Moonves Plans to Take More Shows Straight to Digital
Les Moonves is looking for more hit shows, but you might never see them on your CBS affiliate.
As Moonves role grows inside CBS/Viacom, his push to digital grows as well.
Reuters reports that Moonves is planning more original content and looking at taking some of his network's shows off the air and putting them exclusively on its subscription-based CBS All Access service, to compete with the growing popularity of Netflix and Hulu.
In other words, CBS affiliates could be losing some big shows that bring in ratings.
The bottom line, it's all about the money.
"When I started this job 20 years ago, advertising was everything to this company," Moonves told Reuters in an interview in his Los Angeles office on Monday, as he prepared to travel to the San Francisco Bay Area for the big game. "Advertising will still remain important, but it's not nearly as important as some of these new ways of getting revenue, such as interactive."
He would not say which CBS shows - which include hits such as "The Big Bang Theory" and "The Good Wife" - would be candidates for exclusive distribution on the All Access service, but suggested it would be original content and shows that have an avid fan base but not necessarily high ratings.
CBS already said last year that its new "Star Trek" series, scheduled for 2017, would premiere on the network then switch exclusively to All Access.
CBS affiliates be warned, you might not be part of the mothership's future plans.