Jason Dunn
11-03-2005, 06:09 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://news.com.com/CBS+streams+Threshold+on+demand/2100-1026_3-5930362.html?tag=nefd.top' target='_blank'>http://news.com.com/CBS+streams+Threshold+on+demand/2100-1026_3-5930362.html?tag=nefd.top</a><br /><br /></div><i>"CBS is offering three episodes of "Threshold," a suspense drama, for free and without commercials on its Web site. Each episode will be streamed on demand following its airing on Friday nights, CBS said Wednesday. At present, the episode "Blood of the Children," which originally aired Sept. 23, is available for viewing on the CBS Web site through Friday. "Revelations," which will air Friday, will be available for streaming from Nov. 9 to 11. "Progeny" will follow that same pattern and be available online from Nov. 16 to 18."</i><br /><br />While the idea of watching a TV show in a tiny little embedded Windows Media Player 10 instance is painful, this is a step in the right direction. Especially for episodic television, if you miss a show you're out of the loop. Cable TV is still largely inflexible in terms of how often shows are shown, and having the network offer a digital version is a better option than scrounging for some low-quality Bittorent file. Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, it's not available for anyone outside the USA. Baby steps - maybe by this time next year we'll see much more of this coming from the networks.