By the fall, virtually every TV episode broadcast by the big four networks will be available for embedding in blogs, personal profiles and other Web pages.
CBS Interactive, the digital division of CBS, announced Monday that it would enable embedding in the next version of its CBS.com video player sometime in the next few months.
In so doing, CBS joined NBC and Fox, whose shows are already embeddable through Hulu.com. Two weeks ago ABC said it would let people embed its shows online by the fall.
Why does embedding matter? Because it reflects the increasingly distributed nature of network television. When a user can watch “Heroes” or “House” anywhere not just on NBC.com or Fox.com the show becomes more prominent and the network delivering that show becomes less prominent.
Along with the embedding ability, CBS said its new video player would offer HD-quality video streaming and full-screen viewing capabilities. ABC streams shows like “Lost” in high definition, and Hulu has experimented with an “HD Library.”
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