Google To Offer 'CSI' Downloads

Viewers who miss a new CSI episode will soon have one more option besides waiting for the rerun or the DVD release: watching CSI through Google.

From the very fitting location Las Vegas, where the Consumer Electronics Show is being held this week, Google yesterday announced it will soon start selling selected CBS shows for $1.99 per episode. The BBC reported the deal will include a range of current shows produced by CBS itself, including the CSI shows, Survivor and King of Queens, but also classics such as Star Trek and I Love Lucy. The deal does not include shows that air on CBS but are not produced by it, such as Criminal Minds, and it's non-exclusive, meaning that in the future CSI might also still end up on Apple's iTunes.

In addition to CBS, the NBA has agreed to start offering basketball games via Google, and PBS will be offering some news content through the service. And the Google Video store might grow even larger, as the company is also planning to allow independent filmmakers to sell movies through the service.

CBS and Google haven't yet said exactly when it will be possible to purchase CSI online. Once available, the episodes will only be viewable through a new video player Google has developed and which comes with built-in copy protection. The downside of this is that Google Video content will not be viewable on devices such as Apple's iPod, although at the Consumer Electronics Show Google co-founder Larry Page called on Apple and other companies to make this possible in the future.

For now, it seems CSI will only be available through Google in the United States. "The rights for video are really complicated so generally you are going to see video that is licensed for particular countries," Page said.

For more details on Google's CBS plans, head over to the BBC.

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