Yes, the agreement brings CBS — the lone major network that doesn’t own a piece of Hulu — a little closer to the streaming enterprise. But not by much. The shows covered by the new deal come from CBS’ vault; they aren’t next day showings of current hits. Series being offered include Medium and CSI: Miami and golden oldies such as Star Trek, I Love Lucy and The Twilight Zone. Also, most of the shows are just being made available to people who subscribe to Hulu Plus, not to the free, ad-supported site. There’ll be some exceptions, but they’ll be announced later. Also, clips from Entertainment Tonight will be available on the free and paid sites beginning on the day they’re broadcast. This isn’t the first time that CBS has worked with Hulu: It provides programming for Hulu’s paid service in Japan, and CW — which is half-owned by CBS — has a deal with the service.
Here’s the release:
LOS ANGELES, Nov. 5, 2012 – CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A and CBS) and Hulu announced today a non-exclusive, multi-year licensing agreement to stream programs from CBS’s rich television library on the Hulu Plus subscription service. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The CBS content will begin to appear on Hulu Plus in January 2013, and over the following months, Hulu Plus subscribers will have access to more than 2,600 episodes from library series such as “Medium,” “Numb3rs” and “CSI: Miami,” as well as classics such as “Star Trek,” “I Love Lucy” and “The Twilight Zone.” Clips from ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT will also be available the day of broadcast on Hulu and Hulu Plus. A selection of CBS library shows will also rotate through the free Hulu.com service, and additional titles will be announced.
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