Les Moonves says retrans/reverse comp will exceed $1 billion next year, ahead of schedule. And while declining to make projections on much else, he said CBS is on target to exceed the $2 billion in retrans/reverse comp originally forecast for 2020.
EARNINGS CALL
Moonves: CBS Retrans Rev To Pass $1B In ’16
Say this about CBS CEO Les Moonves: Few if any broadcast bosses are more enthusiastic about the future of broadcast television than he — even with a dip in third-quarter revenues.
Of course, when you’ve just announced that you’re going to be booting up another Star Trek iteration on your OTT platform, CBS All Access, it takes some of the sting out of declines in O&O station and cable revenues.
Moonves noted that despite declines in those two categories, network advertising grew 8%, including 42% growth in latenight advertising, thanks in large part to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert which kicked off late in the quarter.
“Advertising is coming back in a big way at CBS,” Moonves declared during this afternoon’s third-quarter conference call with investors and analysts.
He’s particularly bullish on a couple other revenue fronts: retrans/reverse comp and CBS All Access.
Moonves projected retrans/reverse comp will exceed $1 billion next year, ahead of schedule. And while declining to make projections on much else, he said CBS is on target to exceed the $2 billion in retrans/reverse comp originally forecast for 2020.
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Delivery of a new Star Trek exclusively on CBS All Access is set to begin in January 2017, with a preview episode to air on the network.
Calling Star Trek the “family jewel,” Moonves said the network is looking at a noncommercial version of CBS All Access that would be priced around $10 a month. The commercial version of CBS All Access currently goes for $5.99 a month with network and participating affiliates divvying up revenues.
The network’s also looking to provide additional original programming on its OTT platform.
“We feel like original programming is the next way to distinguish ourselves” on the platform, he said, noting that CBS All Access and Showtime OTT “are doing very well with existing content.”
On another front — next year’s spectrum auction — CBS is running the numbers of whether, and how, its 13 non-CBS stations might participate.
“We are evaluating how we can participate” with those stations, Moonves said. And CBS COO Joe Ianniello said the company will have a better handle where it stands on that next year.
Comments (7)
kendra campbell says:
November 4, 2015 at 9:34 am
$2 billion in reverse comp/retrans my 2020. Moonves is living on another celestial body.
Keith ONeal says:
November 4, 2015 at 11:41 pm
Planet Melmac (Alf)?
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
November 4, 2015 at 12:52 pm
So retrans fees will be going up once again when the next 3-year retrans period begins in 2018 (as they did in 2015)… And everyone will blame the cable company as the culprit for going up on its rates…
alicia farmer says:
November 4, 2015 at 1:14 pm
After 3 – 4 million more subscribers bail on their TV component subscriptions.
Veronica Serrano Padilla says:
November 4, 2015 at 2:01 pm
Meaning that CBS and others will have to go up even more on retrans fees to reach their target… those increases will be passed on to subscribers who will be more likely to bail because of increased cable costs… it’s a circular cause and effect, and most programmers won’t figure it out until it’s too late.
alicia farmer says:
November 4, 2015 at 2:22 pm
Exactly. More fees. More commercials. 90%+ mediocre content. I’ve never seen a more suicidal industry.
Wagner Pereira says:
November 5, 2015 at 5:16 am
Comical that people that claim to be so smart cannot do simple math to figure out that $1B in reverse transmission is only 82.5 cents per sub per month (much less than CNN or Fox News for example) and that $2B is only $1.65 per month per sub….still cheaper than a number of channels in those future years.