digital TV areas by eventual HD video streaming, comparable with Blu-ray video technology that movie studios are producing for their theatrical films.

In regard to Hulu.com, a partnership between NBC Universal and Fox Corp. that CBS once considered joining, Soohoo said it is working with Hulu to get content for TV.com--with restrictions. "If there's not an exclusive period where they syndicate [programming] out to all their partners, we would have it on TV.com," he said.

Smith says the CBS Audience Network, the collection of syndicated sites that run its programming, "represents the largest distribution network of premium content on the planet."

CBS' goal for TV.com is to continue to be as open a network as possible for video, unlike more exclusive digital areas such as Hulu. Smith believes that many video platforms are beginning to work this way. "Literally within the last four or five months, a number of networks have super-syndicated their content everywhere," he says. "The traditional media equivalent is imagining a world where every movie theater plays every movie at every time."

Smith adds: "What differentiates you? The answer is your audience, your environment around it, where your friends are, and how you keep as much out there [as possible]."