• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 18, 2005

CBS will distribute its free podcasts, from "60 Minutes" to the long-running soap "Guiding Light," on Apple's iTunes Music Store, CBS Digital President Larry Kramer said Monday. The extensive suite of CBS podcasts includes news, entertainment, and sports programming on television, radio, and CBS Digital media sites including CBS.com, CBSNews.com, UPN.com and CBS SportsLine.com.

The content can now be accessed from the iTunes Podcast Directory, as well as CBS Digital media sites, and will be highlighted in customized iTunes pages promoting the full offering of CBS podcasts for each respective CBS Digital Media property.

Other audio offerings include CBS's public affairs show, "Face The Nation;" "Survivor Live," which focuses on "Survivor: Guatemala;" the soap opera roundup "CBS Soapbox;" "NFL Hot Topic;" and "Fantasy Football: Roster Trends."

As is standard practice with podcasts, once users subscribe to a particular show, iTunes will automatically check to see when there are new episodes, and download them onto the users' computers, so they may then sync them to their iPods.

In his announcement, Kramer did not address the question on everyone's minds: When will CBS begin distributing more than audio content to Apple? The company, of course, just last week debuted a new iPod, which can play streaming video. On the same day, Apple's CEO Steve Jobs announced a deal with Disney to offer five of its premiere television shows, including "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," through iTunes.