CBS Corp. President, Chairman and CEO Les Moonves made a short appearance at the programmer's upfront presentation to advertisers on May 16, during which he acknowledged a brewing legal battle over control of the broadcast giant.
The longtime executive, who received a standing ovation from upfront attendees at Carnegie Hall, said: "For years, I have told you that I will only be out here for a short time. This year, for the first time, I might mean it."
Just as the upfront was getting underway in New York, a judge in Delaware temporarily halted a legal dispute between CBS and its controlling shareholder National Amusements Inc. The judge planned to issue a ruling just ahead of CBS' May 17 special board meeting to consider a dividend distribution that would significantly dilute National Amusements Inc.'s voting shares. The dividend distribution is a strategy that could thwart National Amusements' push to recombine the programmer with Viacom Inc., but it could also cost Moonves his job.
After a few brief remarks from Moonves about the network's performance and the resilience of the broadcast TV business, he turned the presentation over to Kelly Kahl, the president of CBS Entertainment.
Kahl proclaimed victory for CBS with total viewers for the soon-to-conclude 2017-2018 season, during which CBS had faced a challenge from NBC (US) given the rival network's airing of Super Bowl LII and 17 nights of Olympic coverage in February. Indeed, NBC had moved into the top spot for awhile. But "a funny thing happened on the way to the upfront," Kahl said: CBS began chipping away at NBC's lead night by night, week by week, ringing up 10 consecutive wins following the conclusion of the Winter Games.
CBS is averaging 8.98 million watchers for the season through May 13, versus 8.95 million for NBC. That will mark the 10th consecutive time CBS has worn the most-watched network crown. The season ends on May 23.
Looking ahead, Kahl said he expects another triumph for the 2018-2019 season as CBS will air the American Football Conference Game in primetime, the NFL's Super Bowl LIII, college basketball's Final Four and championship games and the Grammy Awards in live programming, as well as an entertainment lineup steeled in stability with the same schedules on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
The big programming changes are on Mondays, which begins the prime-time lineup with "The Neighborhood," about the impact a white family has on residents when they move to a predominantly black neighborhood, starring Cedric The Entertainer. "Happy Together," features Damon Wayans Jr. as an accountant and husband, whose quiet life gets disrupted when his pop star client moves in with him and his wife. The reboot of "Magnum P.I.", featuring Jay Hernandez in the role made famous by Tom Selleck, is set for 9 p.m., with the third season of "Bull" migrating from Tuesday to cap its new night.
Tuesday will feature Dick Wolf's latest entry, "FBI," positioned at 9 p.m. between the original "NCIS" and its spinoff "NCIS New Orleans." The show, starring Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki, Jeremy Sisto and Ebonée Noel, tracks cases and activities around the bureau's New York office.
A modern revival of "Murphy Brown" joins the network's Thursday night comedy block at 9:30 p.m., following "The Big Bang Theory," "Young Sheldon" and "Mom." The revival comedy about a news magazine crew brings back Candice Bergen, Faith Ford, Joe Regalbuto and Grant Shaud from the original "Murphy Brown," which ended its 10-year run in 1998. The second season of "S.W.A.T." concludes CBS' Thursday night programming.
"God Friended Me," about an outspoken atheist, played by Brandon Micheal Hall, who receives a social-media friend request from God, will launch out of the venerable "60 Minutes" on Sundays.
CBS continues to embrace traditional messaging, running counter to NBCUniversal Media LLC, 21st Century Fox Inc. and Turner Broadcasting System Inc., all of which emphasized reduced ad loads during their upfront presentations.
"We do not believe advertising is ruining the television business," said Jo Ann Ross, president of sales and chief advertising revenue officer, CBS. "We are unapologetic about our support for advertising and the premium environment."
Ross did talk up the programmer's new tool called DNA (data and audience), which will provide marketers with info to shape and meet campaign goals, whether they are looking for mass-reach demographics or optimized targets.
"DNA allows us to use data to better understand our audience, to activate your campaigns, and provide the analytics and attribution you seek," she said, adding CBS will guarantee deals around the data metrics.
