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2000 CBS Sports celebrates its 50th year broadcasting golf, including the 45th consecutive appearance of The Masters®.
February 5, 2000 Al McGuire, Billy Packer and Dick Enberg reunite to call the Connecticut and Michigan State game, their first together since the 1981 NCAA Championship.
April 2000 CBS Sports is rated as the number one supplier of sports event/anthology programming on television according to "The TV Sports Report" from Magna Global USA.
April 9, 2000 "Fail Safe" is the first live broadcast of a dramatic movie since "Playhouse 90," which was broadcast from October 1956 through September 1961 on CBS.
May 1, 2000 Bob Barker's contract with CBS and Pearson Television is extended as host and executive producer of "The Price Is Right" for an unprecedented 29th year. Barker holds the record for the longest number of consecutive daily appearances for a non-news television personality. Other records are a) the longest-running game show in television history; b) the highest number of episodes taped by an individual performer for a single network series; c) the greatest number of Emmy Awards won by a performer. "The Price Is Right" premiered September 4, 1972.
May 4, 2000 The Viacom and CBS merger is complete. The company is now known as Viacom Inc., and comprises MTV Networks, Showtime Networks, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Television Group, Paramount Stations Group, Blockbuster, Paramount Parks, Simon & Schuster, CBS Sports, CBS News and CBS Television.
May 14, 2000 The mini-series "Jesus" airs, marking the first time a mini-series is broadcast in Spanish to markets that have SAP (Second Audio Program) transmission capabilities.
May 24, 2000 The new Viacom Television Stations Group is formed. It consists of 35 television stations reaching the 13 largest and 18 of the top 20 television markets in the U.S. and includes duopolies in six major markets, with both CBS and UPN owned-and-operated stations in Philadelphia, Boston, Dallas, Detroit, Miami and Pittsburgh.
May 31, 2000 Reality series "Survivor" premieres and wins an Emmy for Outstanding Non-Fiction Program (Special Class) for that season. It is the first Emmy Award presented to a reality show. "Survivor" becomes a viewing sensation, with its August finale attracting over 50 million viewers.
July 5, 2000 Summer reality series "Big Brother" premieres.
July 15, 2000 CBS marks Walter Cronkite's 50 years at CBS News, to the day, with a series of anniversary and retrospective reports.
August 2000 Tiger Woods outduels Bob May in the first three-hole playoff in PGA Championship history, seen by an estimated 38.5 million total viewers, the largest audience ever for a PGA Championship.
September 13, 2000 "The Latin Grammy Awards" premieres on CBS in its first annual presentation. It is the first multi-lingual broadcast on a major American network. The Latin Grammy awards (the talk is mostly in English and Spanish, the singing in Spanish and Portuguese) is available to owned and affiliated stations in a Spanish-language version via the second audio program (SAP). This is the first SAP offering of a CBS primetime entertainment special
October 3, 2000 CBS News provides the first live simultaneous Spanish-language translation of the presidential and vice presidential debates by a network.
October 2000 New series include "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (which premieres October 6 and is the number one rated primetime program of the 2002-03 season), "The District" (which premieres October 7) and "Yes, Dear" (which debuts October 2).
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January 20, 2001 CBS Sports and Sony produce the 2001 Sony Open golf tournament as first unified broadcast for both HDTV (high definition television) and conventional standard definition analog coverage, with both feeds originating from one production facility.
January 28, 2001 CBS Sports, Core Digital and Princeton Video Image introduce state-of-the-art, three dimensional replay technology called "EyeVision" for its coverage of Super Bowl XXXV in Tampa. CBS Sports broadcasts its first Super Bowl since 1992 and draws 131.2 million viewers for the Baltimore Ravens win over the New York Giants, the most watched television program of the year.
"Survivor: The Australian Outback" premieres after the Super Bowl. It is one of the highest-rated premieres ever, and becomes the Number One primetime program for the 2000-01 season.
February 2001 Ken Venturi has worked as a commentator for CBS since 1968, making him the longest-tenured analyst in network sports television. He begins his 2001 schedule at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. He retires June 2, 2002.
February 21, 2001 Infinity Broadcasting Corp. merges with Viacom as a wholly owned subsidiary of Viacom
April 1, 2001 "60 Minutes" broadcasts its 1,500th program, the second program in history to reach this milestone. Only the Disney-named network entertainment programs on ABC, CBS and NBC have more total broadcasts. 2001 marks the 33rd season for "60 Minutes," making it the longest continuously run primetime series in television history. This date also marks the show's 3,159th original segment.
May 28, 2001 "The Bold and the Beautiful" is the first daytime drama to offer Spanish-language audio feed through SAP (Secondary Audio Program) technology. The feed is available to more than 40 owned or affiliated CBS stations that have SAP technology.
July 28, 2001 "The Young and the Restless" is the first daytime drama produced and broadcast in HDTV format.
September 2001 CBS Sports broadcasts the women's U.S. Open Tennis Championships, the first-ever grand slam final in primetime with Venus and Serena Williams. It also marks the first time sisters have met for a grand slam final since 1884. Venus defeats Serena (6-2, 6-4).
New series include "The Guardian" (which premieres September 25) and "The Amazing Race" (which premieres September 5 and wins an Emmy for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program for the 2002-2003 season).
September 11, 2001 CBS News coverage of the terrorist attacks on New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania totals a record 93 hours and 8 minutes. The non-stop, commercial-free coverage begins at 8:55 AM, ET, on Tuesday, September 11, and concludes at 6:00 AM, ET on Saturday, September 15. Dan Rather anchors 53 hours and 35 minutes of that coverage. Viacom cable outlets VH1, MTV, CMT, BET and MTV Latin America all carry CBS News' coverage. The CBS feed is made available to UPN television stations and affiliates.
September 17, 2001 David Letterman and the "Late Show" make an emotional return to the airwaves, one week after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11. CBS News' Dan Rather and Regis Philbin are guests.
October 11, 2001 "Survivor: Africa" premieres.
November 2001 "Hallmark Hall of Fame" celebrates its 50th television anniversary this year. CBS announces a new three-year agreement that keeps "Hallmark Hall of Fame," television's longest-running and most-honored series of dramatic specials, exclusively on CBS through May 2005.
CBS Sports' Lesley Visser is the first woman to serve as an analyst for an NFL game, joining the Westwood One/CBS Radio broadcast team
November 29, 2001 Dan Rather's first report on the war in Afghanistan (2001), "A Reporter's Notebook," filed from Bahrain, is broadcast on the "CBS Evening News." The trip to the region continues with reports for "CBS Evening News," "The Early Show," weekend editions of the "CBS Evening News" and "60 Minutes II." Rather's first trip to Afghanistan is broadcast on "60 Minutes" on April 6, 1980 for a story entitled "Inside Afghanistan." His first report from Afghanistan was November 30, 2001 (from Kabul).
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January 2002 UPN joins CBS under Viacom's CBS Television unit, reporting directly to Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer, CBS. Moonves is the first person to run two broadcast networks simultaneously.
February 28, 2002 "Survivor: Marquesas" premieres.
March 10, 2002 "9/11," a two-hour CBS Special Presentation, is broadcast. It features footage that French filmmakers Gedeon and Jules Naudet captured on September 11, 2001, when they were in lower Manhattan taping a documentary on the Engine 7, Ladder 1 firefighters. It includes the only known video of the first plane striking the World Trade Center and follows the firefighters into the heart of what would soon be known as Ground Zero. It also features 45 minutes of footage from inside the North Tower as the rescue effort is underway and dramatic scenes of escape in the minutes before the building collapses. It wins an Emmy for Outstanding Nonfiction Special (Informational) as well as a Peabody Award.
April 6, 2002 CBS Television begins broadcasts of programming with video description for the visually impaired. The service is delivered via SAP (Secondary Audio Program) technology and is available on CBS owned television stations and CBS affiliates in the 25 largest markets, plus stations with SAP capability.
May 9, 2002 For the first time, CBS names an outdoor area in someone's honor: Part of CBS's main television studio is named the Bob Barker Promenade after the beloved host of "The Price Is Right." A time capsule is planted to commemorate the 30th season of "The Price Is Right," the longest-running game show in television history.
September 2002 An estimated 25.0 million viewers watched all or part of the 2002 Men's Final as Pete Sampras defeats Andre Agassi to capture his fifth U.S. Open title and 14th career grand slam title. This would mark Sampras' last match of his career.
Former NFL quarterbacks Dan Marino and Boomer Esiason join host Jim Nantz and former NFL Baseball star Deion Sanders as studio analysts for "The NFL Today," broadcast live from the outdoor set at 59th and Fifth and the indoor studio at the CBS Broadcast center in New York City.
September 11, 2002 CBS devotes the entire day's programming schedule to the anniversary of the terrorist attacks with "9/11: The Day That Changed America" (6:00 AM to 8:00 PM), "60 Minutes II" ("9/11: The President's Story") and an encore of the CBS Special Presentation "9/11," which was originally broadcast March 10, 2002.
September 23, 2002 CBS announces that it will distribute all primetime programming on the HDTV feeds. In addition to the scheduled HDTV productions, CBS will also provide upconverted versions of non-HDTV programming (news magazines, reality shows, specials). This is done in an effort to reduce the amount of local affiliate switching during primetime hours.
Fall 2002 New series premiering include "CSI: Miami" (on September 23), "Without a Trace" (on September 26), "Hack" (on September 27), "Still Standing" (on September 30) and "Survivor: Thailand" (on September 19).
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February 13, 2003 "Survivor: The Amazon" premieres.
February 23, 2003 "The 45th Annual Grammy Awards" is the first major awards show to be broadcast in HDTV and 5.1 Surround Sound.
February 26, 2003 "60 Minutes II" broadcasts Dan Rather's world exclusive interview with Iraqi president Saddam Hussein as the United States seems headed for war. It is the first interview of Hussein by an American reporter in more than a decade.
March 19, 2003 The war with Iraq begins with the U.S. bombing of a Baghdad bunker in which it is believed Saddam Hussein may be staying. Extensive coverage follows over the next three weeks, including live reports from CBS News correspondents "embedded" with U.S. troops, an experiment in which the Pentagon allowed journalists to travel with and report on U.S. combat forces.
CBS Radio News is the first on the radio airwaves with news that the war has begun, feeding continuous coverage to over 500 stations, including Infinity stations affiliated with CBS.
March 20, 2003 CBS News Correspondent Jim Axelrod, embedded with the U.S. Army's Third Infantry Division, is believed to be the first journalist in Iraq to file a live report of ground troops engaged in combat. In April, Axelrod is the first journalist to send live images from the tarmac of the Baghdad airport moments after coalition forces take control.
April 2003 Leslie Moonves named Chairman and CEO, CBS.
April 9, 2003 CBS News Correspondents Lara Logan, Byron Pitts and John Roberts report on the fall of Baghdad. As Logan describes the jubilation of Iraqis at the fall of the statue of Saddam Hussein in one part of Baghdad, Pitts is broadcasting from a live firefight between U.S. and Iraqi forces in another part of the city.
June 4, 2003 "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" becomes the first crime drama to be number one for a television season. The series is CBS's third primetime drama to be number one for a season, following "Gunsmoke" and "Dallas." CSI is only the eighth drama in television history to finish the season as the top program.
July 2003 CBS Sports Broadcasts the final stage of the Tour de France, as American Lance Armstrong becomes the first person to win five consecutive titles and ties as only the third man to win the Tour de France five times. Coverage of the Tour de France wins three Sports Emmys since the event returned to CBS.
July 15, 2003 The oldest continuous nationwide radio broadcast in America is "Music and the Spoken Word." The Mormon Tabernacle Choir honors Charles Osgood, the CBS Radio Network and Westwood One (on July 2) for its contribution to the longevity of the spoken word broadcast as the Choir officially kicks-off 75 years of its weekly program.
September 2003 New series include "Joan of Arcadia" (premieres September 26), "Cold Case" (premieres September 28), "Two and a Half Men" (premieres September 22), "Navy NCIS" (premieres September 23), "The Handler" (premieres September 26) and "Survivor: Pearl Islands" (premieres September 18).
September 28, 2003 "60 Minutes" celebrates its 35th season on the air and its 1,632nd broadcast (including repeats) in primetime, a record for continuously produced programs. The program's three new segments brings the total to 3,389, and Andy Rooney's commentary is his 839th. (See September 24, 1968.)
Data for this timeline were compiled from the CBS "Columbine" special history issue of 1974; The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946 to Present by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, copyright 2003; and As It Happened: A Memoir by William S. Paley, Famous First Facts (3rd Edition).
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