CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves told an audience at the Deutsche bank Deutsche Bank Annual Media & Telecommunications Conference that CBS won’t have to reduce prices in the upfront and doesn’t plan to make many changes to the net’s 2009-10 schedule. Why? CBS is the only one pulling in more prime-time viewers. For months it has been dominating ABC, NBC and Fox in ratings.
Moonves also explained CBS will need to shoot six fewer pilots than it did a year ago, and bring only two or three new shows to air next season, reported Reuters: “What’s more, if advertisers get too skittish, CBS will simply hold back inventory during negotiations. We’ve never been afraid to play the scatter game,’ he said. ‘My guess is there will be a little less volume going into the upfront’.”
