Since TVNEWSDAY's last roundup of network digital strategies, in November, The CW has entered the fray with primetime episodes streamed online, plus an unusual mobile website that allows users to access CW message boards built around the network's shows and stars, and that can interact with the networks' main website. 

The CW's entry into the digital realm means that all five broadcast networks now stream full primetime episodes online, either for a fee or on an ad-supported basis.

ABC has taken the additional step of offering ad-supported episodes on demand on cable systems owned by Cox Enterprises.

The networks have also expanded their digital offerings in other ways, but haven't much changed the ways in which their affiliates may participate.

Here's the full rundown.

ABC: FIRST OUT OF THE GATE

Web Sites

ABC.com—The colorful flagship site is an online alternative for watching many of the network’s primetime shows, now in full-screen. ABC claims more than 92 million episodes have been requested since last September.

Free advertiser-supported streams of full-length primetime shows now include Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, Ugly Betty and Brothers & Sisters. Four episodes of each show are available at a time the day after their broadcast premieres. Abbreviated versions of Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy are also available to get viewers up to speed on the show's story lines. ABC.com is getting ready to test a new video player that will stream a limited number of shows in 720-line HD and feature national and local news content as well as entertainment fare. The site also promotes its primetime lineup with sneak peaks, behind-the-scenes clips, schedules, blogs, newsletters, downloads, games, podcasts, ringtones, wallpapers and show merchandise. ABC says it added up to 100 new short-form videos a week last season and plans to increase the output next season. The site also launched a 30-episode short-form original series based on 10 years of funny, rambling voicemail messages called Voicemail this spring. 

ABCNews.com—The newly redesigned site features video and text from Good Morning America, World News Tonight, 20/20,Nightline and This Week; sports news from ESPN; and even a video blog from ex-Rocketboom anchor Amanda Congdon. The ABC World News podcast is now made available from 12:30 p.m. ET each day to target the lunch crowd. The site proved its worthiness last fall when it broke the story of Republican Congressman Mark Foley and his instant message come-ons. The story came from The Blotter, the ABC investigative team's blog. Chief investigator Brian Ross now hosts his own weekly video podcast.

ABCNewsNow—Millennial-targeted online subscription news service is available for $4.95 a month, $39.95 a year, although broadband customers of Comcast, AOL and AT&T Yahoo DSL get it for no extra charge. It features breaking news, uncut interviews from ABC News shows and original programming on health, money, entertainment and other topics. Think broadband CNN.

ICaught—A Web site where viewers can upload user-generated news clips from their camcorders and cell phones, to be displayed on the I-caught site and considered for the upcoming I-Caught news show premiering August 6, hosted by Bill Weir.

Elsewhere Online

iTunes.com—ABC was the first network to cut a deal to sell shows on the popular music platform in October 2005, kicking off a wave of multiplatform agreements by all the networks. Single episodes of 10 ABC shows are currently available, including Lost, Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives and America's Funniest Home Videos for $1.99 each. Complete seasons are also available. iTunes purchases will be viewable on the iPhone, hitting the market June 29.

Originally-produced segments from ABC News were added last year in the categories ABC News Specials, The Day It Happened and Celebrity Flashback. ABC says it has sold more than 23.7 million shows on the platform.

Yahoo (tv.yahoo.com)—Video clips, screen shots and descriptions of ABC's primetime shows are available at http//tv.yahoo.com. The site also allows viewers to schedule recordings of shows using a Tivo Series2 DVR.

Amazon—Digital downloads of the first seven episodes of canceled serialized drama The Nine are available for $1.99 each.

AOL Video (video.aol.com)—Digital downloads of The Nine can be found here for $1.99 each; the pilot is free.

Mobile

ABC News Now Mobile—Linear service identical to ABC News Now online (above) is delivered via mobile video providers MobiTV,GoTV and SmartVideo.

ABC Mobile on Sprint—ABC is making full episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, Lost, Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty available on Sprint video-equipped mobile phones beginning with this spring’s season finales. The shows, part of Sprint’s $20 power Vision TV Pack, are available on demand or via three linear mobile channels streaming continuously throughout the day.

Digital Multicasting

ABC/AccuWeather—Developed in partnership with AccuWeather, the weather service is customized and co-branded by each station that carries it. Launched by ABC O&Os in Philadelphia (WPVI) and Fresno, Calif. (KFSN), the service rolled out this fall in New York (WABC), Los Angeles (KABC), Chicago (WLS), Philadelphia (WPVI), San Francisco (KGO) and Houston (KTRK).

Video on Demand

Cable—Disney-ABC Television struck a deal with Cox Communications to provide episodes of Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, Lost and Ugly Betty for its FreeZone VOD platform the day after the shows premiere on air. The streaming software will disable the fast-forward function to make it impossible for users to skip ads. A dynamic ad insertion system, to replace stale ads with more timely ones, should be in place by the time the service rolls out this fall. ABC will also syndicate its broadband player for Cox.net users in Orange County, Calif.

Affiliate Participation

ABC reached an agreement with the ABC affiliate board last September to allow affiliates to participate in the online streaming of ABC shows through local advertising sales and branding opportunities. Stations have the option of featuring the ABC.com broadband player on their own Web sites to view shows, retaining local ad revenue. Each program will feature one local ad pod, in addition to the three pods sold to a single national sponsor by ABC. The network is also offering an ABC News player, including clips of World News Tonight with Charles Gibson and Good Morning America. ABC affiliates covering more than 80 percent of the country have launched or have committed to launching the player.

Digital Executives

Albert Chang, EVP, digital media, Disney-ABC Television Group
Alexis Rapo, VP, digital media
Bruce Gersh, SVP, business development, ABC Entertainment
Bernie Gershon, SVP/GM, ABC News Digital Media Group
David Watson, VP, product design and development
Eleo Hensleigh, chief marketing officer and EVP, marketing and brand strategies, Disney-ABC Television
Wendell Foster, VP, multiplatform program planning and scheduling

CBS: THE INTERACTIVE NETWORK

Web Sites

innertube (cbs.com/innertube)—The ad-supported entertainment site features original content such as Animate This, a scripted online companion series to Ghost Whisperer and segments and extras from the network’s current lineup and the libraries of CBS Television and Showtime. Full episodes of 17 CBS shows are available. Most episodes are viewable for four-week blocks, with the exception of Survivor: Fuji and Jericho, which are available as entire seasons.

CBS.com—The site promotes all of CBS with schedules, sneak peaks and video clips from primetime, CBS Sportsline.com, CBS News.com and the entertainment news site Showbuzz.com. Community features include message boards, wikis and user uploads. (Fans of Jericho made their presence felt with an outpouring of support so profound the network was convinced to bring the ratings-challenged show back next season.) Originals like the dating show Hook Me Up also make it a destination for content. A user upload section gives users a chance for “15 seconds” of fame.

CBSSportsline.com—The well-established sports site covers all major national sports and fantasy sports where video streaming is becoming more of a focus. It delivered up to 300,000 streams of 2007 March Madness games at once for free with commercials this year after doubling bandwidth capacity. The site delivered nearly four million streams of coverage during the first three days of The Masters.

CBSNews.com—The video-centric news site features breaking national and international news and separate feature pages with segments from The Early Show, CBS Evening News, 48 Hours, 60 Minutes, CBS Sunday Morning and Face the Nation. The site recently agreed to syndicate clips through Brightcove’s network of publishers.

Showbuzz—Entertainment news site combining originally produced content and footage repurposed from CBSNews.com, CBS.com, The Early Show and 60 Minutes.

Elsewhere Online

CBS Audience Network—Unhappy with the go-it-alone innertube.com (above), CBS made a flurry of distribution deals with many of the best-known video portals on the Web in an effort to reach wider audiences. Ad-supported prime shows including CSI, Letterman, Survivor and The CBS Evening News will be made available on AOL video, MSN video, TV.com, Comcast.net, Joost, Bebo, Brightcove, Netvibes, SlingCatcher and Veoh. Users will be able to embed clips of such shows as Big Brother 8 on blogs, wikis, widgets and personal profile pages. Several Web 2.0 tool makers have been given the green light to utilize CBS content, from widget creator Clearspring to instant messaging service Meebo. Recent CBS acquisitions include financial vlog WallStrip, online sports network MaxPreps.com, online ticket marketplace TicketReserve and music-oriented social network site last.fm.

iTunes.com—Single episodes of 15 series including CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, NCIS, Numbers, Survivor, Big Brother All-Stars and Jericho are for sale for $1.99 each. Entire seasons are also available. Audio podcasts from 60 Minutes, Guiding Light and As The World Turns are free. CBS Sports is offering One Shining Moment recaps of each Final Four dating back to 1987 for $1.99 each or $24.99 for all the moments.

YouTube.com—Despite Viacom’s copyright lawsuit against the monster video site, CBS launched a branded channel on YouTube eight months ago offering clips from CBS shows, library sports footage and online previews of daily newscasts. Nearly two million videos have been viewed so far. Borat’s appearance on Letterman has achieved cult status.

Yahoo (tv.yahoo.com)—Video clips, screen shots and descriptions of CBS's primetime shows are available on the popular portal. The site also allows viewers to schedule recordings of shows using a Tivo Series2 or 3 DVR. A deal was signed in October to link Yahoo visitors to 16 CBS-owned station sites for ad-supported local news clips. The videos will play on Yahoo, but link users back to the station sites.

AOL Video (video.aol.com)—Digital downloads of the three CSIs, NCIS, Numbers, Pirate Master and 48 Hours are available for free, viewable via the Windows Media player.

Google Video (video.google.com)—Single episodes of the latest seasons of CSI, NCIS and Survivor Panama as well as episodes of such classic shows such as The Brady Bunch and The Twilight Zone are available for $1.99 each.

Amazon—Digital downloads of six current shows including the CSI franchise and three classic shows are available for $1.99 each. The Amazon Unbox Video player requires a broadband connection capable of sustained 1.5 mbps download speeds.

Mobile

Mobile partnerships—The 24/7 CBS Mobile Network on V Cast Mobile TV features full-length simulcasts of shows such as the three CSIs, Survivor, Numbers, Letterman, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. Live college sporting events from CSTV and CBS daytime, late-night, news and prime time programming are available on a time-shifted basis. A partnership with Sprint features full episodes of Jericho, nightly mobicasts of CBS Evening News with Katie Couric and clips from CBS’ prime time and late night line-up. Amp'd Mobile, now in Chapter 11, features clips and extras from CSI: NY, Numbers and The Late Show with David Letterman.

Digital Multicasting

CBS2—The CBS O&Os are planning to launch a multicast channel this fall that features news, weather, local programming and supplementary entertainment programming—the equivalent of extra features on DVDs—for some of the network’s top primetime shows.

Cable/Satellite VOD

Cable—CSI, NCIS, Survivor and Amazing Race are available to Comcast customers for 99 cents each on the day after they air, but only in markets served by CBS O&Os. Negotiations to expand distribution of CBS shows on the VOD platform are underway.

Affiliate Participation

CBS and its affiliate board struck a deal that allows both parties to benefit from new media opportunities. Under the agreement, CBS will have increased flexibility to make programs available on the Web and other emerging platforms. At the same time, CBS affiliates will have the ability to promote the digital offerings on-air and receive a share in the proceeds, including those from subscription VOD offerings. Affiliates will also receive a bounty for any traffic/Internet users they deliver to CBS.com and other CBS-owned Internet properties.

Digital Executives

Quincy Smith, president, CBS Interactive
Steve Snyder, COO, CBS Interactive
Jonathan Leess, president and GM, CBS Television Stations Digital Media Group
Jonathan Sobel, SVP, strategy and business development, CBS Interactive
Cyriac Roeding, VP, wireless, CBS Interactive
David Botkin SVP, research & audience analytics, CBS Interactive

FOX: BROADBAND IS MY SPACE

Web Sites

MySpace.com—News Corp. bought this wildly popular social networking site in July 2005 for $580 million, looking to tap into the popularity of social networking. With over 160 million registered users, it has since become a focal point of Fox Interactive Media’s digital video distribution strategy. FIM streams the latest episodes of Fox primetime shows via the HD Fox Full Throttle video player. MySpace has a 12-hour exclusive window of each new Prom Queen episode, the original Web series from Michael Eisner’s Vuguru studios. It will soon allow members to embed clips of Fox TV shows and other Fox-owned videos on their home and profile pages. It beat Google to the punch with its own “Take Down Stay Down” copyright protection tool and is now planning adding a premium content section to MySpace Video with branded channels from National Geographic, the New York Times and others. Even Mark Burnett chose the portal to launch a politically-themed reality show next year in which MySpace users vie for votes from their “friends.”

Fox.com—The promotional/distribution site features separate pages for each Fox show, including games, video clips, message boards and companion programming like interview series 24 Inside. Fox Video Central allows users to browse clips of Fox shows, specials, movies and DVD releases, while FoxCast provides audio recaps of this week’s shows that can be listened to online or downloaded to an iPod or other MP3 player. Fox Extras includes games, trivia and sweepstakes. FoxNow is a Web-only show that interviews stars of Fox shows. Viewers can also link to the Fox on Demand site at www.myspace.com/fox for free online episodes of eight Fox shows.

4kids.tv—The  site is used to promote the four-hour block of children's programming airing on Saturday mornings on Fox. Episodes of shows like Chaotic are available for free, with ads.

CinemaNow.com—What began as a subscription service that offered users unlimited views of movies online now features movies and episodes of shows like 24 for purchase a la carte by non-members for $1.99 per episode. Primetime shows from the broadcast network are offered alongside Fox movies and programs from FX and Speed Channel. 

Direct2Drive.com—Another of the Fox Interactive Media sites offers single episodes and completes seasons of such Fox shows as 24, Prison Break and Bones for $39.95. Games, anime and series from other Fox entities like FX, Fuel TV and Twentieth Century Fox are also available, often cheaper and earlier than the DVD release. Other Fox sites like RottenTomatoes.com and IGN.com are promoting the offerings.

Fox TV Studios/Hearst Magazines sites—Twelve new broadband video sites tied to popular Hearst magazine titles are in the works. Fox TV Studios will create original, short-form content such as a serialized high school soap for cosmogirl.com and how-to webisodes for popularmechanics.com. The Fox/Hearst deal calls for a 50/50 ad revenue split and hopes to incubate network TV series from the made-for broadband shows.

Fox O&O TV station sites—Fox began streaming shows on its O&O station sites last August and is now offering to make the service and video players available to its affiliates. The player enables a download-to-own option for single episodes as well as full seasons.

Elsewhere Online

iTunes.com—Fourteen shows including 24, Prison Break, Bones, Unanimous and Prison Break are available a la carte for $1.99 or on a full-season basis for $40-$45 each. The first five seasons of the serialized 24 are now on sale.

Yahoo (tv.yahoo.com)—Video clips, screen shots and descriptions of Fox's prime time line up of shows are available. The site also allows you to schedule recordings of shows using a Tivo Series2 or 3 DVR.

Amazon—Digital downloads of Bones, Prison Break, 24, Stacked and classics such as Lost in Space are available for $1.99 each through the site’s Unbox Video player.

AOL Video (video.aol.com)—Digital downloads of 24, Prison Break, Bones and Stacked are available for $1.99 each.

Mobile

Fox Mobile Entertainment—The unit develops original content and marketing opportunities based on Fox properties, interactive components like text message voting for American Idol and original mobisodes based on shows like 24. There’s even a mobile game based on the latter, sending instructions and text messages to players to help them thwart a terrorist plot.

Mobizzo—A mobile content shopping destination available on Cingular and T-Mobile phones. The service also offers downloads of such Fox shows Family Guy and American Dad. Purchases, ranging from $1.99 per download to subscription plans averaging $5.99 per month, are charged directly to users’ monthly mobile bills.

Mobile Partnerships—Verizon’s V CAST service features promos for House and other Fox shows.

Cable/satellite VOD

Satellite—On DirecTV, such shows as 24 and Prison Break are available for 99 cents each, up to a week after they air on Fox. The network also offers exclusive video through the satellite provider, including behind-the-scenes footage and weekly highlights.

Affiliate Participation

As part of its new six-year cost-sharing agreement on NFL football, Fox’s affiliates may share revenues from distribution of Fox programs on the Web. Fox may repurpose six hours of any programming genre per week in the first year of the agreement, 80 percent of primetime in the second year and 100% during the third year. Affiliates are reportedly entitled to 12.5 percent of the revenue (minus distribution and union fees) from programs distributed on alternate platforms after broadcast and 25 percent prior to broadcast. Affiliates are also allowed to sell about 30 percent of the ad inventory of shows they stream on their web sites. As noted above, Fox is also encouraging affiliates to use its video player to offer Fox shows on their local Web sites.

Digital Executives

Dan Fawcett, president of digital media, Fox Entertainment
Mickie Rosen, SVP/GM of entertainment, Fox Interactive Media
Lucy Hood, president, Fox Mobile Entertainment
Mitchell Feinman, SVP, Fox Mobile Entertainment
Ron Berryman, SVP/GM of Fox Interactive Media Stations Group
Jean Rossi, president of Fox One, integrated sales unit overseeing all Fox digital properties

NBC: NBCU 2.0

Web Sites

New Site—The not-yet-named Web portal in the works from NBCU and News Corp. will aggregate all of the companies’ content online to give consumers centralized online access. Most of the site’s content will be presented for free with ads, with some movies and shows available for purchase a la carte or by season. The venture includes a distribution component that makes video content available across other leading portals, including AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Comcast and MySpace. They will share in the ad revenue and customize delivery as they see fit. The companies say they will also accept content from other sources and share whatever ad revenue it generates. For instance, Comcast will provide non-exclusive content from E!, Style, G4, Versus and The Golf Channel.

iVillage.com—Acquired for $600 million, the site is an online community for women. It offers NBC video lifestyle programming, promotional stunts and the hour-long original program iVillage Live about women’s issues. (The program also airs on some NBC O&Os.) New social networking tools integrated with topical content have been added to enhance the community experience.  

NBC.com—The promotion/distribution site includes webisodes of 13 shows including The Office, Passions, Friday Night Lights along with interactive elements for America’s Got Talent and online graphic novel Heroes 360. Inside Heroes is an eight-webisode look behind the scenes of the show. Newly revamped NBC Rewind streams two-minute recaps and the latest episodes of primetime shows and includes chat, live polling, trivia and embeddable clips. Web exclusives include “The Office Quotes Game,” an online companion game for 1 vs 100 and webisodes of Pale Force, a comedy with Conan O'Brian and Jim Gaffigan. PC's equipped with Intel Viiv or Intel Centrino mobile technology can access NBCU VIP Access service, offering download-to-own episodes of more than 20 NBCU shows. The site is launching a social network in June, with personalized profiles, galleries, fan groups and a host of widgets embeddable on other sites and will add many new interactive extensions to its fall prime-time line-up.

nbbc.com—The National Broadband Company is a Web syndication service built to help NBCU entities and affiliates aggregate and distribute video content. Video clips are available for a fee to approved web publishers or for free with ads attached. Several other content providers have also signed on to provide content.

NBCfirstlook.com—The promotional site premiered four full-length, ad-supported episodes of new series for free before they premiered on air this fall. Video previews of NBC’s new fall lineup are now ready for inspection.

Dotcomedy.com—The short-form comedy site draws from current and library programs, dating back to Leave It To Beaver. It also offers original podcasts, blogs and other interactive content. A new line-up of comedy vloggers were recently added, as well as The Lunch Break Show, geared to be viewed at work featuring clips of SNL, The Office and 30 Rock.

Virtual NBC.com—The site streams live performances of musical acts such as Fuel, Drowning Pool and Michael Penn that also appear in the virtual world SecondLife.com.

CNBC.com—The financial news site features breaking news and lots of video clips from CNBC. A subscription-based Web site is also available charging $9.95 a month for access to breaking news, archived interviews and features that appeared on the cable network. Real time charts and search-based resources are also available to subscribers.

NBCSports.com—Sports site with video content from NBC, text and photos from Sports Illustrated and fantasy news from Rotoworld.com. The site recently introduced two sports/social networking hybrid sites powered by social gaming site Bunchball.com. NHL Trivia Face Off challenges players’ hockey knowledge. NBC Golf Trivia Challenge allows users to submit their own questions, which are then voted on by other players.

NBCOlympics.com—Video-centric site produced by NBC and Internet Broadcasting System that set a new standard for event-based Web sites, attracting as many as two million unique visitors a day during the Winter Games from Torin, Italy. More than 1,000 hours of coverage is planned for Summer Olympics in Beijing next year.

Todayshow.com—Relaunched with a new look and content, the site encourages interaction via blogs, message boards, live votes and e-mails as visitors browse through new topic sections including people, travel and pets. It also features allDAY, a new video blog from co-anchor Al Roker, as well as selected shared content from iVillage.com.

Elsewhere Online

iTunes.com—Twenty-five shows are now for sale on a per-episode or full-season basis. NBC Vintage offerings include Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Dragnet. The five most recent Tonight Show monologues sell for $1.99. A variety of NBC News content is also available.

YouTube.com—NBC’s branded channel features authorized clips from shows like The Office, Heroes, SNL, Leno and Conan. Video previews of upcoming shows such as Bionic Woman and Chuck are also up.

MySpace—Clips of Heroes, The Office and other shows are available on the MySpace video page. Some effort has been put into profiles of individual shows such as Heroes, including polls, video and an embeddable widget that counts down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to the start of its second season in September.

Yahoo (tv.yahoo.com)—Video clips, screen shots and descriptions of NBC's primetime lineup are available. The site also allows viewers to schedule recordings of shows using a Tivo Series2 or 3 DVR.

AOL Video (video.aol.com)—Digital downloads of Studio 60 and My Name is Earl are available for $1.99 each. The pilots were made available one week before premiering on air. 

Amazon Unbox—Digital downloads of Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip are available for $1.99 each through the Unbox Video Players, which requires a PC and a broadband connection capable of sustained 1.5 mbps download speeds.

Mobile

NBC Mobile—The service produces more than 20 short-form video programs daily, including late-night clips, breaking news and original mobile exclusives. Interactive SMS applications are prominent for such shows as Deal or No Deal. The new NBCU Digital2Go initiative is designed to push a range of mobile content through various mobile distribution platforms including linear video channels, mobile web (WAP) sites and messaging. Linear channels will be offered through the MediaFLO mobile service.

Mobile partnerships—Verizon’s V Cast service features NBC News segments and Tonight Show monologues. MobiTV offers an NBC entertainment channel featuring full-length shows such as Heroes, The Office and Battestar Galacticia. Live coverage of sporting events like this year’s U.S. Open can be seen on a new dedicated NBC Sports channel. Sprint features extras for NBC shows Deal or No DealLate Night with Conan O’Brien spinoff Pale Force. SmartVideo is also a partner.

Digital Multicasting

NBC Weather Plus—The 24/7 digital weather channel is jointly owned and operated by NBC Universal and its broadcast affiliates, balancing national and local coverage. It features an "L-bar" graphic on the screen providing local current conditions and forecasts. A companion Web site debuted in January.

Cable/Satellite VOD

Cable—Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: CI, The Office, Las Vegas and news segments from  NBC Nightly News and Meet the Press are available for 99 cents each on Comcast and Time Warner Cable. NBC is also participating in TWC's Start Over service.

Satellite—DirecTV subscribers can watch top NBC shows like Law and Order: SVU and TheOffice commercial free the day after they air on the broadcast network for 99 cents each. The programs are downloaded to the DirecTV plus DVR and unlocked upon payment.

Affiliate Participation

NBC formed joint ventures with affiliates to own and operate NBC Weather Plus, nbbc.com and NBC Olympics.com. So far, NBC affiliates do not share in the proceeds from iTunes.com, NBC.com or other online sales of content.

Digital Executives

Beth Comstock, president, NBC Universal integrated media
Jeff Gaspin, president, NBCU Cable and Digital Content
George Kliavkoff, chief digital officer
Vivi Zigler, EVP, NBC digital entertainment and new media
Peter Naylor, SVP of digital media sales
David Blair Epstein, VP, digital strategy, NBCU Domestic Television Distribution
Matthew Evans, VP, digital media and head of NBC Universal Digital Studios
Mark Lukasiewicz, VP, digital media, NBC News
Nick Johnson, VP, digital media sales
Jon Dakss, director, iTV product development
Greg Plestis, SVP, alternative programming and development

THE CW: DIGITAL AT LAST

Web Sites

CWTV.com—The promotion/distribution site now offers full ad-supported webisodes of nine shows, including America’s Top Model, Supernatural, One Tree Hill, Veronica Mars, Everybody Hates Chris and Girlfriends. The four most recent episodes are typically made available beginning the day after they air on the network. Message boards, user-submitted video and games are also featured. New social networking functions such as chat/viewing rooms are planned for this fall. Gossip Girl, a new show about a well-to-do New York City teens as seen through the eyes of an anonymous blogger, will include a virtual bedroom where users can access songs on the character’s iPod. Online Nation is a new on-air series planned for Sunday nights showcasing user-generated videos that can be uploaded to CWTV.com.

Mobile—The CW launched a new WAP-based mobile website (wap.cwtv.com) that offers unique cross-platform functionality with cwtv.com. Users can access online CW message boards built around network shows and stars from either the website or the mobile site, a first for a broadcast network. America’s Top Model Cycle 8 Mobile Game is available on the CW mobile storefront on cwtv.com.

Elsewhere Online

iTunes.com—Seven CW shows are available a la carte for $1.99 each or as full seasons.

MySpace.com—Profiles, ringtones, icon downloads, wallpapers, and video clips of CW shows can be found the CW’s MySpace page.

Yahoo (tv.yahoo.com)—Video clips, screen shots and descriptions of The CW’s primetime shows are available. The site also allows viewers to schedule recordings of shows using a Tivo Series2 or 3 DVR.

Amazon—Digital downloads of One Tree Hill, Veronica Mars and All of Us are available for $1.99 each though the site’s Unbox Video player. Unbox purchases can be sent to any PC or delivered to a broadband-connected Series2 or Series3 Tivo.

Digital Executives

Rick Haskins, EVP, brand marketing and strategy
Jennifer Bresnan, SVP, alternative programming

Wayne Karrfalt is a veteran entertainment journalist who contributes to several national trade and consumer publications and writes Cynopsis: Digital, a daily newsletter/podcast for Cynopsis Media covering the convergence of entertainment content and digital distribution. He can be reached at wayne@cynopsis.com