By Amol Sharma
CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves said Tuesday the
agreement Dish Network Corp. reached with Walt Disney Co. this week
to address concerns over Dish's ad-skipping technology was "a great
start" but not enough to satisfy CBS.
The Dish-Disney pact was part of wider deal that gives satellite
provider Dish the rights to carry Disney channels such as ESPN,
ESPN 2 and Disney Channel, and to distribute Disney content online
to its subscribers.
As part of the deal, Dish agreed to disable the "Auto Hop"
ad-skipping feature of its Hopper line of digital video recorder
for ABC shows until three days after the content airs, the time
frame advertisers pay for. ABC and other major broadcasters,
including CBS, have been embroiled in litigation with Dish over the
Auto Hop since 2012. As a result of the Disney deal, ABC agreed to
drop its litigation.
Mr. Moonves, speaking at a Morgan Stanley investor conference,
said the arrangement is "not quite enough for us." Several
broadcasters, including CBS, say increasing numbers of viewers are
watching TV shows more than three days after they air, via DVRs or
on-demand services. Mr. Moonves has been among the executives
pushing for the industry to shift to a model where advertisers pay
for seven days of viewing instead of three.
He said CBS's carriage deal with Dish expires this year, and he
expects to take a different approach than Disney in the
negotiations with Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen. "We are going to
want to do some different things," he said, noting that Disney has
different assets and priorities. "It is going to be an interesting
conversation, as they always are with Charlie."
The Dish deal this week also gave the satellite company the
rights to offer Disney's flagship channels as part of an
Internet-based TV service. Mr. Moonves said CBS is discussing
granting similar "over the top" online rights to the pay TV
distributors it does business with. "Everybody is talking about it;
everybody is interested in it," he said.
Write to Amol Sharma at amol.sharma@wsj.com
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