iPhone gets CBS shows for free with TV.com app

CBS' TV.com and NBC Universal and News Corp.'s Hulu have been in the tech news foreground this week, revealing their struggle to meaningfully coexist on the PC screen. Meanwhile, the mobile device screen presents a different set of challenges, which TV.com today has officially addressed.

TV.com has launched an iPhone app that allows users to stream CBS' content over AT&T's mobile wireless signal. This is an accomplishment for several reasons. First, other streaming TV apps for the iPhone (Joost, BBC iPlayer) required a Wi-Fi connection to receive content. Secondly, it utilizes the iPhone's native QuickTime video player by streaming in H.264 and not a proprietary protocol like Joost.

Available freely through the iTunes App Store, TV.com's content is mostly short form editions of other content, but does include some full-length episodes of CBS hits like CSI: Miami.