A Mogul in Full

First, we think it was very innovative to bring Katie Couric onto the "CBS Evening News." I'm not so much concerned about the evening-news category. I'm concerned about "CBS Evening News." She can certainly revitalize that. However, there's a second thing that people haven't grasped. To the extent we have hurt [NBC's] morning-news show, we help our morning show.

Regulators have hit CBS with a total $4 million in fines for "indecent" programs, including Janet Jackson's "nipplegate." Last month, an episode of "Without a Trace" was slapped with a $3.6 million fine. What's your reaction to this push by the government to regulate content?

I think it's awful. I think that the government absolutely should not determine what Americans see and hear. And that applies to this recent attack on "Without a Trace." All it purported to do was to warn parents to keep closer supervision of their children. There was no explicit sex. And yet we were attacked. The bottom line is, the government should stay out of this business. In the months after Howard Stern announced his defection to Sirius Satellite Radio in a reported half-billion dollar deal, but before he left CBS Radio, he seemed to be talking up his future at Sirius. Why wait until February, after he was at the new job, to sue him and seek the $200 million bonus Sirius gave him in stock?

Howard Stern used our airwaves to advertise a competitor. We are supposed to get paid for advertising. We did not. And he was incentivized to do that, as shown by the bonus that he got [from Sirius]. We delayed suing him because we do not lightly enter into litigation. But now that we have, we are determined to see it through. We're suing not only for what he did on the airwaves, but for the bonus that he got as a result of misusing our airwaves. We are pretty confident of winning. And if you don't believe me, ask Les.

© 2006