Buzz Out Loud Lounge: CBS digital distribution (or lack thereof)...

CBS digital distribution (or lack thereof)...

Back on November 8th, CBS aired an episode of CSI (“Where & Why”, Episode 6, Season 8) which had a plot line that didn’t end at the end of the hour.

In fact, the plot line crossed over into the show which aired right after CSI which was ‘Without A Trace’. As ‘Without A Trace’ is the less watched show out of the two and the whole point of facilitating this sort of cross-over plot line was to garner attention for ‘Without A Trace’ , you would think the show would be readily available online.


I’d happened to DVR ‘CSI’ so when I found out at the end of the episode , on a cliffhanger , that the episode was continued on the next show, I felt cheated, appalled, outraged !

Then I thought…wait a minute, hold up, this is sheer marketing genius, you put your CSI fans on a cliffhanger and they’ll be so desperate to seek out their fix that you’ll get them to find the show online and get them in the habit of going online to view/purchase your show….man, these guys are gonna rake it in or at least get some page views for ads on their site I thought to myself……

I ran to my computer , pulled up the CBS site, and of course, I’m used to watching ‘CSI’/’’Without A Trace’ (which I usually do DVR) in HD, so I thought to myself, well even if I have to pay for this I don’t mind because I’d rather see this in perfect quality (albeit not exactly HD). Didn’t find it there, so I looked for CSI but that didn’t include the ‘Without A Trace’ finale, so of course, I figure it’ll be on iTunes….didnt find it there….I did find CSI however so I’m thinking to myself, oh stupid me, I should have looked up the CSI episode and I’m sure there is a continuation there…..instead I found legions of reviewers complaining how they were ripped off because they paid for half a show !!! Not only that, viewers that had paid for a CSI Season Pass were missing episodes , and received episodes 3 to 4 days later than the scheduled air date !

It turns out CBS never made available the ‘Without A Trace’ episode anywhere, not on their website, not on iTunes, not on Unbox, nowhere ! In fact, there are forums upon forums with reviewers (including housewives) complaining about having to find bittorrent sources for a show on a major network with major digital distribution ties….

Update: These crossover episodes are airing again tonight (2/21/08)

And of course those bittorrent sources although reliable don’t always match the quality found on the paid services….and all this in a season with a writer’s strike where people are desperate to seek other shows to watch….



Although this ‘crossover’ strategy worked brilliantly for everyone whom was sitting on their couch anyways and watching live (The ‘Where & Why’ W.A.T. episode is the highest rated W.A.T. episode ever)…how do these networks expect us to embrace their digital distribution methods (be it Hula, their own websites, content aggregators), when they cant make available content at or even after the air date of a show let alone prior to the air date ?



CBS had their chance to turn viewers on to another great show ‘Without A Trace’ and missed a huge $ opp in my opinion and definitely shut the door on at least some of their viewers.



What do you guys think ?