Moonves: CBS May Not Be Able To Stay Out Of Media Deal Frenzy

Les Moonves

Against the backdrop of sweeping consolidation in the media industry, CBS Chairman and CEO Les Moonves says he is positioning the network as the underdog against "monstrous companies," including Comcast, Disney, as well as online powerhouses Netflix and Amazon.

Moonves spoke with Julia Boorstin at CNBC's Net/Net event on Thursday evening as word was leaking out that Comcast and Verizon were sniffing around the same assets of Twenty-First Century Fox that Disney was said to be in talks to buy. Fox appears to be considering the sale of most of the entertainment company, leaving behind news and sports.

"Disney is six times as big as we are. Comcast is six times as big as we are," said Moonves, making a David and Goliath argument that CBS may be diminutive but nimble. "Netflix's market cap is huge. Now Amazon, the number one company in the world, is producing content. We are sort of like an old-fashioned production company, we are a small guy."

Moonves views online competitors more as frenemies. "We still do a lot of business with Netflix. We still produce original content for Netflix and virtually everyone who is our competitor is also our friend."


CEO Les Moonves: CBS may not be able to stay out of the media deal frenzy much longer from CNBC.


However, Moonves did acknowledge that CBS might need to fortify its position. "Eventually are we going to have to do partnerships with other content companies and distribution companies? The answer is probably, 'yes.'"

"It's sort of a contradictory situation we're in right now. I was pretty surprised. I've been surprised a lot in the past few weeks that the Department of Justice objected to this deal," Moonves said. "It didn't seem like something they would do, but God only knows what the reasons are for stopping that."

But Moonves said there's one thing he's sure of in this current deal-making environment: "Content assets are incredibly valuable."