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CBS signs deal with Verizon FiOS, Wireless

NEW YORK
Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:47am EST
A customer stands outside of a Verizon Wireless store waiting to purchase the new Blackberry Storm phone in New York, November 21, 2008. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications and CBS Corp said on Monday they had reached an expanded deal to carry CBS television shows like "CSI" and "Survivor" on Verizon's FiOS TV service as well as its wireless network.

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The companies said Verizon has broadened and extended the rights for retransmission consent for CBS network stations as well as its affiliates, and local video-on-demand for the FiOS TV platform as well as mobile rights for Verizon Wireless' V CAST Video service.

The new agreement includes full episodes of shows such as "60 Minutes" on Verizon Wireless, as well as video-on-demand rights for shows including "NCIS" and "Numb3rs" for FiOS TV's 1.6 million subscribers..

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves has made new broadcast deals a priority, specifically insisting he wants cable operators to pay CBS for the rights to carry its free-to-air broadcast stations in agreements known as retransmission deals. In the past, deals involving cash payments were rare.

Moonves said in a statement that the extended Verizon agreement "recognizes the value of our programing."

CBS reached a similar retransmission agreement with Time Warner Cable Inc earlier this month and still needs to work out agreements with other major cable operators including Comcast Corp and Charter Communications.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke and Ritsuko Ando; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)
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