The app lets people “watch CBS shows on the best screen available for them,” CBS Interactive president Jim Lanzone said in a statement, “with a host of extra features that give them a richer viewing experience whenever and wherever they tune in.” Those extra features, which will be integrated “by the start of the Fall TV season,” will include “integrated social feeds; live events that allow fans to engage directly with talent; and second-screen experiences synched to the broadcast with additional content for select shows.”

Shows available through the app include NCIS, The Good Wife, Survivor, CSI and How I Met Your Mother, among others. But full episodes of some well-known shows, like The Big Bang Theory and The Mentalist, are missing from the app even though they’re available through CBS’s website. And the app does not provide a way to catch up on past seasons, or even all of a current season: only select episodes are available.

Other networks are also experimenting with offering streaming through their apps. NBC allows streaming of some shows through its iOS app, for example, while Fox only lets users stream full episodes through its “Fox Now” app if they authenticate their subscription to a TV provider.

For now, HitBliss is available only on the web and on desktops, not on mobile devices — though the company plans to expand to other platforms soon. Among the available content at launch are new movies like Argo, Magic Mike and The Bourne Legacy and new episodes of shows like Real Housewives and The Walking Dead.

Users are served a “playlist” of ads that are delivered to them based on information that they include in a profile. When they watch the ads, they earn virtual cash that can eventually be redeemed for content. Users can specify how much information they’re willing to make available to advertisers; the more information they share, the faster they earn.

Other companies have dabbled with virtual currency in exchange for video. Yidio, for instance, gives users points for completing various tasks, and the points can then be redeemed for Amazon Video on Demand credits. HitBliss is different, however, in that both earning and viewing are done through the same platform.

As HitBliss users watch ads — which they can do at any time, not just right before they want to watch a movie or TV show — cash accumulates in their accounts, and they can redeem it when they wish. HitBliss charges $3.99 for a new movie rental, $1.99 for an older movie rental and $1.99 per TV episode. (Movie rentals last 24 hours, while users will own the TV episodes.) In general, about 8 to 10 minutes of ad viewing (roughly four ads) can be redeemed for one new movie.

The system includes a lot of checks to make sure that users are actually watching ads. “Advertisers are only paying when users are paying attention,” HitBliss cofounder and CMO Sharon Peyer told me. If a user plays an ad and then navigates away or mutes the sound, the ad pauses. An “attention assurance meter” — with a patent pending — occasionally requires users to click it to ensure that they’re paying attention; if they are not, “it gets very angry,” Peyer said, referring to a smily-face icon that turns to a frown the longer it is ignored, before ultimately resetting the ad and requiring the user to watch it again. Over time, users earn “trust points” that decrease the frequency of prompts to make sure they’re paying attention.

Peyer said the platform’s store will eventually expand to include other types of digital content, like apps and virtual goods. HitBliss is based in Lexington, Mass., and is backed by Andy Marcuvitz’s Alpond Capital. Peyer and her husband, CEO Andrew Prihodko, founded the company in mid-2008 after selling a video- and picture-sharing site called Pixamo.

In addition, Netflix announced it will make new DreamWorks movies available for streaming, “beginning with the studio’s 2013 film line-up.”

“Netflix boasts one of the largest and fastest-growing audiences in kids television. They pioneered a new model for TV dramas with House of Cards, and now together, we’re doing the same thing with kids’ programming,” DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg said in a statement.

Turbo is an animated film about a snail who competes in the Indy 500. Netflix’ series will focus on Turbo’s subsequent adventures. The show’s first season includes 26 episodes, each 22 minutes long. A Netflix spokeswoman wouldn’t say whether the entire season will be released at once, as it was with House of Cards.

Amazon is also pushing into original children’s programming for Prime Instant Video, and recently announced its first five pilots.

Users of other services should watch the show while they can. Netflix only has Season 1, which a source familiar with the deal says it will lose on July 1, while Hulu Plus has Seasons 1 and 2.

A press release lays out the timing:

Beginning June 18, 2013, Prime Instant Video will be the exclusive subscription service for streaming the all-new Season 3 of Downton Abbey, and later this year, no digital subscription service other than Prime Instant Video will offer any seasons of Downton Abbey. Prime Instant Video will continue to be the exclusive subscription home through Season 4 and, if produced, Season 5 of Downton Abbey.

It’s easy to see why Amazon wants this deal. Downton Abbey is ”the most popular TV series with Prime Instant Video customers, ever,” the company said.

Fans should still be able to watch new episodes on PBS.org and will continue to be able to buy individual episodes and seasons from iTunes and Amazon.

The kids’ pilots, along with the six comedy pilots, will be posted on Amazon Instant Video, Prime Instant Video, Lovefilm UK and Lovefilm Germany, where customers can watch them for free and help determine which go into production.

It’s all part of Amazon’s initiative to remove the middleman from streaming TV. The shows’ creators get $10,000 when their show is optioned and $55,000 if it’s chosen for production, as well as a share of licensing fees and other royalties. Amazon says it’s now optioned a total of 25 projects, and it’s looking for more children’s and comedy shows.

Here are the first five children’s pilots:

Creative Galaxy

Creative Galaxy is an animated interactive art adventure series, designed to inspire kids’ creative thinking through crafts, story, music and dance. The series was created by Angela Santomero, creator of Super Why!, the Emmy-nominated literacy series, Blue’s Clues and Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood.

Oz Adventures

In this innovative problem solving series, Dot, Dorothy’s daughter, goes off to Oz everyday with the children of the beloved characters from L. Frank Baum’s classic book, The Wizard of Oz. In each episode, the yellow brick road leads Dot to a new magical location where she solves problems alongside her Oz friends.

Teeny Tiny Dogs

Produced by The Jim Henson Company (Sid the Science Kid, Dinosaur Train) and created by Howard Baker (Rugrats), Teeny Tiny Dogs follows Butch, Butterfly, Dinky and Polly as they help one another navigate the big world despite their teeny, tiny, small size. This series promotes happiness through friendship, learning, growing and developing a strong sense of self as seen through the eyes of canine friends.

Tumbleaf

Tumbleaf was created by Drew Hodges and Bix Pix Studios, an award-winning stop motion studio. The series, aimed at preschoolers, is set in a whimsical land where a small blue fox named Fig plays each day and discovers adventure, friendship and love around every bend in the path. Children will be enriched by narratives that promote play through exploration and cognitive reasoning.

The Untitled J.J. Johnson Project

The Untitled J.J. Johnson Project revolves around Anne, a young scientist, who creates three robot helpers to assist her scientific experiments in the back of her dad’s junkyard. This science-based series from creator J.J. Johnson (Dino Dan, This is Emily Yeung) aims to introduce kids to science and technology in a fun, new way.

The San Francisco-based FORA.tv already provides pay-per-view and free access to over 10,000 videos from such events. Video of the full 2012 New Yorker festival, for example, is $99.95 or $9.95 per session, and video of the 2012 Washington Ideas Forum is $44.95 or $2.95 per session. But the company says many members requested a subscription model.

With Front Row, subscribers can pay $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month to gain access to all the videos 60 days after they’re posted on FORA.tv. Other perks for members include audio and video downloads of certain free videos, no pre-roll ads and a 20 percent discount on content that’s less than 60 days old.

FORA.tv CEO Blaise Zeraga says the majority of pay-per-view videos are purchased a week before the event and in the two weeks after it. Front Row will be a good way for publishers to generate revenue from older content “by capitalizing on long-tail interest,” he says.

Netflix is also experimenting with conference video and recently added dozens of TED Talks to its streaming offerings.

While Simon & Schuster has placed particular emphasis on online video, other publishers are also using it as a promotional tool. Reading community site Goodreads has its own video section, and website Book Riot has a separate section for book trailers. Readers and fans have come to expect “readily available and entertaining information both about their favorite authors and those they’re considering reading,” said Simon & Schuster EVP and chief digital officer Ellie Hirschhorn. “Video is now a critical part of that mix.”

Since many web users search for topics, not individual titles, Simon & Schuster has created three video channels that will appear on Roku and Blinkx. Two of the channels, “Tips on Healthy Living” and “Tips on Life and Love,” focus on videos from lifestyle and relationship authors (and have corresponding blogs), while “Book Stew” features author interviews for pop culture and general interest books.

Hirschhorn said Simon & Schuster’s most popular videos have been Walter Isaacson speaking on his book Steve Jobs (13,562 views on YouTube) and a book trailer for Hunger Games parody The Hunger Pains (over 1.5 million views on YouTube). The most successful videos, she said, provide “entertainment that is not an advertisement,” and tend to be under two minutes long.

EPIX, which includes a premium TV channel and video-on-demand service, is a joint venture from Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, and Lionsgate. The agreement includes “new releases such as The Avengers, Iron Man 2, The Hunger Games, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Thor and Rango as well as popular favorites such as Kick Ass, Paranormal Activity 2, True Grit, The Lincoln Lawyer, and Justin Bieber Never Say Never. EPIX also brings original programming including comedy specials and concerts such as Kevin Smith: Burn in Hell and Usher: Live from London.”

Prime members pay $79 per year for unlimited two-day shipping and other perks, like streaming video. With the EPIX deal, Amazon says the Prime Instant Video library now contains over 25,000 movies and TV episodes. As of April, Netflix had over 60,000 streaming titles. Netflix’s exclusive deal with EPIX ended last month, but it too will stream movies like The Hunger Games and The Avengers 90 days after they’re released on EPIX VOD.

Amazon is holding a press conference in Los Angeles on Thursday. It is widely expected to introduce new Kindles at the event, but the choice of location suggests that the company might also announce new streaming video deals that day.

New shows include seasons of Friday Night Lights, Parks and Recreation, Parenthood, Heroes, Battlestar Galactica and others.

“We look forward to further expanding NBCU’s content offering available to Prime subscribers in the near future,” said NBCU’s Frances Manfredi.

Counting the new shows, Prime Instant Video now offers 22,000 movies and TV episodes free to Prime members, who pay $79 a year for free two-day shipping and other perks. As of April, Netflix had over 60,000 streaming titles (but it still doesn’t have the third season of “Parenthood” — and now Amazon does).

The reason that top result popped up on my Doctor Who search is that the named Much Ado stars, David Tennant and Catherine Tate, had previously worked together on Who. As a fan of both actors, I’d heard about the production, but as I tragically do not live in London, I didn’t think I’d ever get to see it. That was because, until this week, I had never heard of Digital Theatre, which makes “the best of British theatre” (according to its tagline) available to the rest of the world for digital rental or download.

Founded in 2009, Digital Theatre currently hosts 13 full-length filmed productions (plus educational resources) that represent a range of contemporary and classic works, including Into the Woods, The Royal Shakespeare Company’s Comedy of Errors, and The Container, a play performed inside a shipping container .

The default pricing is for British pounds, though a pull-down menu switches that to American dollars or Euros; streaming rental prices range from $3.49 to $7.99, while HD downloads are available for $10-$17.99 — essentially comparable to the same rates Apple charges for films on iTunes.

(Pro-tip: Even if you’re in the UK, try to buy with American dollars — for some reason the British pricing, by current conversion rates, is a bit more expensive.)

Once I’d signed up for a Digital Theatre account, paying for a 48-hour rental of Much Ado was relatively simple, though the actual technology was rather disappointing: The stream was only available via a crude browser-based Flash player, meaning that I couldn’t stream using iPad or iPhone, and the Adobe Air desktop player was a clunky experience, especially when trying to skip forward or backwards. This is what happens when you spend Apple-level dollars — you expect an Apple-level experience.

David Tennant and Catherine Tate in “Much Ado About Nothing,” via the Digital Theatre Player.

Of course, perspective here is key. While the experience could be improved, I still got to watch a lively (albeit slightly campy) Shakespeare production from the other side of the world, one that I’d thought I’d never get a chance to see. Streaming a video of a theatrical performance in a sweaty apartment in Los Angeles is of course no comparison to really taking in a show — but for teachers, theater fans, and anyone who’s ever cursed the ephemeral nature of live performance, sites like Digital Theatre still feel a bit like a miracle.