There’s no shortage of online destinations for streaming video of today’s presidential inauguration, but I don’t know of any site offering as many different feeds or as much high-def content as CBS. Just in time for the historic presidential swearing-in ceremony, CBS Television Stations has debuted a new Silverlight player with seven (!) live HD feeds. The main feed shows center stage, but you can swap out other streams to view different camera angles. The CBS experience also includes on-demand access to previous inauguration speeches and a live Twitter stream from the editorial staff embedded within the Silverlight player.
It’s interesting that once again we’re seeing a major online event making use of Microsoft Silverlight over the more widely-deployed Adobe Flash platform. (Though it’s important to note, if you don’t want to download Silverlight and the required Move Networks plug-in you can still access two CBS SD streams.) With the combination of major events getting the Silverlight treatment and outfits like Netflix using the technology for HD streaming, MS has made itself a serious competitor in the web video player market.
Want to watch the CBS HD coverage? You can access the CBS Silverlight player on any of the 14 CBS-owned regional stations sites, and it works on both PC and Mac with Explorer, Firefox, and Safari browsers.
