As befits its status as the most-watched television network on the dial, CBS is also the most stable. While its rivals scramble to fill holes and put out fires, CBS prefers to leave the drama on the screen. With just four time slots to accommodate this fall, CBS has lined up three new dramas and one comedy. (By comparison, the rest of the Big Three have eight new sitcoms prepped for the fall.) Of the three freshman dramas set to bow in September, CBS has slotted two for the 10 p.m. time slot. Joining CBS’ powerhouse Monday night block is Partners , a workplace/buddy comedy with a weirdly familiar premise: two bros work together in an architecture firm; their friendship is tested when one of them gets engaged. (In 1995, Fox bowed the short-lived Partners , a comedy about two young architects and the woman who comes between them. Jon Cryer and Tate Donovan starred.) Partners moves into the Monday 8:30 p.m. time slot, bumping sophomore comedy 2 Broke Girls up a half-hour. This in turn sends former 9 p.m. occupant Two and a Half Men gliding off to the Thursday 8:30 p.m. slot, where it will be reunited with The Big Bang Theory . While returning drama Person of Interest remains in the 9 p.m. Thursday slot, it will no longer lead into The Mentalist . Simon Baker and Co. are off to Sunday nights, where they will close out the 60 Minutes / Amazing Race / The Good Wife block
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(Reuters) - CBS Corp (CBS.N) on Tuesday posted better-than-expected profit driven by healthy advertising growth and increases in carriage fees at its cable and broadcast networks, and also a big boost from licensing shows to online video partners like Netflix Inc (NFLX.O). Chief Executive Les Moonves guaranteed investors that the flagship network CBS, the number one U.S. broadcaster, would not only sell the biggest volumes of advertising at this year's Upfronts but would also have the highest rates -- also known as CPMs. Executives said it is already seeing a strong performance at its local stations thanks to a rebound in advertising
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Read MoreIn the absence of any verified client budgets, talk about what’s in store for the coming upfront marketplace is highly speculative. That said, macro-economic trends seem to portend another robust sales period. In a note to clients, Janney Capital Markets analyst Tony Wible said he believed that ratings leaders CBS and Fox were poised to set the market, eyeing 10 percent CPM increases for both broadcasters. By Wible’s estimation, ABC is in position to command a 7.5 percent rate hike over 2011-12 pricing, while NBC is likely to write 6 percent increases. CBS has already indicated that it would look for double-digit rate increases. In late February, CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves told investors that a reviving scatter market and strong demand would pave the way to pricing hikes of 10 percent or greater. Much of Wible’s enthusiasm stems from improving economic indicators and a stronger-than-anticipated automotive market. “The economic backdrop should help ad sellers,” Wible wrote in the report. “Consumer spending appears to be rising, and the auto market is poised to benefit from pent-up demand and the spike in fuel prices that may push sales of newer, more fuel-efficient, cars.” Wible added that while political spend typically goes to local media, election campaign dollars “should nonetheless increase demand for broader advertising and help sustain momentum in the scatter market that helps set the pricing benchmark for the new upfront.” As automotive accounts for 13 percent of all advertising revenue at the Big Five broadcast nets, analysts have seized on U.S. car sales data to support their upfront theses. Late last month, Moody’s Investors Service svp Neil Begley said domestic auto sales were on pace to grow 9.3 percent to around 14 million units, a spurt that should lead to record-high pricing in the upfront. While pricing is looking up, Wible wrote that he believed dollar volume would be a mixed bag across the broadcast slate, given the range of available GRPs in play. Through the first 28 weeks of the TV season, Fox is down 8 percent in the 18-49 demo, averaging a 3.2 rating, while CBS is up 3 percent with a 3.1. Thanks in large part to the Super Bowl, NBC is in third place with a 2.6 rating, up 8 percent versus the 2010-11 campaign, while ABC is flat with a 2.4. “Ironically, it may be the networks with the largest ratings declines that will see the largest CPM price increases,” Wible said in the report
Read MoreFrom 1981 to 2009, NBC aired just three series in the Thursday 10 p.m. time slot: Hill Street Blues , L.A. Law and ER . Celebrated by critics and viewers alike, these were canonical dramas, series that represented network TV at its very best. Since ER flatlined in April 2009, NBC’s showcase has become a junk shop; in the last seven months alone, the network has run three dramas in the hour, a string of flops that averaged a 1.2 rating in the adults 18-to-49 demo.
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