Les Moonves: Football Still the Best Thing on Television
If you were hoping that CBS boss Les Moonves would be one of those taking a stand against the NFL? You better hope for something else.
Moonves on Wednesday alluded to problems with the NFL — presumably accusations of violence perpetrated by star players Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice — but said the network's ratings for Thursday Night Football were "above expectations."
He even suggested that controversy might have increased viewership for the game, which saw the Baltimore Ravens defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The CEO, speaking at the Bank of America 2014 Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference in Beverly Hills, didn't address the controversy set off when CBS canceled airing a song by Rihanna that had been scheduled before kickoff.
"This week we have a lesser matchup with Atlanta and Tampa Bay, so the numbers will be down, and we expect the other networks to point that out," he said. "The advertising is terrific … football is still the best thing on television … the ratings are phenomenal, the advertising rates still go up, there are still certain advertisers that have to have it … we love having those games on Thursday night."
Don't worry Les, maybe a player from the Falcons will punch out his wife before game time.
We can only hope....right?