Top US networks signal the end of prime time

On iPod: Desperate Housewives can be downloaded for $1.99.

Two of America's largest television networks will allow people to watch hit shows at their leisure in a dramatic shake-up of the industry that could gradually erode the decades-old notion of "prime-time" television.

CBS, America's most widely watched network, and NBC Universal have signed deals to sell commercial-free episodes of shows such as Survivor and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation for US99c ($1.44) .

CBS shows will be available to customers of the cable giant Comcast.

NBC's programmes will be accessible to those using the satellite operator DirecTV, in which Rupert Murdoch's News Corp owns a majority stake.

The shows - some of the most popular on the two networks - will still air first in their traditional evening slots. But they will be available almost immediately afterwards and for a week through the pay-TV arrangements.

By making the time lag so small, the innovative arrangements could mark the first serious erosion of the importance of the evening programming schedule.

The alliances struck by CBS, which is owned by Viacom, and the General Electric-owned NBC, were announced on Monday, by chance on the same day.

They come after Apple Computer unveiled a tie-up with ABC last month, which will let owners of video-playing iPods download shows such as Desperate Housewives to the digital players for $1.99 each.

Apple, which also made music videos available, has sold a million downloads of video since the announcement.

The sales have impressed the media world and led many to believe that enabling customers to watch music videos, television shows and films any time of the day or night will be one of the strongest areas of growth in coming years.

The CBS and NBC deals, which will be available through a regular television rather than an iPod, could have an even greater significance than Apple's offering.

Josh Bernoff, a media analyst at Forrester Research, said: "This is going to will be the end of the evening schedule.

"You will now be able to watch programmes wherever and whenever you want."

Bernoff said the media industry hoped that rather than eroding viewer numbers when the show first airs, the new deal would increase total viewers by making it easy for those who missed an episode to buy it for a small sum of money.

"Just as the DVD did not destroy movie theatres, this will not destroy prime-time television," Bernoff said.

- INDEPENDENT