Various News

[Sylph]

Chip Johannessen has been tapped as executive producer/showrunner on CBS' upcoming drama series "Moonlight."

He replaces David Greenwalt, who left the series last week for personal and health reasons (HR 7/27).

"Moonlight," from Warner Bros. TV and Silver Pictures TV, centers on a private investigator (Alex O'Loughlin) who is a vampire.

Johannessen's credits include ABC's "Empire" and Fox's "Dark Angel" and "Millennium."

NEW YORK -- CBS Corp. on Tuesday reported a 48% decrease in second-quarter profit and a 3% revenue slip, but adjusted for various items, including year-ago gains from asset sales, its profit rose 9%.

Confronted with persistent market talk about a possible privatization of his two companies, CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc. chairman Sumner Redstone told analysts in a conference call Tuesday that he likes both "the way they are," adding that "there is an enormous amount of growth in them."

While privatization is not on the front burner, he did acknowledge that "there is a lot of talk inside (the companies) and out" about a potential deal by him to buy one of them out, and his teams will continue to consider options people suggest.

Redstone, who has been feuding with daughter Shari, again lauded CBS Corp. president and CEO Leslie Moonves as "the best executive in the media industry." Analysts didn't ask him about possible scenarios to resolve the disagreements with his daughter.

Meanwhile, CFO Fred Reynolds said that digital revenue at CBS Corp. remains "very small" for now, but it has high margins, and the company hopes to grow it down the line to more than 5% of total revenue. He didn't specify a target date for that goal, but said the firm could start breaking out its digital revenue in the future.

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Moonves also played down the digital contributions, saying he is "still very bullish on the power of network TV," which provides the "bulk of money" for CBS Corp. Digital growth is more an evolution than a revolution, he said.

CBS Corp. posted a profit of $404 million, down from the $781.7 million it recorded a year ago when gains from income-tax settlements and the sale of the Paramount amusement parks boosted its bottom line. The recent sale of radio and TV stations also dragged down earnings and revenue in the latest period.

Adjusting for the effects of the items last year and for tax benefits in both periods, second-quarter earnings from continuing operations rose from $360.8 million to $393.1 million.

Revenue declined 3% year-over-year to $3.4 billion, driven by an 11% radio unit decrease and a 4% reduction at the TV unit, partially offset by a 14% gain at book unit Simon & Schuster and 4% growth in the outdoor division.

Operating income before depreciation and amortization edged up minimally to $859.4 million.

Reynolds reiterated his full-year targets for the company based on its first-half results.

Moonves on Tuesday lauded his company's "strong free cash flow, which continues to allow us to return value to our shareholders." He also signaled that another move to return money to shareholders could be on its way as early as this summer as a current stock buyback ends late this month August.

Specifically, Moonves said that the company has about $2.8 billion in cash, with a portion of that being in excess of what it needs for investment purposes. CBS already pays a dividend, which it could boost. Another option is another stock-buyback program.

TV unit revenue fell 4% to $2.2 billion, dragged down by the timing of the NCAA semifinals and the impact of TV station sales. Advertising revenue dropped 11%, with CBS Corp. citing the same factors, but home entertainment revenue increased $83.4 million compared with a year ago, driven by "Star Trek," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" and TV library releases, among others. TV OIBDA rose 3%.

Moonves touted the strength of the CBS network in the upfront ad season, including solid results at the "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric" that have seen some ratings weakness. The upfront brought mid- to high-single digit ad rate increases for CBS primetime programming, with "Evening News" seeing "healthy CPM growth and solid volume growth," he said.

The CEO also mentioned high-single-digit ad rate gains at the company's CW network during the upfront.

Second-quarter scatter market ad rates were up in the double digits for CBS, with growth of nearly 30% going into the upfront, and third-quarter scatter is "very strong," Moonves added.

He also expressed joy that the DVR pushback "totally disappeared" this upfront season, saying that ad sales based on Nielsen Media Research's data for people who watched network programs up to three days after their airdates seem to have become a comfortable arrangement for both sides. (The Hollywood Reporter is owned by the Nielsen Co., which also owns Nielsen Media Research.)

Asked about his level of concern over a possible guild strike next year, Moonves said CBS has a "full schedule laid out for a year from now," including reality TV, news magazine and game shows, along with library product, if talks shouldn't lead to a deal. "We're all well prepared," he said in a nod to Hollywood studios, but he also signaled confidence in the success of labor talks.

CBS Radio revenue fell 11% to $463.4 million because of station sales and continued sluggishness of ad trends. Adjusted for the station sales, revenue was down 5%. Radio OIBDA declined 18%.

Moonves lauded the early programming changes introduced by new radio president and CEO Dan Mason, citing a return of a New York station to a popular rock format as a key example that helped first-half radio ratings in the nation's largest market rise 18%. "And New York is just the beginning," Moonves said.

Management declined comment on the status of talks about a settlement with former radio host Don Imus, but Reynolds signaled the company wouldn't take a major charge for it once it is struck.

CBS Corp. Class B shares closed down 3.2% on Tuesday at $31.72 as Wall Street observers saw no real stock catalysts in the results.

"Results were generally in line with expectations, reinforcing the anemic growth trends in CBS' radio and TV ad businesses resulting in subpar normalized revenue growth," Goldman Sachs analyst Anthony Noto said.

Jane Kaczmarek, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Gloria Reuben lead the cast of Steven Bochco's new legal drama for TNT.

Also cast in the untitled project, which was picked up to pilot in April, are Melissa Sagemiller, Currie Graham, Teddy Sears, J. August Richards and Jonathan Scarfe.

Written by Bochco and lawyer-writer David Feige, author of the 2006 book "Indefensible," the ABC Studios/Steven Bochco Prods.-produced drama revolves around young lawyers who have been friends since law school but now work on opposing sides.

An Emmy nominee for each of her seven seasons on Fox's comedy "Malcolm in the Middle," Kaczmarek is making a dramatic turn with the TNT project, playing a stylish, imperious and a bit crazy judge who runs her courtroom like her own private fiefdom.

Kaczmarek has experience playing a judge as she voices occasional "Simpsons" character Judge Constance Harm. She is repped by Endeavor and Greenlight Entertainment.

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In his third starring turn with Bochco after ABC's "NYPD Blue" and "Commander in Chief," Gosselaar will play a charismatic and fiercely idealistic public defender who frequently finds himself pitted against the vicissitudes and injustices of an unwieldy bureaucracy. The TNT project marks the second consecutive legal drama pilot in which Gosselaar plays a public defender, after his co-starring role on Barry Schindel's untitled one-hour pilot for CBS this past development season.

Gosselaar, who also did an arc on Bochco's Iraq War drama "Over There" for FX, is repped by Endeavor and James/Levy Management.

Rueben ("ER") will play the funny, bright and savvy head of the public defender's office who monitors the other public defenders' case loads and lives. She is repped by Innovative Artists and Untitled Entertainment.

Sagemiller (Showtime's "Sleeper Cell") will play an up-and-coming attorney in the DA's office who won't hesitate to put her career on the line for her beliefs. She is repped by Gersh and Benderspink.

Graham, another "NYPD" alum, will play the tough, ball-busting and lecherous assistant district attorney. Graham, who recently played an ADA on ABC's "Boston Legal," is repped by Paradigm and the Collective.

Sears ("Firehouse Dog") will play a privileged young attorney who has forgone a cushy job with his father's firm to become a public defender.

Richards (WB Network's "Angel") will play a sharply intelligent man with a don't-mess-with-me attitude who works for the DA's office. The actor, who co-starred as an ADA on NBC's legal drama "Conviction," is repped by ICM and Levine Management.

Scarfe (TNT's "Into the West") will play the handsome, charismatic law clerk to the judge (Kaczmarek). He is repped by Joy Keller and Michael Greene at Greene & Associates.

NEW YORK -- "The Simpsons" may have been the boxoffice king over the weekend, but the TV series wasn't even the king of the hill when it came to Fox's Sunday night lineup.

CBS and Fox split Sunday night's primetime, with CBS capturing viewership thanks to "60 Minutes" and two episodes of "Family Guy" winning 9 p.m. and the night in adults 18-49.

CBS got the night started with "60 Minutes" (8.3 million, 1.3 rating/5 share in adults 18-49), which was the night's most-viewed show according to preliminary estimates released Monday by Nielsen Media Research. A repeat of ABC's "America's Funniest Home Videos" (5.5 million, 1.5/6) was the top show at 7 p.m. in the demo.

The 8 p.m. hour went to "Big Brother" (6.3 million, 2.4/8), which came out ahead of everything else in the hour, including a repeat "Simpsons" (4.7 million, 2.2/7) and a repeat "American Dad" (4.3 million, 2.1/7).

Fox won 9 p.m. with two repeat episodes of "Family Guy" (5.9 million, 2.9/8), while NBC won viewership with a repeat "Law & Order" (6.7 million, 1.6/5). NBC won 10 p.m. with a repeat "Law & Order: SVU" (6.8 million, 1.9/5) against CBS' repeat "Shark" (5.1 million, 1.2/4) and ABC's repeat "Brothers & Sisters" (3.3 million, 1.1/3).

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Monday averages: CBS (6.4 million, 1.6/5); NBC (6.2 million, 1.6/5); ABC (4.7 million, 1.4/5); Fox (4.2 million, 2.0/6); and the CW (1.3 million, 0.5/2).

[TC]

Nice to see Teddy Sears getting work. A few weeks ago I re-watched OLTL's LIVEWEEK and he definitely tried his heart out. His scenes with Niki Smith were hilarious.

"Mrs. Davidson? Are you having a nervous breakdown?"