YouTube gets CBS oldies in a full stream
YouTube and CBS have teamed up to stream full-length versions of off-the-air shows such as “Star Trek” and the original “Beverly Hills 90210.”
The CBS online video player seems similar to, you guessed it, Hulu’s widely admired player. In “Theater” mode, the player streams full-screen (TV ratio) images at about 490 pixels wide. There appears to be space for widescreen presentations.
To identify the complete shows, the episode promo modules have a small badge with an image of a film strip. (For those challenged by the numeric difference between 57 minutes and 2 minutes, perhaps?)
YouTube and CBS told Reuters they would sell ads around the shows, in a revenue-sharing arrangement. A couple of the episodes are opening with the widely disliked preroll ads that march before the start of the content. There also are multipe in-stream ads, some simply repeated.
YouTube’s decision to open the door to prerolls hasn’t sat well with its audience, which is used to user-initiated spots, if any.
Also running on YouTube are complete episodes of “MacGyver” and “The Young and the Restless.” The primetime shows have five available episodes at this point, the soap has 14.
cbs.com offers full streaming video episodes of “How I Met Your Mother,” “The Bold and the Beautiful” and “CSI: Miami” –similar content is spread about other CBS partner sites.
‘Prom Queen’ graduates to DVD
“Prom Queen,” the Emmy-nominated web serial from Michael Eisner’s new-media company, is trying its luck on old media.
“Prom Queen: Season 1″ & “Prom Queen: Summer Heat” were released this week on a two-disc DVD by Shout! Factory, the folks who put out the acclaimed “My So-Called Life” box set.
The “Prom Queen” DVD runs 315 minutes and goes for $17.99 on Amazon.
The teen series also has been available on Amazon’s streaming media and download service at $3.99 for rental and $9.99 to own.
Fans, of course, could save their money and see the show with a bit of hassle: The episodes remain online, for free with ads, on the “Prom Queen” site. During its 80-episode run on MySpace, the series was sponsored by the likes of New Line and Fujii water. Episodes whizzed by at 90 seconds each.
The DVD experiment could point to a new source of revenue and pre-production financing (via rights) for web-series makers. Still, it’s hard to see how the title will sell outside of dedicated fans and impulse buyers. It’s an interesting reverse take on aging TV shows taking their last gasps as free online fodder for sites like Hulu.
Eisner’s new-media studio Vuguru produced the show in association with the webisode creatives at Big Fantastic (”Sam Has 7 Friends”). Not to be confused with “Prom Queen” the 2005 movie about a gay guy who just wants to go to the prom with his beau.
Netflix nets big movies for streaming
Netflix’s Watch Instantly streaming service finally has some A-list titles to go with all that musty catalog stuff and indie fare.
The newish content comes via licensing deals with Starz Entertainment, CBS and Disney.
New titles available under the Starz (Liberty Media) deal include “No Country for Old Men,” “Superbad,” “The Orphanage” and “Spider-Man 3″ — all well through their distribution cycles, but not bad for “free” — as in, no additional charge.
Watch Instantly streams movies and TV shows to Netflix customers with a regular DVD-rental subscription. Non-subscribers also can sign up for a Starz-only stream at $7.99.
Watch on a Windows PC or spring for a $100 Netflix box from Roku that brings the content to your TV via an Internet connection. Xbox 360 users with a Live Gold account will be able to access the stream via the game system’s redesigned multimedia interface. (Microsoft just dropped Xbox prices — do the math.)
Netflix said the long overdue Mac video streaming is coming “by the end of the year.”
Watch Instantly users apparently will get upcoming films at the same time as pay-cable viewers.
The Starz Play package does not include high-definition video. Starz’s chief flack told TV Week that there wasn’t sufficient consumer interest in online HD to make it worth worrying about.
The Starz deal already has delivered about 1,000 films to Watch Instantly, with another 1,500 in the wings.
Late last month, Disney and Netflix hooked up for TV fare such as “Hannah Montana.” Starz has a deal with Disney, so the Mouse House’s feature films will come to Netflix streams via that route.