'CSI,' 'NCIS' Episodes To Watch: CBS Agrees to Stream 'Hundreds' of Episodes

For the first time, CBS Corp. has opened its vault to subscription video on demand, or SVOD, for domestic access to episodes of its crime drama series "CSI" and "NCIS."

It's still anybody's guess just where "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" will find a home for streaming, but CBS chief executive officer Leslie Moonves promised to make the announcement soon.

"We're just beginning to license the domestic streaming rights for our non-serialized current hit shows like CSI," he said during a conference call with investors on Thursday, The Hollywood Reporter said.

"These new deals represent an extension of our evolving strategy in terms of how we monetize our content. We have hundreds and hundreds of episodes ready to go, so you can imagine how lucrative this will be," he added.

For years, the media company has refrained from licensing primetime CBS content to SVOD, preferring to sell older episodes through traditional syndication channels.

This made "CSI: Miami" and "CSI: New York" available on Netflix only because they no longer air on television.

Moonves said the new philosophy of licensing back episodes from existing primetime shows reflects an evolving strategy on how CBS monetizes its content.

"We're seeing more and more that streaming the right shows brings new distribution options into the mix, and then brings those viewers to [primetime TV] for the latest episode," Moonves said, according to Home Media Magazine.

Moonves also revealed that he is looking to sell "NCIS" to an SVOD distributor, but that deal appears farther off.

"CSI is already a multibillion-dollar franchise and new streaming deals will only add to that. Going forward we have the whole NCIS catalog in our arsenal to sell, and discussions are already underway to license that show later this year," he said.

"CSI" has been on the air since 2000 and has a library of more than 330 episodes. The aging procedural, once the most watched show in the world, continues to pull in large, though diminishing, audiences.

"NCIS," meanwhile, assumed CSI's mantle as the most watched global show and regularly propels CBS to lead Tuesdays in total viewers.