Friday, October 24, 2014

CBS Goes Solo

"CBS to offer stand-alone web subscription service" by Emily Steel | New York Times   October 17, 2014

NEW YORK — The moves by CBS and HBO signal the arrival of a new age of Web-delivered television, where viewers have more options to pay only for the networks or programs they want to watch — and to decide how, when, and where to watch them.

Related: HBO Goes Solo

People have long been able to watch broadcast television networks for free via antennas. But quickly fading away are the days when people pay an average $90 a month for a bundle of networks from a traditional cable, satellite, or telecom provider.

After much anticipation, this new era of à la carte TV has suddenly arrived — all at once and more quickly than many industry executives, observers, and television fans had expected. And with it, the virtual monopoly that cable, satellite, and telecommunications companies have had over TV programming is dissipating.

“Everybody is talking about it,” said Leslie Moonves, chief executive of CBS Corp. “It is an important part of our future. Our job is to do the best content we can and let people enjoy it in whatever way they want. The world is heading in that direction.”

Les was paid pretty well last year.

The push into Web-only offerings by HBO and CBS, two networks that have enjoyed billions of dollars in profits from the traditional system, highlights how rapidly the TV landscape is shifting.

It's a vast wasteland.

Their moves are largely a reaction to the success of Net-flix, whose popular streaming service has more than 50 million global subscribers. Along with Netflix, a host of other insurgents including Amazon and Hulu now offer on-demand programming that can be watched anytime and anywhere on a laptop or a smartphone....

Time to turn the TV off.

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UPDATE:

"CBS extends CEO’s contract another 2 years

NEW YORK — CBS is extending the contract of chief executive Leslie Moonves for another two years, through June 2019. The media company said Thursday that Moonves’s salary will remain at its current level, and he will be eligible for annual performance bonuses and stock-based compensation. Moonves was paid a salary of $3.5 million in 2013, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But a bonus and stock awards pushed the value of total compensation to $65.6 million that year. Moonves, 65, has been president and CEO of CBS Corp. since the company was split from Viacom Inc. in 2006."