CBS Chair, President & CEO Les Moonves today said the NFL is "still the best property on television" and he is "not worried about a decline in ratings." Moonves cited Sunday's Giants-Cowboys game being up compared to last year, and while he acknowledged Sunday afternoon was "down a bit ... we were in the middle of the biggest hurricane in decades." Amazon is streaming games CBS is also broadcasting this season, but Moonves said it “won’t hurt” the network because everybody “that has intellectual property is trying different ways of doing it." Moonves: "As we go forward, the NFL will have a network presence and we're still the big gun there, we’re still the mass provider, but there will be a digital partner in terms of this deal and every future deal that they do" (“Squawk on the Street,” CNBC, 9/14).
Meanwhile, CBS "intends to launch a streaming-video sports outlet that will be more newsy and less focused on commentary programs." Moonves: "I’m turning on ESPN a lot and seeing people shouting at each other. I want to see the scores." Those remarks represent CBS' "first description of what it intends to build." Moonves said that the OTT sports outlet would "rely on advertising support initially, but suggested the company could also seek to package it in its 'CBS All Access' subscription-video service." He said that CBS "did not anticipate any issue with securing rights from various sports leagues for the new project" (VARIETY.com, 9/14).
