CBS CEO Les Moonves was a keynote speaker at the Broadcasting & Cable/Multichannel News OnScreen Media Summit today. At the event Moonves addressed the long-rumored merger with CNN as well as “CBS Evening News” anchor Katie Couric.
Moonves reiterated some of what he said earlier this month at the University of Texas about the future of broadcast, but backtracked a bit when it came to Couric:
“I’m a huge Katie Couric fan. I am very happy we brought here to CBS. I know there was a lot made about how much money she made,” he said. “We haven’t begun discussion on the extension of her deal, and I’m not going to negotiate in front of 300 people.”
Advertisement
And with regards to the CNN merger, he was even more blunt:
“Right now, it doesn’t look good,” he said, outlining the reasons why such a complex deal was unlikely to happen.