CBS Views Netflix as 'Great Partner,’ Also a Competitor, Moonves Says

Netflix “is a great partner, and at the same time they’re a competitor to us,” CBS CEO Leslie Moonves told the Needham Emerging Technology Conference Thursday in New York. In that dualality, Netflix typifies “a number of other companies in our universe,” Moonves said. CBS will continue to sell its content to Netflix, he said. “We’ve generally sold them library or shows that are coming off the air, and we’ve had a very successful relationship with them. On the other side of the coin, they’re producing 35 original television shows, so they’re a competitor in terms of getting the best producers.” At CBS, “we like doing business” with Netflix, “we will continue to do business with them,” Moonves said. “By the way, we talk to Hulu, we talk to Netflix, we talk to Amazon -- we sell to everybody.” However, CBS also chose “to go our own way” with the CBS All Access over-the-top service, he said. “We own the IP for Star Trek, which is obviously a huge property, and instead of selling it to Netflix or Amazon -- both had wanted it -- we said that was going to be the first original series on All Access. It will be on the air in January, and we think it will contribute to millions of new subscribers going there.” CBS announced in November that a “totally new” Star Trek TV series would debut in January and that after the debut episode, all first-run episodes would air exclusively on CBS All Access. Moonves won’t disclose ratings data on CBS All Access for as long as Netflix declines to do so for its OTT service, he said. “We’ve been saying that for a long time,” he said. “They’re playing Hide the Weenie,” so why should CBS report viewership data for CBS All Access content? he said. “They’re declaring shows hits that could be watched by 10 people.” Netflix representatives didn’t comment.