MOONVES CONFIDENT HE’LL ROLL OVER DISH DEFENSE

CBS is going to raise the fee it charges the Dish satellite network to carry its programs, and CBS chief Les Moonves appears confident he’s going to get it. Appearing at a technology conference in New York today (Monday), Moonves maintained that CBS’s coverage of NFL Sunday afternoon games, which frequently are the most-watched television programs of the week, "gives us a lot of clout" in negotiations with satellite and cable companies. He cited those telecasts as the principal leverage his company had in its talks with Time Warner Cable, which blacked out CBS in several key markets during the entire month of August but threw in the towel on Sept. 2, before the start of the football season. Dish, he said, might find itself under pressure from its own employees in Colorado, where it is based, if it balks at CBS’s demands. He said he had told Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen, "Your people won’t be very happy with the Denver Broncos not [being] on the air" on CBS. Currently, Dish’s negotiations with Turner Broadcasting are at a standoff, with Dish pulling the plug on CNN, Cartoon Network, TCM, and other channels owned by the Time Warner company.