CBS Interactive Opening Menlo Park Office

So CBS Interactive is setting up an office in Silicon Valley (check out Paid Content's front page). This doesn't sound like that earth shattering of a revelation but I can tell you from experience working for traditional media in NYC and then going to work out in start-up/technology land in Silicon Valley that it's a big deal. Most major media companies (think Viacom, Fox, Universal . . .) don't have a presence in SV and I think that speaks to their approach to content and the entertainment business. Until the advent of the internet, the main hubs for big entertainment companies have been LA (the home of content creation/production) and NY (the corporate/distribution head) and that has been a comfortable model that still persists in the online media world such as with Hulu which is stationed right here in Gotham. But I think that CBS Interactive's move out to N. CA speaks volumes about the growing shift in the thinking of large media companies. To start to set up shop outside the traditional media centers, and particularly to set foot in the valley ("Go back to the valley man!" -- Point Break quote, sorry, I couldn't resist -- FYI that quote references a different valley than silicon) means media is starting to realize/accept that the future of their business is rooted as much in technology as it is in content and that the two businesses do not necessarily exist separately. Hulu too, speaks to this, creating a great product with some engaging features and functionality but the answer to the online video question seem to lie not as much in simply compelling content but compelling technology (a la YouTube for example) that is able to shift consumer thinking and consumption habits.