Moonves: Pilots 'overrated,' no recession By Paul J. Gough
Feb 27, 2008
NEW YORK -- CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves said Tuesday that "pilots are vastly overrated" and that the impact of the writers strike has given the network the ability to reexamine its development process.
He also said that his company was not hurt financially by the writers strike and is not seeing any signs of recession.
Speaking to Wall Street analysts during the company's quarterly earnings call, Moonves reached into his 20-plus years as a successful network programmer to say there has been a lot of wasted spending.
"It hasn't necessarily been the most expensive shows that have hit it out of the ballpark," Moonves said. "There's some feeling that you don't have to spend $5 million" on a pilot to know whether the show will be a success. He said that the 20th episode was a better indication than the first episode of a series.
"I don't think you need to spend a huge amount of money to find those hits," Moonves said. He said the network would operate more efficiently in the future with the changes being put into place now.
Moonves and CFO Fred Reynolds said the company had not been adversely affected financially from the three-month-long writers strike, which ended in time for the network to return original programming in the spring. CBS in fact saved around $70 million in the fourth quarter thanks to the strike. There will be a "significant" but as yet unstated amount of savings in the first quarter.
"During the short term we were able to manage operating costs at the network very well," Moonves said. That includes significant reductions in operating expenses as well as terminating what Moonves called "costly" writing and producing deals. The network does not have any make-good issues either and scatter pricing is running about 30% more than what the network received in the upfront.
Moonves looked forward to the upfront, which will tout CBS' new schedule on air and online. He said that the network will benefit from a "faster, leaner development model" with fewer expensive pilots and greater efficiencies. Already 11 shows have been renewed.
Meanwhile, Moonves said CBS isn't being affected by a recession that some economists have suggested may have hit other segments of the U.S. economy. Despite growing fears that the economy is starting to affect the ad-supported media that makes up the bulk of the revenue of companies like CBS, Moonves said that there's no evidence of it there. He pointed to Fox Broadcasting's ability to receive an average of $2.7 million for a 30-second spot during the Super Bowl this month as evidence of strength in the economy.
"That doesn't tell me that there's something drastically wrong with the economy when guys will pay that much for those spots," Moonves said. He added that in a recession "the last thing you want to do is pull back from network television."
One of the growing revenue streams is the upcoming March Madness online coverage. Moonves said the online product, which has been free for the past three years, delivered $10 million in revenue last year, and CBS is projecting it will take in $21 million this month with exactly the same cost of production.
"The great majority of that $21 million will drop to the bottom line," Moonves said.
Originally posted by Zedman2: One of the growing revenue streams is the upcoming March Madness online coverage. Moonves said the online product, which has been free for the past three years, delivered $10 million in revenue last year, and CBS is projecting it will take in $21 million this month with exactly the same cost of production.
"The great majority of that $21 million will drop to the bottom line," Moonves said.
These on-line advertising gains are at best ephemeral as I believe they represent viewership and revenue cannibalized from the broadcast window. Over time, the $21m/month ($252m/year) that Mr. Moonves cites is going to come at the expense of broadcast ads, and it may not be at a positive ratio (i.e. online gain < broadcast loss).
Also, didn't some of the networks have a promise that they would deliver affiliate comp for the viewers that source the mother .com's via affiliate websites? I wonder how that expense factors into the $21m/month equation?
Also, under the new WGA deal, will the writers get any share of this newly found revenue?
Moonves and CFO Fred Reynolds said the company had not been adversely affected financially from the three-month-long writers strike, which ended in time for the network to return original programming in the spring. CBS in fact saved around $70 million in the fourth quarter thanks to the strike. There will be a "significant" but as yet unstated amount of savings in the first quarter.
Exactly as I thought. CBS did not panic and try to place abounch of new, failed content on like NBC & ABC did, to get similar results.
Moonves and CFO Fred Reynolds said the company had not been adversely affected financially from the three-month-long writers strike, which ended in time for the network to return original programming in the spring. CBS in fact saved around $70 million in the fourth quarter thanks to the strike. There will be a "significant" but as yet unstated amount of savings in the first quarter.
Exactly as I thought. CBS did not panic and try to place abounch of new, failed content on like NBC & ABC did, to get similar results.
Disney stated the same thing when they announced their quarterly results. Off course the networks saved money and with demand exceeding supply the amount of make-goods are probably less than expected.
Moonves and CFO Fred Reynolds said the company had not been adversely affected financially from the three-month-long writers strike, which ended in time for the network to return original programming in the spring. CBS in fact saved around $70 million in the fourth quarter thanks to the strike. There will be a "significant" but as yet unstated amount of savings in the first quarter.
Exactly as I thought. CBS did not panic and try to place abounch of new, failed content on like NBC & ABC did, to get similar results.
Well actually, the only new shows that bombed on ABC were Cashmere Mafia and Eli Stone. Carpoolers was a flop before hand as was October Road and Notes (both of which were scheduled before the strike in their current slots). On NBC, Lipstick Jungle is a flop as is newcomer My Dad is Better than Your Dad. Pretty much everything else for the two nets has done alright all things considered. CBS may have "saved" money but they'll finish sweeps in fourth place in the demo. They also have the ability to rely on repeats more than the other nets. Can you imagine if ABC had stuck with repeats of their serialized shows in their regular slots? Wouldn't have been a pretty story. The strike bait programming for NBC and ABC was a necessity and they were wise for programming the new and returning shows.
Moonves and CFO Fred Reynolds said the company had not been adversely affected financially from the three-month-long writers strike, which ended in time for the network to return original programming in the spring. CBS in fact saved around $70 million in the fourth quarter thanks to the strike. There will be a "significant" but as yet unstated amount of savings in the first quarter.
Exactly as I thought. CBS did not panic and try to place abounch of new, failed content on like NBC & ABC did, to get similar results.
Disney stated the same thing when they announced their quarterly results. Off course the networks saved money and with demand exceeding supply the amount of make-goods are probably less than expected.
Despite programming more original stuff, ABC and NBC mostly used cheap filler that was much less expensive than any scripted shows would've been.
Granted Eli Stone hasn't kept a lot of Lost's audience, but it still has a decent number of viewers. Anyhow, classifying it as a "bomb" is not accurate.
quote:
Originally posted by mushu_jj:
Well actually, the only new shows that bombed on ABC were Cashmere Mafia and Eli Stone.
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Moonves and CFO Fred Reynolds said the company had not been adversely affected financially from the three-month-long writers strike, which ended in time for the network to return original programming in the spring. CBS in fact saved around $70 million in the fourth quarter thanks to the strike. There will be a "significant" but as yet unstated amount of savings in the first quarter.
Exactly as I thought. CBS did not panic and try to place abounch of new, failed content on like NBC & ABC did, to get similar results.
Disney stated the same thing when they announced their quarterly results. Off course the networks saved money and with demand exceeding supply the amount of make-goods are probably less than expected.
but, Didney does have a lot of other businesses than CBS Corp does, to offset any downturn in TV. CBS Corp is pretty small, in comparison to Disney.
Moonves and CFO Fred Reynolds said the company had not been adversely affected financially from the three-month-long writers strike, which ended in time for the network to return original programming in the spring. CBS in fact saved around $70 million in the fourth quarter thanks to the strike. There will be a "significant" but as yet unstated amount of savings in the first quarter.
Exactly as I thought. CBS did not panic and try to place abounch of new, failed content on like NBC & ABC did, to get similar results.
Disney stated the same thing when they announced their quarterly results. Off course the networks saved money and with demand exceeding supply the amount of make-goods are probably less than expected.
but, Didney does have a lot of other businesses than CBS Corp does, to offset any downturn in TV. CBS Corp is pretty small, in comparison to Disney.
Networks CBS Corp owns: Networks: CBS Network, Showtime Networks, Inc. (SNI) owns Showtime, the Movie Channel, Flix, Showtime Too, Showtime Showcase, Showtime Extreme, Showtime Beyond, Showtime Next, Showtime Women, Showtime Familyzone, TMC XTRA, Showtime HD, the Movie Channel HD, Showtime on Demand, Sundance Channel (joint venture, SNI owns 30%), Showtime PPV, CBS Entertainment, CBS News, CBS Sports, CSTV Networks, Inc.
Radio CBS Corp owns: CBS Radio owns 140 radio stations in 31 markets; most of these are in the nation’s top 50 markets.
Publishing CBS Corp owns: Simon & Schuster: Atria Books, Kaplan, Pocket Books, Scribner, Simon & Schuster, The Free Press, The Touchstone, Fireside Group
Others: CBS owns CBS Outdoor, CBS Consumer Products, and Star Trek: The Experience (themed attraction at Las Vegas Hilton), and manages Bonfante Gardens horticultural theme park (Gilroy, CA) and CBS Television City at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino (Las Vegas, NV).
quite a bit I should say, also it owns Viacom too. Source: FreePress
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it does not Own Viacome and Viacom no longer ownes CBS Corp.
Teh link you referenced below (which is really nice) shows the two companies as seperate entities. Each has their own holding and companies.
Yes, CBS does have a lot of business, but it pales in compairison to Disney, or even GE/NBCU.
quote:
Originally posted by xjeffie33x: Networks CBS Corp owns: Networks: CBS Network, Showtime Networks, Inc. (SNI) owns Showtime, the Movie Channel, Flix, Showtime Too, Showtime Showcase, Showtime Extreme, Showtime Beyond, Showtime Next, Showtime Women, Showtime Familyzone, TMC XTRA, Showtime HD, the Movie Channel HD, Showtime on Demand, Sundance Channel (joint venture, SNI owns 30%), Showtime PPV, CBS Entertainment, CBS News, CBS Sports, CSTV Networks, Inc.
Radio CBS Corp owns: CBS Radio owns 140 radio stations in 31 markets; most of these are in the nation’s top 50 markets.
Publishing CBS Corp owns: Simon & Schuster: Atria Books, Kaplan, Pocket Books, Scribner, Simon & Schuster, The Free Press, The Touchstone, Fireside Group
Others: CBS owns CBS Outdoor, CBS Consumer Products, and Star Trek: The Experience (themed attraction at Las Vegas Hilton), and manages Bonfante Gardens horticultural theme park (Gilroy, CA) and CBS Television City at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino (Las Vegas, NV).
quite a bit I should say, also it owns Viacom too. Source: FreePress
