Trouble at CBS Runs Wide and Deep

Evening News turmoil is last thing Moonves needs
By Jim O'Neill,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 14, 2008 11:09 AM CDT
Trouble at CBS Runs Wide and Deep
CBS President and CEO Les Moonves arrives at the Fox Business Network's Launch Party, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007, in New York.    (AP Photo/ Louis Lanzano)

With trouble plaguing most divisions of CBS, last week's flap over Katie Couric's contract was just one of the countless items on Les Moonves' to-do list, the New York Times reports. Ad sales are down industry-wide, Fox is on the tail of the prime-time division and gaining fast, and the radio division and online presence lag competitors.

Earnings fell from $1.66 billion in 2006 to $1.25 billion in 2007, and prospects for the earnings report due April 29 look grim. But Moonves didn't soar into 8-figure-salary territory by being complacent. "Les wants to win," says one analyst. "He’s very aggressive, he’s very smart, and I just don’t see him standing still." (More CBS stories.)

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