Taylor Smith

Headquarters:
51 W. 52nd Street
New York, New York, 10019
1-212-975-4321
http://www.cbscorporation.com/index.php

 

Key Executives:

 
About:
CBS Corporation is a widely known mass media company that runs operations in various entertainment and media fields, such as cable, publishing, radio, film, local TV, and interactive media. They are especially well-known in the television industry, owning the current most-watched television network in the country [1]. The CBS Television Network currently owns more than 200 television stations and affiliates across the country. They have several programs that are number one in their respective categories; for example, the #1 sitcom, The Big Bang Theory, the #1 newsmagazine, 60 Minutes, the #1 scripted/drama program, NCIS, and the #1 daytime drama, The Young and the Restless [2]. Their television holdings include CBS Television Network, the CW (a joint venture with Warner Bros. Entertainment), CBS Television Studios, Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network, Pop (a joint venture with Lionsgate), Smithsonian Networks, and several more [1]. Overall, CBS Television Stations is made up of 29 stations, with 16 as a part of the CBS Television Network, 8 affiliates of the CW Network, 3 independent stations, and two MyNetworkTV affiliates [3].

History:

CBS’s brand, “the Eye,” as seen in their logo, is extremely recognizable in the industry today. This is in part due to CBS having the most watched television network in the U.S., as well as owning one of the largest entertainment libraries in the world, and several other factors. The public awareness of CBS can be seen today in the number of #1 television programs that CBS runs on their Television Network [1].
CBS was founded by William Paley in 1928. That year, Paley purchased 16 independent radio stations, calling them the Columbia Broadcast System [2]. The company experienced several name changes throughout the years, changing to CBS Inc. in 1974, and later to CBS Corporation in 1997, several years after being acquired by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. CBS started as a predominately radio-based company, before adding television to the corporation in the late 1940s. At this point, CBS Television was known as the “Tiffany Network,” and did very well against its competition [4].

Financials:
CBS is a publicly traded company. On November 19th, 2015, CBS stock was being traded for $51.75. This marks a steady increase in stock value after the stock hit its lowest point on September 28th, 2015 when it was being traded for $38.67. The value has been steadily increasing since then, with the value on November 19th representing the highest value in the last three months [5]. CBS released their third quarter results for 2015 on November 3rd. They reported that their revenues for this quarter were $3.26 billion in comparison to same prior-year period when their revenues were $3.37 billion. They relate this decrease in revenue to the timing of television licensing sales, as well as decreases in lower-margin revenues [6].

Current Programming:

Supergirl Preview [21]
This fall, on October 26th, CBS premiered the highly anticipated television show, Supergirl. The premiere did very well, with an average viewership of 12.9 million, and a 3.1 rating [7]. These high numbers led to the Supergirl premiere being the most watched television show of the fall. The success of the premiere could be due to the late premiere date, leading to a lack of competition with other new shows. The premiere also benefited from directly following CBS’s hit show The Big Bang Theory [8]. However, the ratings for the following weeks have been steadily declining, reaching its’ lowest point in it’s fifth week, on November 23rd, with a rating of 1.5.  This is less than 50% of the premiere’s ratings [9].
Supergirl has also been in the news recently because November 16th episode. CBS made the decision to swap out the planned episode for the Thanksgiving special in response to the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris on November 13th. That week’s planned episode had focused on a series of bombings in National City, so the decision was made to postpone the episode due to similarities to the terror in Paris. CBS also pulled that week’s episode of NCIS: Los Angeles because it focused on recruitment methods employed by the Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks [10].

 

OTT Services:

CBS has announced several deals that contribute to their effort to shift with the industry. CBS recently announced that they will start offering a streaming program, called CBS All Access, that will allow viewers to watch many of their programs without a pay-TV subscription. CBS All Access will stream full seasons of most of CBS’s current shows, as well as some of their older content. This service will cost $5.99 per month.  New episodes of their current shows will be available the day after they originally air. On CBS’ full-episode streaming app, which is free, new episodes are not available until eight days after the episode originally airs. A benefit to CBS All Access is that older seasons of programs will have 25% less advertisement time than when they aired. Another unique factor of CBS All Access is that they will include live streaming of local CBS TV stations, and allow viewers to stream any of those stations live as if they were watching it on television [11].
On October 1st, CBS announced a deal with Amazon that will give Amazon Prime the exclusive streaming rights to three of CBS’s new summer series through 2018. The deal will also expand the CBS programs that will be available on Amazon Prime. The first summer series that will be available on Amazon Prime is Braindead, which will be available for streaming four days after the initial broadcast [12].

Star Trek:

CBS announced on November 2nd, 2015 that they will be launching a new Star Trek television series that will premiere in January 2017. The first episode of the new series will premiere on CBS’s broadcast network, and then transition exclusively to CBS All Access [13]. Having the program available only on CBS All Access is an attempt to draw viewers and attention to the new streaming service. Star Trek will be the first scripted program that will be produced specifically for CBS All Access. CBS All Access also currently offers every Star Trek series which, according to Leslie Moonves, are currently doing very well on the streaming platform [14]. However, CBS Studios International will eventually distribute the new series other other TV networks and digital platforms. The series will be produced by Alex Kurtzman, who previously worked on J.J. Abram’s Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness, and Heather Kadin, who previously was an executive producer for Limitless [15]. The series will introduce new characters, new civilizations, and explore contemporary themes, which has been a staple of the franchise since it’s premiere [14]. The target audience of this new series is the fans that have already been watching the older series on CBS All Access, and CBS is hoping that they will easily transition to watching the new series as well.

Sources:

[1] CBS Company Overview.  Cbscorporation.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[2] CBS Television Network Portfolio.  Cbscorporation.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[3] CBS Television Stations Portfolio.  Cbscorporation.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[4] CBS Corporation.  Britannica.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[5] CBS Corporation Finances.  Google Finance, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[6] CBS’ Third Quarter Results.  Investors.cbscorporation.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[7] Broadcast Ratings Oct. 26 – Nov. 1.  Tvbythenumbers.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[8] “‘Supergirl’ Soars to Big Ratings for CBS”.  Money.cnn.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[9] “New Show Power Rankings, Week 5: ‘Supergirl’ is Flying Less High”.  Tvbythenumbers.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[10] “CBS Pulls Terror Episodes of ‘Supergirl’ and ‘NCIS: Los Angeles’ After Paris Attacks”.  Latimes.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[11] “CBS Starts Offering Its Signal Over the Web as Over-the-Top Gates Open”.  Adage.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[12] CBS and Amazon Press Release.  Cbscorporation.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[13] “Why CBS’s New Star Trek Show is a Glimpse Into TV’s Future”.  Tv.com, retrieved 23 November 2015

[14] “Leslie Moonves Explains Why ‘Star Trek’ Went to CBS All Access”.  Hollywoodreporter.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[15] “CBS is Bringing Back Star Trek, but it Won’t Air on TV”.  Adweek.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[16] CBS Corporation Logo.  Images.bwwstatic.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[17] Sumner M. Redstone Biography Page.  Cbscorporation.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[18] Leslie Moonves Biography Page.  Cbscorporation.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[19] Anthony G. Ambrosio Biography Page.  Cbscorporation.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[20] CBS ‘Eye’ Logo.  Hubmagazine.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[21] “‘Supergirl’ What You Can Expect This Season”.  Cbs.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[22] CBS All Access Logo.  Variety.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.

[23] Star Trek Image.  Techtimes.com, retrieved 23 November 2015.