Posted on 09/12/2006 4:52:46 AM PDT by abb
For Leslie Moonves, the chief executive of the CBS Corporation, it was a week to savor.
His decision to make Katie Couric the anchor of the “CBS Evening News” looked like a wildly successful bet, so far at least. On the entertainment side, CBS was set to go into the fall season as the most watched network in prime time.
Success with another, equally fickle audience — Wall Street — endeared him to his boss, Sumner M. Redstone, the 83-year-old mogul who controls both CBS and Viacom. To top it all off, Mr. Moonves watched last week as Mr. Redstone publicly dismissed his archrival, Tom Freston, the Viacom chief executive.
Mr. Moonves is too savvy a political player to show even a hint of schadenfreude over the ouster of Mr. Freston. But in an interview late last week, he allowed himself to gloat a little about CBS’s current status.
“I am like: ‘O.K., bring it on and let the games begin,’ ’’ said the tanned, trim 56-year-old executive. “We are extremely pleased about Katie,” he said, though he was quick to add: “Don’t declare victory. Wait a couple of weeks.”
In a business where “we are changing our tires on a car going 80 miles an hour,” as Mr. Moonves described the treacherous world of broadcast TV, there is little certainty.
Ms. Couric’s initial ratings swamped NBC and ABC, but they could fall back to earth once the novelty of watching the first solo woman news anchor wears thin. If the aging demographics of the “CBS Evening News” do not improve — the median viewer’s age is just over 60 years old — selling spots to advertisers could grow more difficult.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Ping
Couric is wildly successful????????????????????????
Not very manly, I'm afraid ....
The NYT is probably comparing her to its performance. :-)
Drugs...
One victory at a time. Network news has outlived its usefulness.
Yeah, a network whose 'success' relies completely on nightly doses of corpses, autopsies, and mass murderers. A legacy to be proud of.
The sick world of the left.
Imagine what it must be like to live in an alternate universe. Fearing that you'll get into the real world at any moment.
SHAKEDOWN: CLINTON CALLED MOONVES IN MILLION DOLLAR SITCOM DISPUTE!
I guess he hadn't seen the entire week's ratings? Friday Couric finished dead last among the three networks.
Of course she is. How can she be anything but. All that salary they pay her. All that promotion. Of course you love Couric's program because Moonves and CBS says you do.
Geritol, Polident, Poli-Grip, The Scooter Store, Depends - All the great ones who used to sponsor Lawrence Welk.
Hiring Katie was a stunt. Not a strategy for long term success. This will end his career at CBS.
Katie was looking a little haggard, and could not shake off the hard left bias in the choice of stories and the defeatist tone on stories from Iraq and the alarmist tone with everything else.
If SeeBS wanted to get a younger Demographic they needed to put on someone who was....younger. The Lexus/Nexus babe would have been a good choice.
Even my 80 year old Mom, who has watched the CBS Evening News since the 1950's refuses to watch Katie Couric. She watched once, and switched to NBC.
Mom says, "I can't stand her. I think they've only kept her on television because her husband died, and they felt sorry for her."
I love Katie Couric
I love Katie Couric
I love Katie Couric
NOT
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