Watching Big Brother 24/7

CBS and Real Networks announced plans to continue their partnership for the fifth year, letting fans of the reality show access live Web cams trained on the housemates of "Big Brother 6."

Real will host a live video channel that lets subscribers peep into their doings 24 hours a day. Fans can even choose "quad view" that lets them keep an eye on all four cameras at once.

The broadcaster's digital arm is positioned as an extension of the on-air brand. "We like to create extra features, so when the television show is not on the air, [fans] have somewhere else to go, or if they've missed, something they have for a recap," said Brinley Turner, vice president and general manager of CBS.com.

David Eckoff, a senior director of products at Real, said "Big Brother" is unique among reality shows because it's filmed concurrently with the broadcast, so the Web video feed is truly live TV. "You never know what you're going to see when you're watching live TV," he said. "That's one of the things that makes this product so special: It's what is not on television."

Such Internet-enabled programming brings an added dimension to the TV experience, said Yankee Group analyst Patrick Mahoney. "It fosters the ability to interact with the fans on an on-demand basis. We're seeing that entertainment in general is moving toward an on-demand approach," he said.