• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, February 11, 2013

As part of a new distribution deal with Amazon.com, CBS has some interesting plans for “Under the Dome” when it debuts on June 24.
 
After its airs on the CBS network, episodes of the series -- based on Stephen King’s novel -- will be made available for viewers to stream for three days on CBS.com. After that, the episodes will be available exclusively on Amazon’s subscription service Prime Instant Video.
 
“We’re giving fans more options … and doing so in a way that protects the television network’s C3 advertising window,” said Scott Koondel, chief corporate content licensing officer at CBS Corp., referring to the three-day period of time when TV ratings are calculated for advertisers.
 
According to Koondel, Amazon is the ideal partner for such an experiment because the ecommerce and entertainment media giant has a built-in fan base among its customers for King’s book.
 
The deal -- terms of which were not disclosed -- is just the latest coup for Amazon and its budding subscription video service. Last week, Amazon announced that Prime Instant Video will soon become the exclusive online subscription home for the PBS hit “Downton Abbey.”
 
Like similar services offered by Hulu and other rivals, Amazon Prime lets members stream commercial-free content on various services and devices.
 
Like cable networks, fee-based video services are trying to differentiate themselves by offering exclusive content.
 
At the beginning of the month, for instance, Netflix released its first original production “House of Cards” starring Oscar winner Kevin Spacey and directed by acclaimed director David Fincher. Sparing no expense, it is estimated that Netflix paid $100 million for 26 episodes of the show.