CBS CEO and chairman Les Moonves says he’s happy with signals coming out of Washington, D.C. and he’s hopeful station groups may be free to buy more stations.
“Obviously, there is a lot of information coming out of Washington and although we are not the enemy of the people, we welcome the deregulations that are going on there,” Moonves said during a CBS webcast at the Deutsche Bank Media & Telecom Conference this morning.
Moonves is said to be happy with the appointment of Ajit Pai as FCC Chairman. He recently told Loop Capital stock analyst David Miller that Pai is “very interested in the cap moving up,” referring to the station ownership limit set by the FCC, echoing earlier comments he made during an analyst call that he is “very interested in the cap moving up.”
“I can tell you in the right circumstance if the cap is lifted we would strategically want to buy some more stations because we think it is important,” Moonves said. He added that political advertising has made local markets “extremely good for us.”
The Hollywood Reporter says “Moonves during the session reiterated his support for the pro-business environment promised by the new administration. The CBS topper last year made headlines when he said Trump “may not be good for America, but he’s damn good for CBS.” (Moonves later called that remark an offhand joke.)”