CBS Chair, President & CEO Les Moonves yesterday said that "all of the network’s sports contracts are profitable," including its deal with the NFL, according to Stephen Battaglio of the L.A. TIMES. Moonves said that despite the ratings declines in NFL viewing this season, it "continues to be the best product on television." Game telecasts draw the "largest TV audiences" and provide a "promotional platform for other CBS programming, luring young male viewers who don’t watch a lot of network television." Moonves: "I remember the three years we didn’t have it from 1995 to 1998. The network fell apart.” Battaglio notes the NFL is also a reason that Moonves "believes AT&T will eventually make a deal to carry the network on its new streaming service" (L.A. TIMES, 12/6). Moonves said that lower ratings are due in part to the retirement of Peyton Manning, the four-game early-season suspension of Patriots QB Tom Brady and Donald Trump, as "too many people preferred his presidential campaign to football." But the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Paul Bond noted ratings "have come back," and Moonves predicted by the end of the year the overall ratings for NFL games will be "down a couple of points ... not a big deal." Meanwhile, CBS All Access recently struck a deal with the NFL, and when an analyst asked how that arrangement came about, Moonves quipped: "They're very nice to us because we give them over a billion dollars a year" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 12/5). Moonves noted CBS had been working on a deal "for a couple of years" with the NFL for All Access. Moonves: "The NFL is trying to decide what their digital strategy is, so we needed it on All Access to make it complete. And the NFL needed some of our digital rights as well.” Moonves noted NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was “very active” in the negotiations. saying, "He and I dealt personally a lot of times." Moonves: "Now it’s a complete service, and they also have the rights to put our NFL games on other digital services” (“Bloomberg Markets,” Bloomberg TV, 12/5).
