Partner With Us

Despite waning ratings for its "Big Brother 2" reality show, Viacom-owned CBS plans to stream the entire live feed on the Internet in a pay-per-view push with RealNetworks, Inc..

CBS said unedited live footage of the show, featuring 12 strangers put in a house wired to the hilt with cameras and microphones, would be sold online through the GoldPass subscription service offered by the Seattle-based RealNetworks.

At midday today, the live footage, which is available for free until Sunday, featured four separate streams of different sections of the room. They were mostly asleep and under the covers when atNewYork checked in.

When it goes the pay-per-view route, CBS said fans could chose between two payment options - a$19.95 for the entire three-month broadcast run or $9.95 per month for Real's GoldPass service, which also offers Webcasts of premium services like baseball and basketball games.

The network said it would not Webcast a limited number of real-time events that transpire in the house, including three weekly challenges and the eviction nomination process to preserve the drama for "Big Brother 2" television viewers. It plans to make those events available to Internet subscribers via on-demand clips on the website following the live broadcast.

For RealNetworks, the "Big Brother 2" deal is a huge coup as it makes the company the first Web play to team up with a major U.S network to stream live, 24-hour video on the Internet.

After snagging an exclusive deal with Major League Baseball to stream audio of the entire baseball season, Real believes the "Big Brother 2" deal would boost its 200,000-strong subscriber base.