Google and Yahoo each announced their own initiatives at CES for the emerging internet VOD market pioneered by Apple's recent iTunes expansion.

Yahoo's TV download venture will work with a Yahoo! Go software package; allowing users the ability to access their Yahoo-branded content across multiple platforms (TV sets, mobile phones, etc.) Yahoo has stated they will start selling video downloads later in the year. Their free archive of music videos, news reports, and 1 million+ video clips should be compatible. Also, an on-TV interface will show user feedback and reviews.

Google has secured a non-binding deal with CBS to offer their properties for $2 an episode and the NBA for paid game downloads. Copy-protection software will prohibit the transfer of specified video content to mobile devices. Unlike Yahoo, they do not intend on offering a separate client to facilitate TV viewing, believing conventional methods employed on computers hooked up to TV sets will suffice.

Though the Google-CBS deal isn't an exclusive agreement, it leaves the possibility open for a market where television properties are fragmented amongst different web sites. That would confuse people as they search one video portal for a program without the knowledge another service retains exclusive hosting rights. In the event of this scenario, a TV episode meta-search would likely emerge as a portal to the various VOD internet-based services.

Via NY Times