I’m at the CBS keynote behind a batch of CBS execs, sandwiched between Sling Media’s Jason Krikorian and Jason Hirschhorn. CEO Leslie Moonves quickly got to the purpose of this CES appearance: to show how CBS is embracing the new order “big time.” Moonves is using all the right words and bringing up all the right concepts to show just how plugged in CBS is. He started by highlighting the hiring of Quincy Smith to head digital; Smith didn’t take the stage but his influence is clear.
This is a fast-paced show. In rapid succession, we’ve seen CSI creator Anthony Zuiker pay homage to his online fan base; Opie and Anthony show off their PalTalk interactivity, Ilene Chaiken and Jennifer Beals demo The L Word‘s new social network; and CSTV’s Brian Bedol introduce a new service called Fans Only, a personal skybox/virtual sports bar.
Blake Krikorian has just demonstrated an intriguing new service debuting soon from Sling Media: Clip+Sling, which will allow users to record and share TV moments. The example used was Two and a Half Men – Krikorian showed how to clip and send a bit from the show to Moonves.  The content actually is saved to a portal, which Sling is developing, so the recipient follows a link.
And now Chad Hurley takes the stage to show a new CBS project on YouTube – Craig Ferguson asking users to submit 15 second videos on anything,  one of which will be aired during the Super Bowl on CBS. The comic’s invitation has already been played more than 1 million times and Hurley showed some of the entries.
Before Krikorian and Hurley, Philip Rosedale, CEO of Second Life, came on stage to debut an SL version of “Star Trek” via a machinima (machine animation) developed by Electric Sheep to show what users will be able to do in the virtual Star TRek they are creating for CBS.
More to come, including details on these deals and excerpts from an interview earlier today with Moonves.
Update: A couple of notes I ddn’t have time to post live:
—Excerpts from two YouTube mashups gave the audience a laugh and Moonves a chance to poke fun at himself and the company. One is a brilliant collection of David Caruso’s one-liners and sunglasses technique on CSI: Miami; the other a mashup of Julie Chen’s inadvertant trademark “but first” lines on Big Brother. Chen and Moonves are married.
—Moonves described CBS as evolving into a “sort of new thing—an audience company.” He also talked about the need to stop dividing between old media and new media, it’s “just media” and CBS will be there—warning: geek line ahead—“whether it’s CSI or C++.”