CBS Takes '60 Minutes' To Yahoo

CBS on Thursday said it has agreed to show video content from its "60 Minutes" TV news show on Yahoo Inc. starting this fall.

A special preview of the upcoming programming is scheduled to launch Sunday. The video features an interview with golf pro Tiger Woods. In the fall, "60 Minutes" content is set to be available on Yahoo news, sports and entertainment sites, as well as on a micro-site dedicated only to the news program, which is entering its 39th season.

"This deal with Yahoo will bring the rich storytelling of television's number one news magazine to a new and younger audience while offering loyal viewers extended features and content online," Sean McManus, president of CBS News and Sports, said in a statement. "We believe this is an important step toward establishing '60 Minutes' as the news magazine of the future."

CBS plans to have its Yahoo mirco-site updated each week, following the Sunday night TV broadcast. Each update would include expanded content on a segment featured that week on TV, and a package based on a topical news theme for that particular week. The offering will include exclusive video, as well as interactive elements such as maps, a reporter's notebook, blogs and photo galleries.

Despite the deal, CBS plans to continue to show "60 Minutes" content on CBSNews.com. Yahoo, however, gives the program access to the portal's larger audience of 126 million monthly U.S. visitors.

"We are thrilled to be bringing '60 Minutes' to an Internet powerhouse like Yahoo," Larry Kramer, president of CBS Digital Media, said in a joint statement with McManus.

Along with weekly news packages, the "60 Minutes" site would include previews of the upcoming TV program, as well as an archive of content shown.

News has become a major draw on the Internet for some 50 million American each day, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Driving the growth is the increasing use of broadband in U.S. homes.

The average online consumer spends about 14 hours a week on the Web, or about the same amount of time as they do on TV, according to JupiterResearch. The trend indicates that TV networks, as well as newspapers and magazines, risk losing viewers, particularly young people, if the fail to promote online products.