CBS' Les Moonves Can't Wait to Unload About Leno

In listening to the interview of CBS president/CEO Les Moonves at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference today, I was curious to hear what he would say about NBC’s decision to hire Jay Leno to a five-nights-a-week  gig. He finally did get to say his piece — only after goading his interviewer into asking him what he thought about the move. Not surprisingly, Moonves’ comments sought to elevate the stature of CBS (which is also owner of BNET),  making it sound as though NBC’s Leno decision is the first step toward it not even being a CBS competitor. Here’s an excerpt from his remarks:

For NBC, probably a very good move. For us, would not be a very good move. We are winning four out of the five nights at 10 o’clock. Plus we own the content on four out of the five nights. So, not only do we make a lot of money from advertising on these 10 o’clock shows — in addition, when we talk about the syndication market, when we produce these shows they are sold in 12 different ways. They will be sold for many years in 12 different ways.

We think taking the third competitor out of the marketplace will make us even stronger. Network television is about having hit shows. We have hit shows every night of the week. It remains a good business.

In other words, take that, Jeff Zucker!