The man who helped shape CBS’s standalone Web video strategy explains himself, for the record.

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Yet another addition to the growing list of programmers signing on to Comcast’s “On Demand Online”: CBS will join the cable provider’s trial program, which will allow subscribers to get Web access to shows they get on TV.

CBS will join previously announced partners Time Warner, which is offering up programming from its Turner channels and HBO; Liberty Media’s Starz, and smaller players like Scripps, Rainbow and A&E. The twist is that CBS is the only broadcaster to sign up for the trial.

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The founders of Last.fm, the London-based Web music start-up CBS snapped up for $280 million two years ago, are leaving the company. No word yet on whom CBS will appoint to replace the founding trio of Felix Miller, Richard Jones and Martin Stiksel, or what any of the men intend to do next.

Miller announced the deal in a short blog post today. More shortly….

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Quincy Smith, who guided CBS through a series of big transactions during the Web 2.0 era, is planning his next deal: a move to start his own boutique investment bank or consultancy. Smith is still running the CBS Interactive unit, a job he took in November 2006. But he has been telling associates that he plans to start his own company, possibly as soon as this summer. Other people close to Smith say that his departure isn’t imminent and doesn’t have a fixed date and that he’s still working closely with CBS CEO Les Moonves. Statement from CBS spokesman Dana McClintock: “We decline to comment on rumor and speculation.”

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A deal to bring Disney’s TV shows and movies to Hulu has supposedly been imminent for weeks. But people familiar with the negotiations between Disney and the video site insist that discussions are now very, very advanced and that a deal could be struck any day. At this point, I’m told, Disney and Hulu, the joint venture between GE’s NBC and News Corp.’s Fox, are haggling over the finer points in the tie-up: Details like which Disney shows and channels will be included in the pact and how many seats Disney will get on the joint venture’s board. And opponents of the deal are plotting their next moves.

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CBS had a lousy fourth quarter, but that’s not news. Wall Street expected it, and Les Moonves and company met revenue expectations while beating earnings. The real news: The company is trying to resolve a looming debt problem by slashing its dividend. CBS’s quarterly payout to investors is dropping from 27 cents to 5 cents.

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CBS paid $1.8 billion for CNET last summer, and today it is dealing with the consequences: A re-org and layoffs. CBS execs won’t release a total for the number of people fired, so news will be coming out in piecemeal fashion for some time. In the meantime, here’s CBS Interactive’s new corporate structure, detailed in an internal memo distributed late today.

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We haven’t heard of much bloodletting since CBS bought CNET for $1.8 billion this summer. But obviously there have to be some cuts as the companies merge the network’s CBS Interactive unit with the Web publisher. Here’s one: Patrick Keane, the former Google exec hired as executive vice president and chief marketing officer in February 2007, is out. In his place is Mickey Wilson, who was SVP of marketing at CNET.

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CBS has pulled the plug on MobLogic.TV, a news and politics Web video series it launched with some fanfare last spring. CBS says the show’s demise isn’t a product of cost-cutting at CBS, which is still integrating its $1.8 billion acquisition of CNET.

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CBS has had plenty of bad news lately–a tanking ad market, a huge write-down, Sumner Redstone’s worrisome debt problems–but it got to offer at least one piece of good news in its quarterly earnings report this morning. CNET, the tech-focused Web publisher it bought this summer for $1.8 billion, turned in a decent performance.

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