CBS May Allow Fans To Use Video Clips

CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves delivered a keynote address at the International Consumer Electronics Show on Tuesday. A portion of the address covered what CBS is doing to increase interaction between viewers and the network. One step the network may take is to allow viewers to use clips in copyright infringing ways.

Moonves said CBS would embrace products and technologies that allow viewers to “time shift” and “place shift” the network’s shows and interact with them in different ways. He believes letting fans share snippets makes sense because it allows the network to tap into the passion devout fans have for their shows. Although the financial aspects of allowing video sharing was not discussed, Moonves said CBS will get paid for the clips that are shared.

“If somebody spends the time to take 20 clips from ‘CSI:Miami,’ I think that’s wonderful,” Moonves told The Associated Press prior to his speech. “That only makes them more involved with my show and want to come to CBS on Monday night and watch my show. And we’re going to get paid for the clips this guy takes off our air as well. It’s win, win.”

Moonves cited his wife Julie Chen, host of the show Big Brother, as an example. “Mashup” or compilation videos of her frequent use of the phrase, “but first …” are popular on the internet. “She got a kick out of it more than anybody else,” Moonves said. “You know what that meant? They were involved, they were watching, they were having fun with our content. And an extra thousand people were watching ‘Big Brother’ the next week to see if she said, ‘But first.’ That’s good for us.”

As a show of its tolerance toward fan videos, CBS will air several user-generated YouTube clips prior to its Super Bowl broadcast next month.

To read more, see Kansas.Com and MarketWatch.

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