At CBS, Bad News Doesn’t End at 7

[CatWoman]

Katie Couric may be the least of Leslie Moonves’s worries.

While the fate of Ms. Couric and the “CBS Evening News” is in the headlines, the entire CBS News division represents only a fraction of the CBS broadcast network’s revenue. More perplexing is the prime-time schedule, where no new hit has emerged this year, and as a result, CBS is likely to lose the crown of most-watched network to the Fox network.

And there are concerns over other parts of the CBS Corporation. The radio division is lagging. Pressure to make a digital acquisition is intensifying. Advertising revenue is softening. The good news includes the CBS billboard business, which seems to be doing pretty well.

The challenges facing the company fall squarely on the shoulders of Mr. Moonves, chief executive of CBS since 2004, a year before it was spun off from Viacom. Without the cushion of Viacom’s other properties, CBS has been more exposed to the struggles of the advertising market. In 2007, it earned $1.25 billion, down from $1.66 billion the year before. CBS stock closed at $21.40 on Friday, compared with $30.99 a year earlier.

Mr. Moonves’s next public hurdle, assuming that the situation with Ms. Couric is resolved, will be the earnings report on April 29.

Like many Wall Street analysts, Jessica Reif Cohen of Merrill Lynch expects a 3 percent decline in revenue, in part reflecting the fact that the network did not broadcast two major sports events in the first quarter of 2008 — the Super Bowl and the Final Four basketball tournament. And like most other analysts, Ms. Reif Cohen praises Mr. Moonves, who has been considered one of the smartest programmers and executives in the business.

He is also one of the better paid. While the news media focused their attention on Ms. Couric’s estimated $15-million-a-year contract, Mr. Moonves’s compensation rose to $36.8 million in 2007, from $28.6 million in 2006, according to the company’s proxy statement, an increase of more than 28 percent.

“Les wants to win,” Ms. Reif Cohen said. “It’s difficult to envision him leading a company that is showing no growth or declining growth. He’s very aggressive, he’s very smart, and I just don’t see him standing still.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/business/media/14cbs.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

[Warpy]

1. CBS took a turn to the far right

some time ago and it's finally caught up with them. The news cast is utterly ridiculous and the entertainment programing is suffocatingly boring.

Face it, Moonves, the conservative sun is setting, the gig is over, it's time to ride off into the sunset while you can still move your cash offshore, people have wised up and they're going to move on even more quickly now.

[CatWoman]

2. you lay down with dogs

you get up with fleas :)