TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Re: CBS, Fox Show Different Approaches to Tech

Re: CBS, Fox Show Different Approaches to Tech

Neal McLain (nmclain@annsgarden.com)
Mon, 23 Jan 2006 11:14:05 -0500

Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> wrote:

> By David Bauder, AP Television Writer

> PASADENA, Calif. --In the fast-moving world of technology,
> Fox is the tortoise and CBS is the hare....

> CBS doesn't want to be caught on the sidelines -- like the
> music industry once was -- if a new form of content
> distribution catches fire with the public.

Or like CBS itself was back in 1986-1995 when Larry Tisch [1] was
running things. CBS had had a disastrous experience with a
programming venture called "CBS Cable," and Tisch -- logically --
didn't want to repeat the experiment. But he went to the opposite
extreme, refusing to invest in any non-broadcast programming for the
cable industry. He even sold off CBS's only cable holding, a
one-third interest in "SportsChannel." It was not until 1997 -- two
years after Tisch's departure -- that CBS finally re-entered the cable
programming business, with the launch of something called "Eye on
People." [2] Apparently that experiment wasn't successfully either; at
any rate, CBS sold "Eye on People" to Discovery Communications two
years later.

Of course, CBS' current owner, Viacom, owns numerous non-broadcast
programming channels: MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon, BET, Nick at Nite, TV
Land, NOGGIN, VH1, Spike TV, CMT, Comedy Central, Showtime, The Movie
Channel, Flix, Sundance Channel. [3]

------------ References --------------

[1] Douglas Gomery. "TISCH, LAURENCE, U.S. Media Mogul." The Museum of Broadcast Communications. http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/T/htmlT/tischlauren/tischlauren.htm

[2] David Zurawik et al. "Saving CBS News." American Journalism Review, April 1997, 16-23.

[3] Columbia Journalism Review. "Who Owns What: Viacom." http://www.cjr.org/tools/owners/viacom.asp

Neal McLain

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