Re: American TV industry

For those not in LA, here's the article on Moonves from today's LA Times.
doesnt belong in this topic - but heck.........

Billy Youdelman
Local 695

http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-cbs12apr12,0,6521658.story

CBS' Moonves gets a 28% raise as ratings, ad sales drop

The network CEO received $36.8 million last year, including an
$18.5-million cash bonus.

By Meg James, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 12, 2008

At a time when corporate chieftains are coming under fire for their outsize
pay packages, here's another to add to the list: Leslie Moonves.

The CBS Corp. chief executive, whose network is suffering from ratings and
ad declines, got a 28% boost in total compensation in 2007 to $36.8
million, outstripping peers at Time Warner, Walt Disney and News Corp., all
of which are much bigger companies.

Moonves, 58, joins a club of top-tier CEOs whose personal incomes are
drawing scrutiny while the economy is worsening and the performance of
their companies is slackening. Disclosure of Moonves' pay package, in a
proxy filing Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, also comes
as the company is laying off employees.

"That goes against the trend. We are seeing no increases and even
reductions in salary," said James F. Reda, a New York-based consultant on
executive compensation. "To have a 28% increase is really unusual."

In 2007, Moonves collected $5.3 million in salary and $18.5 million in cash
bonuses. He also received more than $12.5 million in stock and option
awards, according to the proxy. Of that, nearly $4.5 million were stock
awards made before 2007. In 2006, he earned $28.6 million in salary, stock
and bonuses.

The disclosure comes at an awkward time for CBS, which has been pummeled by
steep declines in prime-time television ratings and softness in advertising
sales at its radio and TV stations. CBS revenue declined 2% in 2007 to $14
billion, and net income fell 24% to $1.25 billion.

CBS shares, meanwhile, fell 21% from their peak in July 2007 to the end of
the year, and have tumbled another 21% since January.

To shave costs, CBS last week laid off more than 160 news anchors,
reporters and technicians from its TV stations across the country. The move
followed cuts last year in the radio division. And earlier this week it was
revealed that CBS executives discussed a possible early exit for news
anchor Katie Couric, whose highly promoted hiring at "CBS Evening News" has
been a major disappointment both commercially and critically.

On top of that, Moonves just moved CBS' top West Coast executives from
their longtime home at Television City in the Fairfax district into lavish,
multimillion-dollar offices in Studio City.

Dan Pedrotty, director of investment for the AFL-CIO, said Moonves' pay
reflected the chasm in compensation between CEOs and their rank-and-file
workers.

"There is one set of rules for the working class of America and a different
set of rules that apply in the corporate boardrooms," Pedrotty said. "Why
would someone deserve an $8-million raise when the performance of the
company has gone down?"

[...last half of article is available via the above URL...]

meg.james@xxxxxxxxxxx



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