CBS affiliates voted "overwhelmingly" on Wednesday to keep their current affiliate board of governors intact - to the dismay of network executives.
CBS Television President Leslie Moonves outlined a number of ways the network is willing to work with the affiliates during CBS's network-affiliate meeting in Las Vegas this week. During a closed-door meeting, affiliates took a voice vote to see if the current board of governors should be reinstated. CBS execs have been at odds with the board ever since the Network Affiliates Station Alliance (NASA) filed petitions at the FCC in March over network practices they consider inappropriate.
Affiliate board member Ron Cass of KXLF-TV in Butte, Montana, said: "It's the affiliates' board and it's going to remain that way."
Moonves, in his address to the affiliates, said: "We got a bum rap when we were unfairly lumped with the other networks," referring to the NASA petition. During his talk, Moonves stressed that CBS and its affiliates must talk about issues in advance.
Mooonves also reaffirmed CBS's commitment to its affiliates and outlined several things CBS is in support of, including "reasonable and limited repurposing." He used the example of the sale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation to TNN. The Viacom-owned cable channel will air reruns of CBS's new hit drama a year after they first air on CBS.
CBS executives would not comment on whether they will work with the current board.
- Joe Schlosser
