CBS has alerted media that on Wednesday morning, the company will be announcing "a new unprecedented service" involving social music service Last.fm, which it purchased last year. On hand will be Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of the CBS Corp.; Quincy Smith, president of the CBS Interactive division; as well as Felix Miller and Martin Stixsel, two of Last.fm's three co-founders.
So what is this "new unprecedented service?" PaidContent says it's hearing that CBS plans to use Last.fm's social recommendation engine (its "scrobbling" technology) and apply it to online video as well. Other suggestions being tossed around have hinted that it may be integrated into the CBS Audience Network, or into CBS Radio, or perhaps into some new property that hasn't been unveiled yet.
Last year, when CBS purchased Last.fm, we wondered what the media giant might want with it. Some observers hinted that CBS was likely interested in the "scrobbling" technology that fuels the music recommendation service, whereas others suggested the $280 million price tag was for a highly engaged community of music fans. Right now, it's looking like the former. After all, Les Moonves will be there--this will undoubtedly reach beyond CBS Interactive.
Recently, CBS Interactive has "taken action" with another one of the Web properties it acquired--finance video blog Wallstrip. Lindsay Campbell, the actress who had hosted the show since its inception, left last week in order to move onto a new CBS Interactive project called Moblogic.tv.
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