Two bits of news from the wacky world of US media conglom CBS. First up, news that CBS TV is planning on launching its own video on demand service to rival YouTube, the previously mentioned Joost and other similar online video thingimies. News of the CBS online service, which will include webcasts of top US shows like CSI, follow news last month that CBS rivals Fox and NBC Universal are planning a joint venture that will deliver a similar service.
Meanwhile, over at CBS Radio, bosses have announced they have fired controversial broadcaster Don Imus over that previously reported outrage that followed a racist comment he made on his radio show, in which referred to the mostly black members of the Rutgers University women's basketball team as "nappy-headed hos". The station suspended the presenter and he himself delivered several apologies for his remarks, and bosses there hoped that that would be enough, despite demonstrations outside their head offices and calls by key civil rights groups for a boycott of the sponsors of the Imus show. But in the end that pressure proved too intense for the network, and they announced yesterday the show was being permanently pulled from the schedules. CBS President and CEO Leslie Moonves told reporters: "From the outset, I believe all of us have been deeply upset and repulsed by the statements that were made on our air".