Deadline.com says CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves is taking Dish Network Chairman Charlie Ergen seriously after he recently there’s a way for broadcasters to benefit from his Hopper DVR, which includes the ad-skipping “Auto Hop” feature. Deadline says Ergen claims the Hopper “has built-in technology that can target commercials to customers in a better [way]” and “give the broadcaster more revenue.” However, “it’s not a proven concept yet.” That likely means taking the skipped inventory and replacing it with a hyper-targted ad that Dish would sell and split the revenues with the ad-stripped network. Still, a contentious proposition.
“We’re very flexible. We’re willing to negotiate,” Deadline quoted Moonves telling investors 11/14 at the Guggenheim Securities TMT Symposium. Calling Ergen “a very smart man” Deadline also says Moonves noted, “if there’s a way to do this that benefits everybody, we’re very open to it. [But the bottom line has to be that] “we need to get paid for our content…. We spend $4M an episode for NCIS. I have to pay for it.”
And, of course, if advertisers’ spots are not being seen as much, they will pay less for the inventory.
Broadcasters have sued Dish over the Hopper for copyright infringement; Dish counters that it simply automates the ad skipping that DVR viewers already do. The fate of the device is an issue in Dish’s current program carriage negotiations with Disney.
Deadline also said that Moonves seemed less flexible when it comes to Aereo. The service which streams broadcast programming without payment to local stations is “a contraption that steals our signal,” he says. If the courts say the service is legal, then CBS would take actions that “would end Aereo’s ability to do business.”
See the Deadline.com story here
RBR-TVBR observation: The common assumption there is that Moonves means (and Fox has threatened as well) he would pull CBS off the airwaves and offer it exclusively via MVPD distribution. But that would hurt local affiliates tremendously. If Aereo wins, the answer (we repeat) is to stream all local broadcast TV stations live online and on mobile devices for free 24/7. The ratings would be added together with the TV viewing. Checkmate.
