CBS ADROITLY ROWS CW DOWN THE STREAM

Thanks to recent streaming deals, The CW network may finally become profitable for its two owners, Time Warner and CBS. In a conference call with analysts on Thursday to discuss the company’s latest quarterly results, CBS chief Les Moonves said that streaming deals with companies like Netflix and Hulu represent an entirely new source of significant revenue for the company. Speaking specifically of the Netflix-CW deal, Moonves said, “The significance of this deal is that we did get paid a chunk of money. There’s no advertising split on this, which is something we absolutely refused to do.” The result, he said, is that “The CW went from being a money loser for CBS to a profitable venture for us.” Overall, CBS reported net earnings rising 6.6 percent in the quarter to $2.88 million from $317 million during the same quarter a year ago. Revenue, however, was up just 2.1 percent to $3.37 billion, seeming to imply that much of the profit was the result of continued cost-cutting.