Quantcast

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

CBS: Moonves Out ?



"Favored sons and daughters float into Viacom/CBS mogul Sumner Redstone's life like sunshine after rain. Unfortunately, after a pleasant year or two, they usually get thrown right out again (including his actual sons and daughters).

A couple of quarters ago, Sumner was positively over the moon about CBS (CBS) CEO Les Moonves. But that was before CBS's stock sucked wind for another six months, Moonves gave himself a $37 million raise, and Viacom (VIAB) CEO Philippe Dauman gradually eclipsed his rival to become the apple of Sumner's eye.

The key sign Moonves's days are numbered? Yesterday, Sumner killed Viacom's deal with CBS's Showtime, announcing that it would form its own pay channel."



"The bad news for CBS News began last week with several days of speculation about the future of its anchor, Katie Couric. Then came word on Monday that the network would not get the opportunity to present a Democratic primary debate in North Carolina. On Tuesday CBS received ratings results that put an exclamation point on its troubles: the “CBS Evening News” recorded the worst five-night run in its history last week."

No comments: