Problems at CBS

CBS was once the leading television network in terms of ratings, and today it is in third place among the three major networks and in some weeks has even dropped below the much smaller Fox network. The network's entertainment division is in disarray, with several programs that have long been popular slipping in the ratings because of changes in their time slot or new competition, and with no clear plan for the future. The news division has been slipping as well, with losses in viewership for its evening news broadcast and with various problems for its news magazine 60 Minutes, long one of the important money-making entities for the network. In part, CBS is being affected by changes in network television viewing across America, with new competition from cable and satellite television as well as from revitalized independent channels. Yet CBS seems to be facing more problems than this, since it has slipped so far from first place while ABC and NBC have been maintaining their place to a greater degree.

CBS has had a long history in broadcasting. William Paley had taken over leadership of the United Independent Broadcasters in 1928 and had become a leading figure in broadcast circles. UIB became CBS, and in 1928 CBS showed a net loss of $179,999. One year later the network made a profit of $474,000, and by the end of 1931 profits had reached $2.35 million. This was the more remarkable when considered against the background of the Great Depression then affecting the nation

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y and ambition rarely boiled up to disturb the pursuit of Vietnam, Watergate, and impeachment. When Walter Cronkite retired in 1981, the president of the News division worked to retain Dan Rather to replace Cronkite on the Evening News. The CBS Evening News had dominated the ratings since the late 1960s, and the network wanted this to continue and so sought Rather as the replacement. CBS was successful into the 1980s in terms of prime-time programming, news, and sports. It lost its role in terms of children's programming, but it was not faced with any competition in that regard from the other networks in any case. A look at CBS today shows a network in disarray, with a news division losing ratings and facing internal battles over censorship and other concerns, an entertainment division that has lost its ratings lead to such a degree that the network is slipping lower than the upstart Fox network, a sports division that has lost the football contracts that provided it with much of its power, and so on. How did CBS get into this situation? Some of the forces affecting CBS are affecting other network operations as well, one of which is the growth of cable and the consequent diminution of power in broadcast television. There

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