NEW YORK – The new CBS comedy series “The Class” will debut on TiVo before it makes its network premiere, becoming the first show to do that.
While other series have pre-launched via a DVD or the Internet, The Class is the first to give viewers a jump on full-length episodes via a personal video recorder.
TiVo subscribers will be able to watch The Class up to a week before it premieres on CBS on Sept. 18. They’ll also be able to get preview clips—but not entire episodes—of three new CBS shows, “Jericho” starring Skeet Ulrich and Gerald McRaney, “Smith” starring Ray Liotta and Virginia Madsen, and “Shark” starring James Woods and Jeri Ryan.
"We’re thrilled to be able to introduce this ground-breaking innovation to the industry while at the same time providing our subscribers with exclusives that no else can match,” said Tom Rogers, TiVo’s CEO. “At the core of this fresh and forward-thinking campaign is the television industry’s recognition of the tremendous influence that our 4.4 million TiVo subscribers can generate as some of the smartest and savviest TV viewers around."
No stranger to competition to traditional networks, CBS sees the PVR (or DVR, digital video recorder) as a way to inject more excitement into its mainstream programming. "CBS’s partnership with TiVo is a creative new way to use DVR technology to help drive television network viewing," said George Schweitzer, President of CBS Marketing Group. "Our goal is to introduce our fresh new comedy The Class about a group of 20-somethings who met in the 3rd grade and whose lives become bound together to a broad, diversified, receptive audience that has the ability to start trends and generate buzz, which is exactly what TiVo offers."
