Les Moonves is trying too hard

-SDH There are many questions hanging over Viacom and CBS, both were separated in an effort to create shareholder value and in our opinion to end the battle of the successors between Les Moonves and Tom Freston who at the time were Co- CEOs of the combined company known as Viacom. Since the companies went their separate ways, the only thing that was created was more headaches for all parties involved. Both companies have been struggling to gain footing along with its competitors. CBS CEO Les Moonves spent big trying to land CBS on the good foot but none of his well publicized acquisitions has added any value to CBS that is worth mentioning. Some of his most recent splurges include the purchase of Wall Street blog, Wallstrip.com which to this day we still don’t get. He scooped up Lastfm.com only to re-launch it with much fanfare promoting its new free internet radio format, something already available all over the web. There is the whole Katie Couric hiring which failed big time and is costing the company a lot of money due to her salary and ad dollars. His most recent splurge was on Cnet Networks, a digital media company which produces websites like, Cnet.com, Chow.com and ZDnet.com. As far as CBS’s whole digital push, its Les Moonves swinging at marble sized balls with a broom stick hoping for a direct hit. These expensive splurges and CBS’s lack of love on Wall Street at the moment will ultimately lead to Moonves’ ouster. Hell. we think Sumner Redstone’s finger is already on the trigger. We campaigned (if you will) for Les Moonves when he was the shining star in Sumner Redstone’s eye. We called for him to be installed in dual rolls as CEO of both CBS and Viacom. But that was just us being naïve and jumping on the bandwagon (yeah we have the balls to admit it). But what seems to have happened here is that Les Moonves got a little too sure of himself and got a big head to go along with an even bigger ego. This is the man who spent big to get into the record business by re-launching CBS Records when the record business was trying to get out of the record business. This is the man who spent big to get into film with high salary hires. Les Moonves was trying too hard to please and in doing so, spent money where he didn’t need to, or perhaps shouldn’t have at all. Les Moonves is just an analog executive trying to survive in digital world and in doing so gambled big, not only with company money but perhaps with his job as well. Some of the things Moonves should consider moving forward if he is still around is to spin off the radio business and sell book publisher Simon & Schuster. Doing this would probably tighten the focus at CBS a bit. Moonves needs to also hold off on anymore Internet acquisitions. Sumner Redstone can’t be too happy with Moonves at the moment.

Sumner Redstone will be remembered as cantankerous old man, Les Moonves will be done soon, Tom Freston was fired by Sumner because of Sumner

“I guess I’d like to be known as a loving and supportive father and grandfather,” -SUMMNER REDSTONE ON HOW HE WOULD LIKE TO BE REMEMBERED By SDH The New York Time’s Tim Arango (Wazzup Tim?) puts fingers to keyboard on the subject of Sumner Redstone’s legacy and the drama that hangs over it. Sumner is like that old man who lives in that house on your block with the uncut lawn and old truck in the driveway that everyone is afraid to say hello to because he is mean and gives the neighborhood kids and their mommies the creeps. For years many have wondered who will succeed him as lord of CBS and Viacom, and even to this day the soon to be 85 year old Redstone, can’t give a straight answer. It’s as if he doesn’t even want to entertain the thought of not being in control one day believing he will live forever. In the article, analysts question the break up of CBS and Viacom, An insider claims Tom Freston was fired because Redstone hampered his ability to move on Myspace (Duh!) and CBS CEO Les Moonves is on the slow road out. Ok so we added that one. Sumner Redstone seems to have rubbed many people the wrong way, on both the business and family side. So we can’t help but wonder, if when he dies, some in Hollywood and even his family will silently be celebrating.

Machete Moonves: Cuts at CBS News may be because of Katie Couric Oh Yeah! and maybe the economy and the WGA strike too

By SDH Media analysts and some media executives say that the country is in a recession. But Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says the country may go into recession. Are media executives like Les Moonves and analysts soft to CBS and other media companies using the economy as an excuse for job cuts and shitty revenues by prematurely pushing the country into recession? Another reason used my media execs and analysts is the recent WGA strike. We don’t quite understand because most if not all the big media companies and the analysts who follow them claimed that the strike wouldn’t hurt them at all. So why now with CBS cutting jobs across its TV stations are we seeing the WGA strike listed as a possible reason. If you ask us, Moonves is cutting jobs across his TV stations to keep Katie Couric. With the shitty rating of the CBS Evening News and her $15 million a year salary, we wouldn’t be surprised. Les would rather cut than admit he chose bad when he chose Couric.

Is CBS CEO Les Moonves unable to admit that he may have made a mistake?

By SDH CBS Corporation CEO Les Moonves has been in the broadcasting business for decades and we’re sure along the way, he has made some mistakes. But has he ever admitted to them? When it was announced that then “Today” co- anchor Katie Couric was joining CBS as the new face of the CBS Evening News program, many inside and outside the industry had their doubts that Couric could pull off the gig and so far those doubters have been right. Sure when she debuted, the show’s ratings were up there, but this is the case when something is marketed to the masses. They all will tune in to see what all the fuss is about. But soon after the Couric’s debut, the ratings started to slide slowly bit surely to levels that were probably un-heard of when Dan Rather was helming the program. Couric’s ratings have been stunted with no real sign of a jolt. But through all this, CBS CEO Les Moonves has been standing behind Couric even after admitting he is not happy with the ratings, but he is happy with the product. But at the end of the day, isn’t it the ratings that count, especially when it comes to advertisers? Clearly Moonves is in denial and is stuck in a rut after ponying up $15 million a year for Couric. Les Moonves doesn’t want to admit that he may have been a bit overzealous when he hired Couric and the deal has basically failed and has brought CBS nothing but scrutiny. Moonves is probably praying that Couric quits under pressure from ratings and reviews so he can slip out with minor scrapes and scratches. We hope Sumner Redstone is watching this, because this may be grounds to do to Les what he did to Tom Freston for not grabbing Myspace.

Profits tank at CBS, but its not because of the WGA strike

"When I look back over the various shows I have been involved in that have been hits, it hasn't been the most expensive shows that have hit it out of the ballpark, and there's some feeling that you don't need to spend $5 million on a pilot to know whether you have a potential hit series." -LES MOONVES BY SDH The first person Les Moonves probably called to tell that profits were off at CBS is his boss and media grandpa Sumner Redstone. And we're sure he made it clear to Sumner that the drop in profits had nothing to do with the recently ended WGA strike. Les Moonves says CBS's profit dropped 15% due to the recent sales of radio and TV stations, but at the same time the company still surpassed expectations. Even though the WGA strike may have cut into ad sales, Moonves insists, CBS was strike proof and like his counterpart Jeff Zucker, sees an opportunity to approach the TV business in a more low cost less glitz way.

While Les Moonves was at the Grammy's rubbing elbows with Beyonce and Jay- Z, his news team was busy getting kidnapped in Iraq

BY SDH What, if anything is going through CBS CEO Les Moonves's mind at this very moment now that he's gotten word that a couple of CBS News staffers were kidnapped in Iraq while on assignment in an effort to land him ratings? Does CBS stay out of it and let our State Department handle it or do they pay off a hunt and hit squad to go find them? OK that’s a bit much…kinda. This is just one of the many dangers that await reporters seeking to break the next big story out of Iraq. "Two journalists working for CBS News in Basra are missing. All efforts are under way to find them and until we learn more details, CBS News requests that others do not speculate on theidentities of those involved," the spokeswoman said. CBS News has been in touch with the families and asks that their privacy be respected." CBS staff kidnapped in Iraq [MG]

Old man Sumner honored and more in our afternoon aggregation

BY SDH Viacom/CBS's immortal leader, Sumner Redstone was honored by the Paley Center for Media and everyone who is anyone was their except for CBS's day to day ruler Les Moonves who was on the west coast tending to some CBS business. Couldn't he have stuck an underling with that and be present to see the boss honored? Not a good look Leslie [HR] What's up with Seagram killer Edgar Bronfman Jr. being investigated for insider trading dating back to his Vivendi Universal days as Executive Vice Chair [AP] MTV Prexy Christina Norman will call it quits at the end of the month to "Have more time for herself" No one just ups and quits if all is well right?. We think MTV is eliminating layers which they have a lot of and Christina was asked to bow out gracefully [B&C] MySpace exec Travis Katz says that more of you will hang out on Myspace while on the go in about 5 years via your mobile device. Funny we thought Myspace would have just become a stain on the major internet wall by then with the next big thing taking away all the fakes and pedophiles [NMA]

Les Moonves crosses the border to score new drama for CBS

-SDH With the writers strike still in affect, media execs are forced to actually work and be creative in finding new ways to keep their ships above water. The latest exec to get all creative is non other than CBS shot caller Les "Love Boat" Moonves. With no writers to come up with new shit for CBS, Les did what any desperate soul would do and crossed the border to Canada in search of what he hopes will be a hit for CBS. "Flashpoint" a police drama will be broadcasted later this year on CBS. The whole strike thing seems to be a wait and see stand off between media bigs and writers. Each side wants to see who will cave first. Media execs will do anything to show the writers, they can go on without them. Wonder how they feel about this move? "Flashpoint," which will begin shooting in Toronto in April, was originally developed by CTV and Toronto-based Pink Sky Entertainment. The show is about a big-city police department's "strategic response unit," similar to a special weapons and tactics, or SWAT, team in the United States. CBS bypasses writers to import Canadian cop series [Reuters]

LesFM: CBS alerted the media of a major announcement regarding Lastfm.com but the announcement lacked major majorness

BY SDH When CBS acquired social networking music website LastFM.com many were confused and wondered what in the world CBS planned to do with their new trophy web property. On January 22nd CBS alerted the media that they would be making an announcement regarding the site. Yesterday, CBS announced that LastFM will now be a free on-demand music streaming portal, much like Yahoo! Music in many ways but with an annoying catch. See CBS Corp CEO Les Moonves and CBS Interactive head Quincy Smith play up the new LastFM.com as an anytime anywhere kind of music portal, but how can they say users can listen to any song on their computers whenever they wanted, but up to 3 times? Doesn't the last part of that statement contradict the first part? Well, until they launch their new subscription based access, that's the annoying limitations potential takers will have to deal with due to the fact that CBS is now in bed with the major labels and has agreed to pay artists whose songs get played, so this is clearly a tactic to control pay outs. Continue... There is nothing ground breaking about the new direction of LastFM.com. It’s now an ad soon to be subscription driven business that in no way helps to spread CBS's content. It will not "give a lift to the idea that music through the Internet can be similar to radio — free and supported by advertising — yet give users a choice of what they want to listen to" Because Yahoo! Music is, and has been doing something like this for years. If CBS really wanted to make a mark they should have probably transformed LastFM.com into a one stop portal where people can go and listen to any CBS Radio station on the web by simply clicking to tune in or making this new free music model a mobile only service. If you're content driven media company and you're looking to make acquisitions on the web, it's smart to grab something that can be used to spread your content even more to the masses. We think LastFM was an impulse buy and may (and we use the word “May” very loosely) end up doing well for CBS, but the fact still remains that you won't be able to stream episodes of "Big Brother" "Kid Nation" or “CSI" on it. We’re still waiting to see what happens with what we think was another impulse buy, Wallstrip.com. If you ask us, CBS is pimping themselves out to the record labels only to give them (the record labels) yet another platform to spread their content. CBS already made the dumb move of re-entering the very frail music business when it re-launched CBS Records. Now they're greasing the already slimy palms of record execs. On another note, is Les Moonves rocking a vicious comb-over in the image above?

Les Moonves: We're worth more, really!

-SDH At Citigroup's Annual Global Entertainment, Media & Telecommunications Conference, CBS CEO Les "Love Boat" Moonves tried to convince Wall Streeters and perhaps himself and Sumner Redstone that CBS's shares are undervalued. Les also assured those in attendance that the looming economic downturn and the ongoing writers strike won't hit CBS. And here we were thinking it was only News Corp that was economic downturn and writer strike proof. Les said that he is still on the prowl for new media acquisitions with growth potential and a founder willing to stay on knowing he/she will be canned in about a year or two after the acquisition. Hey Les how is the music business going for you? The fundamentals of all our businesses are sound," said Moonves, as he launched into a presentation he said was designed to convince Wall Street that his company's shares are undervalued. CBS Corp sees growth in all divisions in 2008: CEO [Reuters]

CBS boots CSTV founders, takes full control

-YOSH CBS does the expected and takes full control of CSTV the college sports media company it acquired in late 2005. Apparently the founders who stayed on since the acquisition did what CBS wanted them to do and now their time is up. Les Moonves wants to now flood the CSTV operations with CBS-ers. CBS-er Tony Petitti will head CSTV while Sean McManus, President of CBS News & Sports watches his every move. “We’ve doubled our subscribers, revenue is up, but it’s still not a profitable operation, but we didn’t intend that until Year 3,” said Leslie Moonves, the president and chief executive of CBS. “They’ve done a good job, and we’re happy with the acquisition. Brian knew we wanted this, and it became a question of the right time.” CBS Takes a Tighter Hold of CSTV [NYT]

Layoffs on the dotcom side at CBS, is this a sign that Les Moonves did in fact bite off to much at once

-YOSH CBS Interactive, the dotcom arm of CBS Corporation will show about 20 or so people the door. Our friends in our heads at Fishbowlny received an email from CBS Interactive’s Dana McClintock who spun the killings in a positive way, at least for CBS Interactive. But we have to ask, with all those acquisitions CBS made in the past year or so, were they impulse buys or is their a real plan for the properties? Like Wallstrip.com for example? Did Les grab it because he saw dollar signs or did he grab it for the buzz factor? Anyway here McClintock's email: ''Along with the core success of CBSsports.com, new online sites from Last.fm to Dotspotter have infused invaluable DNA into the division, and are actively translating their experience in community-building to all of the Company's properties and content. In the coming year, we intend to build on our success by expanding on that strategy of building communities online. Part of achieving this goal is reorganizing the way we do business to align the division's workforce with our new vision, including increasing our operations in the Bay Area -- the heart of so much of this activity. We're confident that CBS Interactive's focus on consumer involvement will help the Division experience another record year of growth in '08 and beyond.'' Growth in terms of what?

As it turns out News Corp's Peter Chernin may have set the blue print on how media CEOs may handle the strike going forward

-MARTY Unlike the heads of their film divisions, media CEOs are more low key when it comes to the current writer's strike, negotiating under the radar to help get things back to business. CEOs like Bob Iger of Disney,Jeff Zucker of NBC Universal and Les "Love Boat" Moonves of CBS are all said to be three of few media biggies in on negotiations. It makes sense that those three would roll up their sleeves and dive in because a chunk of their business is Television and/or Film. However there are always the bad apples, and in this case its Rupert Murdoch's evil number two who claims to be a Democrat but is a closeted Republican Peter "Petie boy" Chernin. Petie Boy seems to be playing the "Dick Size" game as usual. In the early days of the strike Chernin actually hi-lited how the strike would save News Corp Money adding to the already outrageous comment made by Michael Eisner. But the fucked up part about all this is that he may get a few of his fellow media execs on his side of the line. What strike? Silence golden for moguls [THR]

CBS to Dan rather: You snoozed you lose, indirectly admits they were wrong

-By YOSH Dan Rather may not know it but he is kinda getting spun in media as an oddball and that could be partly credited to covert operations by his former employer CBS Corporation. The former newsman filed a $70 million defamation suit against CBS but now CBS is saying he waited too long to take action. So by this is CBS indirectly saying that they were wrong but Dan Rather took too long to realize it? The former anchor's lawsuit claims his bosses made him a "scapegoat" for the controversy that arose over a disputed story about President Bush's military service. CBS' motion argues the lawsuit should be dismissed because it was filed in September, more than two years after he was removed from his "CBS Evening News" post. CBS asks judge to dismiss Rather's suit [AP]

and now this morning's worthy media business news

-BY YOSH Bob Iger may have dazzled Wall Street in his first two years as Disney's head mouse. But will he be able to dazzle his way out of economic road blocks just up the road? We think so. [NYT] For Les Moonves, a strike by CBS News writers, could hit him even harder on the profits side. [NYT] Bebo to give it all away for free, as if you aren't already getting it for free [Guardian] Take down that wall. Rupert Murdoch to knock down WSJ.com paywall even if it generates $50 million [AP] Jeff Bewkes may be TimeWarner Chairman by end of 2008. No shit [B&C]

Sumner "Two Faced" Redstone

-YOSH Slapping all the other heads who have passed through Viacom in the past, old man Sumner Redstone, giddy due to the company's latest gain in profits, said that hiring stiffy Phil Dauman as the company's CEO was the best thing he and his board ever did. Of course Sumner, you have nothing but good things to say about your top execs as long as they are making you money. But like Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons said "Eventually Sumner fires everyone". The results from the media conglomerate, which owns MTV, Comedy Central and the Paramount and DreamWorks movie studios, beat Wall Street's expectations and sent its stock price up nearly 3 percent to $41.56 a share on the New York Stock Exchange. We can only imagine the not so nice things he is saying about CBS boss Les Moonves with that company's recent stock slide. Shares of its sister company, CBS Corp., which split from Viacom nearly two years ago, slipped 2 percent yesterday to $27.67, a day after it reported mixed quarterly results, including a 3 percent drop in revenue. VIACOM NET JUMPS 80% [NYP]

Barry Diller: Build, don't just buy your way in

Internet mogul Barry Diller is telling it like it is when it comes to these big media companies and the Internet. With the exception of News Corp, Time Warner and a few others big media doesn't know shit about the Internet. This is something we've been saying for a while now. In usual big media fashion, they are all hopping on the bandwagon, spending loads of money hoping for a win. Perfect example of this is CBS boss Les Moonves who has been spending money on Internet sites that are all now sitting their for the sake of making up the CBS Interactive. But we won't come down too hard on Leslie, because it's too early to judge. His advice to media executives is to build new things online from scratch, and he praised Time Warner for doing just that in the form of TMZ.com.Technology companies, Diller said, understand the value of research and development, whereas Hollywood does not.He said many executives don't invest in their companies as they should because they are overly mindful of how Wall Street might punish their stocks for overspending. Such fearful companies should learn from Amazon's example and ignore the naysayers who might have preferred the company take a more frugal approach to technology expenditures. Wonder when Barry's site geared towards brown people will launch off? Diller: Big media is late to Internet chat [THR]

Rupert Murdoch: We are working this web thingy

The real king of all media, King Rupert said that News Corp's web business is booming, the company's stock price continues to outperform other media stocks and the greedy bastards on Wall Street are taking notice. No one can deny the facts about News Corp's roll in the current race to digital supremacy among big media companies. It was News Corp, thanks to former Fox Interactive head Ross levinsohn who jump started the social networking craze among big media, costing Tom Freston his job. It is News Corp who now has people like Les Moonves and Phil Dauman of Viacom and Judy McGrath, once our favorite to be Viacom Prexy, spending big to show how Internet savvy they are. So Murdoch can stand on a podium and say, I shaped the current digital model big media is moving to. And on top of all this, he is so humble. What a fucking guy? "We have a long way to go, but we're starting to be rewarded for our efforts to transform ourselves into a company for the digital age," Mr Murdoch said. He said Fox Interactive Media's Internet portfolio reached more than 160 million people globally. News Corp nets a win [Herald Sun]

Less but more for Les, out at CBS in 2011?

Guess our advice to give Les Moonves dual rule over both Viacom and CBS went over the heads of board members. Moonves's new contract to extend his rule over CBS will pay him based on results at the company and his base salary will be a little less. But the contract only adds two years to Moonves's stint which will end in 2011, yeah right around the corner. Wonder if at that time Moonves will move on to another media company or is there a Moonves, Dauman power sharing plan over both CBS and Viacom in the works. Will Sumner Redstone even be around? Oh man we have so many questions. The new contract, which extends Mr. Moonves’s employment by two years to 2011, lowers his base salary to $3.5 million from $5.9 million, but stipulates that he will also receive a large one-time stock option grant to purchase five million shares, as well as a large grant over four years of restricted shares worth $7.6 million a year. Mr. Moonves is also eligible for a performance-based bonus. New Contract for Moonves Links Pay to CBS’s Results [NYT]

Les Moonves continues to swallow before chewing

CBS's little big man Les Moonves continues his internet shopping spree, with his latest acquisition Dotspotter.com a celebrity gossip site. But don't think Les is some kind of closeted gossip monger, he snatched up the site due to its "social networking" features, because you know this is all the craze right now thanks to Mr. Murdoch. Anyway, what CBS plans to do with all its recent online buys other than throw them under the CBS digital umbrella is yet to be seen. Some may deny it, but we get this on and off impression that Les is buying what he can at a nice price tossing them up in the air and hoping they land on their feet. Like we said the whole social networking thing is the media industries latest bandwagon that all these clueless media execs want to hop on and Les is one of them. He recently hinted at what his plans are for another one of his web acquisitions LastFM, and you guessed it, Social Networking. We can't wait to see what the next bandwagon will be. Our guess, traditional media. Hey we all know everything comes right back around again. CBS president Les Moonves dropped hints about the next step in Last.fm's evolution yesterday at a press conference in Cannes, and it looks like the music-scrobbling network is going the social route, a la MySpace. "If we can develop a great social networking site around this music content, why couldn't this extend into entertainment," he said, while also hinting at more advertising laced into the site. CBS Hints At The Future For Last.fm [CMJ]

Morning Wire: Les Moonves to spend Sumner Redstone's money getting into a business he is already in

When Viacom and CBS split, It was said that Les Moonves believed the Paramount Pictures unit should have fallen under his rule being that he already had the television business and the two just went well together. But unfortunately for him the film business went to the since canned Tom Freston. But that didn't kill Les's dreams of being in the movie business. See Les doesn't mind gambling Sumner Redstone's money getting into new businesses. He re-launched CBS Records which hasn't even registered as a blip on any radar, and now he is about to gamble even bigger by building a movie studio from scratch. To show how serious CBS is about getting into the film business, Moonves already tapped a CEO in former Columbia Pictures production exec Amy Baer. We hope the film unit makes more noise than the record label. In an interview, Mr. Moonves said he had been eager to get back into the movie business, but that he did not view his film unit as replacing Showtime’s supply of movies from Paramount — or from M.G.M. or Lionsgate, whose output deals expire next year. “These four to six movies we’re doing are certainly not going to fill the pipeline,” he said. “I like the idea of owning more and more content, as you see what these libraries are worth, and the possibilities of what we can do with this company,” Mr. Moonves said. Moonves Picks Chief for Film Unit Under CBS [NYT]

Les Moonves' digital build up

Media execs better keep a close eye on CBS big eye Les Moonves because the man is slowly building up CBS's digital capabilities. Last week the company announced that it purchased Wall Street video blog WallStrip.com and now about a week later they are announcing that they are swallowing LastFM.com. How CBS will utilize the site to distribute its content if at all is not yet clear but we're sure Les and company will think of something. After all there is CBS Records. CBS Corp said on Wednesday it had paid $280 million in cash for the popular music social network service Last.fm.CBS said in a statement the online service had more than 15 million active users in more than 200 countries and would fit well with its plans to attract younger viewers and transform it from a content company to an audience company. CBS buys online music network Last.fm [Reuters]

Media Seen: Barry Diller must be one funny guy, or Les Moonves is the only one who finds his own jokes really hilarious

-NEIL YOSHIDA CBS boss Les Moonves recently attended the New York Premiere of "The Tudors" hosted by his Showtime network. Also in attendance were his wife Julie and pal Barry Diller. The photo below is proof that a good time was had by all, or at least Les and Barry. But what in the world is Les laughing about. Is Barry Diller one of those funny old guys who keep the tears coming? Or is Les one of those dudes who think he is funny and laugh the hardest at his own jokes? By the way the guy in the center (left) is looking at Les, we think Les may be laughing at a joke that really wasn't that funny. What do you think?

Les Moonves' acting teacher dies

The man who groomed Les Moonves' acting skills has checked out. This is the man whose teaching probably lead to Les landing a roll on TV shows like the Love Boat and others. Wonder if Les will make the funeral to pay his respects? Fred Kareman, a longtime acting teacher whose students have included the Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei, CBS President Les Moonves, Mary Steenburgen, and Maria Bello, died Feb. 25 at New York Presbyterian Hospital from heart disease. He was 76 and lived in Manhattan. Acting Teacher Fred Kareman Dies at 76 [Backstage]

Unfolding: Les names Punter as his Internationl outside man

Les Moonves has a new outside man in Clive Punter. Punter (funny name) has been named CEO of CBS Outdoor International replacing Tom Goddard. Les and Clive are now in talks about Clive possibly using his middle name as his last. Punter most recently served as chief operating officer, Asia, for the international outdoor division. Goddard will step down from his job March 31, CBS said in a statement. CBS names new CEO for international outdoor business [Reuters]

Afternoon Wire: You agree that Les Moonves should be running Viacom too, and more in this afternoon's worthy media news...

-Shomari Hines The results from our poll last week shows that you support our "Les is More Campaign" which calls for Les Moonves to be put in charge of Viacom in addition to CBS Corp. You know what? We're not surprised at all. Now here is a die hard Disney fan [Angedawn] Wondering whats in the latest issue of Vanity Fair? Well here is a rundown before you decide to buy it or not [Movie Corner] FishBowlNY's knock off of New York Magazine's look book [FishbowlNY] FCC chair Kevin Martin does what the whole country knew he would do regarding the Siris XM merger plan [NYT]

Poll: Which media couple was the best dressed media couple at the Oscars?

WHICH MEDIA COUPLE DRESSED TO KILL AT THE OSCARS? THE REDSTONES THE MURDOCHS THE MOONVES' THE FRESTONS THE IGERS

POLL: What do you think? Day 2

Last week we launched our "Les Is More" campaign where we are calling for CBS CEO Les Moonves to occupy the CEO seat at Viacom as well, something we call "The Ghosn Act". What is your take on this? Should Les Moonves' CEO time be split between CBS and Viacom? Should Les Moonves run Viacom & CBS? YES NO HELL NO MAYBE NO. PHIL DAUMAN SHOULD CONTINUE TO RUN VIACOM BRING BACK TOM FRESTON GIVE THE CEO JOB TO JUDY MCGRATH

Moonves serious about his digital ad dollars

-Shomari Hines Yet another score for CBS CEO Les Moonves. The CBS shot caller managed to steal away the ad sales guru from the best company to work for, Google. Apparently it doesn't matter how good a company is to work for based on their perks because at the end of the day, Money talks and bull___t walks. In another bold move beyond television, CBS snared Google's ad sales guru in a bid to grab its share of the ad dollars flowing to the Web. The media giant tapped Patrick Keane, who headed Google's ad sales strategy for four years, to be chief marketing officer of its new CBS Interactive division. Keane, 36, is expected to play a pivotal role in boosting advertising across CBS' digital businesses, including the Internet, cell phones and on-demand cable. CBS GRABS GOOGLE GURU FOR WEB AD SALES [NYP]