In an article at Ars Technica today , Nina Tassler, the president of CBS Entertainment, told the New York Times
“…that if fans want the show to live, they need to watch the broadcast because that’s how the money gets made. Stressing that live viewing is “of primary importance,” Tassler said that “We want them to watch on Wednesday at 8 o’clock… and we need them to recruit new viewers who are going to watch the broadcast.”
If CBS believes that only “appointment television” matters my best advice is to short sell Viacom. Appointment Television is dying. Every single trend points to the move away from Television of the 50’s and 60’s with limited channels where the family sat down together to watch.
But since then, Television has moved on to place more and more choice and control in the hands of the viewers. If CBS and it’s cousins at the other networks don’t see that as their future, they are dead. Short them!