CBS News is investing more than $20 million in new camcorder technology from Sony as it begins converting its news operations to a tapeless world. CBS said it will roll out Sony’s XDCAM Professional Disc technology by early next year for news gathering at CBS News, and by 2006 at its 16 owned-and-operated stations.

The $20 million investment includes more than 75 XDCAM camcorders and 250 decks, with “hundreds” more units for the stations, CBS said.

The CBS choice is noteworthy because earlier this year Sony’s competitor Panasonic appeared to be a front-runner for many news operations with its tapeless offering.