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CBS and NBC, the oldest of the old guard of broadcasters, are joining the brave new world of on-demand programming with separate deals with cable and satellite companies.

Comcast, the country’s biggest cable provider, is teaming up with CBS to offer episodes of four of its most popular series – “CSI,” “Survivor,” “NCIS” and “The Amazing Race” – through its video on demand service. NBC, meanwhile, has struck a deal with satellite leader DirecTV to offer up six shows, including two of the “Law & Order” triumvirate, on demand. In both cases, on-demand episodes of the shows will cost 99 cents and air commercial-free.

“This is an incredibly exciting evolution for CBS and network television,” CBS Chairman Les Moonves says. “Video on demand is the next frontier for our industry, and we are thrilled to be partnering with Comcast in taking this giant, positive leap forward.”

NBC Universal TV chief Jeff Zucker also pronounces himself “thrilled” with the DirecTV deal. “We are extremely aware that viewers can’t always watch these programs when they’re originally scheduled, and this will give them far more control over when they’re able to see these shows,” he says.

Neither venture is expected to make much money at first. The CBS deal only covers areas where Comcast provides cable service and the network owns and operates an affiliate in the same market. The NBC programs will only be available to people with a DirecTV Plus digital video recorder, a new box being introduced this month.

Both deals come on the heels of Disney’s recent partnership with Apple to offer episodes of several shows, including “Lost” and “Desperate Housewives,” for download on Apple’s iTunes service.

Under the CBS deal, on-demand episodes of its four shows will be available for 24 hours after purchase. The NBC shows – “Law & Order: SVU,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “The Office” and “Surface,” plus USA’s “Monk” and Sci Fi’s “Battlestar Galactica” – will be available until the following week’s episode airs.

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Two of The WB’s freshman shows, “Related” and “Twins,” will be sticking around for a while, if not necessarily for a full season.

Neither show is setting the Nielsen charts aflame, but moves to different time periods have resulted in upticks in the ratings for both. As a result, “Related” has been given six additional episodes, raising its total to 19, and “Twins” earned five more shows for a total of 18.

“Related,” a dramedy about four sisters executive produced by “Friends” co-creator Marta Kauffman, has benefited some from its move to Monday nights, where it follows The WB’s perennially solid “7th Heaven.” Last week the show hit season highs for the 9 p.m. Monday EST timeslot among the network’s target audience of adults and women 18-34 (admittedly, the bar wasn’t set too high with the canceled “Just Legal”). Overall, the show is drawing about 2.6 million viewers per week, also an improvement over “Just Legal.”

“Twins,” meanwhile, has seen its viewership increase by about 10 percent since moving from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. Fridays three weeks ago. It has averaged 2.8 million viewers since the switch, up from about 2.54 million in its old spot; the Oct. 29 episode scored the best results of the season for the timeslot among young adults.

The WB has a deeper-than-usual roster of shows for midseason, which could partly explain why “Related” and “Twins” weren’t given nine additional episodes to make an industry-standard full season of 22. The network has two dramas (“Pepper Dennis” and “The Bedford Diaries”) and two comedies (“Modern Men” and “Misconceptions”) on tap for midseason, along with a second installment of “Beauty and the Geek.”

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“Survivor” has outplayed a slew of imitators in its five-plus years on the air and outlasted, at least to this point, a shift away from large amounts of unscripted programming on network TV. So CBS is granting the show immunity for another year.

The network has ordered two more editions of the series – they’ll be the 13th and 14th versions of the game – for 2006-07. The current “Survivor,” set in Guatemala, is now dominating its Thursday-night time period and ranks among the top 10 shows on TV this season.

“‘Survivor’ is that rare television breed – a show with seemingly endless audience appeal,” CBS Entertainment president Nina Tassler says. “Part of that is testament to a concept with inherent drama that features different faces and places; the other part is the ability of (executive producer) Mark Burnett and his talented team to inject new ideas and new wrinkles to keep the format fresh.”

The audience for “Survivor: Guatemala” is down about 1.8 million viewers compared to last year’s “Vanuatu,” but it’s hard to say the show is ailing. It draws 17.6 million viewers per week and a robust 6.2 rating among the coveted adults 18-49 demographic, ranking seventh on all of TV in those measures.

One new wrinkle Burnett and Co. may have to inject into the game next year concerns its host. Jeff Probst’s contract ends after the 12th edition of the show, which will air later this season, and both he and Burnett have said it’s not a sure bet he’ll return.

Burnett, though, doesn’t sound like he’s going anywhere. “‘Survivor’ has been, and continues to be, a wonderful experience for me and for my production crew, and that has remained unchanged since our beginnings,” he says. “I look forward to continuing as part of the CBS family and keeping our loyal Thursday-night audience entertained and enthralled for many more years to come.”