CBS

Recently, CBS paid nearly $2 billion to purchase CNET, a San Francisco-based company that owns a diverse network of Web sites.

Was the purchase by CBS a smart idea?

Um, probably not.

That's the conclusion of James Surowiecki of the New Yorker, who writes about the merger in the current issue of the magazine.  read more »

CBS has just announced plans to acquire online media company, CNET, in a deal worth $1.8 billion.

The press release says: "The acquisition will make CBS one of the 10 most popular Internet companies in the United States, with a combined 54 million unique users per month, and approximately 200 million users worldwide."

Most of you probably know CNET.com, the Web site that breaks news about online and tech industries.

They're also the purveyors of ZDNet, GameSpot.com, TV.com, mp3.com, CNET news.com, UrbanBaby, CHOW, Search.com, BNET, MySimon and TechRepublic.

Full press release after the jump, and thanks to PaidContent.org, where we first read the news (you can find some more analysis of the deal there, and we'll come back to this when we've had a chance to think it through a bit).  read more »

Today, for the umpteenth time, the legal teams of Dan Rather and CBS appeared back in court in lower Manhattan, for yet another round of legal gymnastics over Mr. Rather's $70 million civil suit against his former employers.

Nearly two weeks ago, on April 10, Justice Ira Gammerman of the New York Supreme Court made his first major ruling in the case, dismissing 4 of Mr. Rather's 7 initial causes for action (including the claim of fraud) while allowing several issues (including breach of contract) to move forward.  read more »

The Media Mob has learned that after several months of hearing from lawyers on both sides of the case, Justice Ira Gammerman of the New York Supreme Court has just made a ruling regarding CBS's motion to dismiss the $70 million civil lawsuit that Dan Rather initially brought against CBS back on Sept. 19, 2007.

In short: The case will proceed on a limited basis.

Lawyers for CBS did succeed, however, in knocking down several major aspects of Mr. Rather's suit.  read more »

Get ready, Katie!

After much back and forth, the Clinton campaign has just announced that they have agreed to a CBS-hosted debate in North Carolina, on Sunday, April 27.  read more »

This morning, the New York Daily News reported that WCBS Channel 2 has laid off two senior correspondents-investigative reporter Scott Weinberger and Andrew Kirtzman, a former political reporter for New York 1--amid a broader round of cutbacks.

"Weinberger and Kirtzman are the only familiar faces involved in the layoffs, although behind-the-scenes staffers and freelancers were also cut, sources told the Daily News," reported Richard Huff.  read more »

The Media Mob has learned that CBS News is on the verge of announcing the end of Shelley Ross’ brief, tumultuous reign as executive producer of the Early Show.  read more »

Two decades ago, CBS's 48 Hours was rolling around in the horrors of "Crack Street." Last night, it was celebrating in a plush Manhattan lounge.

Around 7 p.m., a throng of TV luminaries gathered on the 20th floor of 230 Fifth Avenue to fete the resilient news documentary show, which recently marked its 20th anniversary on the air, making it the third-longest-running prime-time series on network TV, behind ABC's 20/20 and CBS's 60 Minutes.  read more »

There have been more than 25 presidential debates already this political season, hosted by FOX, CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, and Univision. But to date, CBS News has yet to sponsor a single showdown.

Last night, however, viewers who would like to see Katie Couric questioning the leading presidential candidates on a big stage, got the next best thing: Katie Couric questioning Hillary Clinton on 60 Minutes.

What did Ms. Couric ask?

Over the course of a lengthy back-and-forth, among other questions, Ms. Couric asked if Ms. Clinton popped vitamins, whether she liked Barack Obama, if she felt responsible for a deficit "caused largely by a war" she had authorized, what she was like in high school, and did her teenage classmates really call her Miss Frigidaire?

After the jump: the transcript of the interchange, courtesy of CBS:  read more »

Today, roughly three weeks after re-launching under new hyper-competitive EP Shelley Ross, CBS’s (perennially last place) The Early Show is touting some improved numbers over last year.  read more »

In recent days, during a series of meetings in New York, Chicago, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles, roughly 500 CBS News employees who are members of the Writers Guilds of America, East and West, voted overwhelmingly in favor of ratifying their new contract agreement with their bosses.  read more »

Yesterday the legal teams for Dan Rather and CBS appeared in New York Supreme Court, where they told Justice Ira Gammerman that the two sides had more or less agreed on terms for the discovery process moving forward in Mr. Rather's $70 million suit against his former bosses.  read more »

Today, the legal teams for Dan Rather and CBS were back in New York Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan.

During a brief hearing, the two sides told Justice Ira Gammerman that they had more or less reached an agreement on most of the issues, regarding the discovery process in Mr. Rather’s $70 million civil suit against his former bosses.

Lawyer Jim Quinn, who is representing CBS, told the Media Mob on Wednesday afternoon, that CBS had agreed to produce “virtually all of the materials” which Mr. Rather’s lawyers had asked for.  read more »

CBS’ Late Late Show host Craig Ferguson was not allowed to air the Tom Cruise video that has been on the tips of innumerable tongues this week. So, he went and made his own version. As impossible as it sounds, Mr. Ferguson's version, complete with lots of strange acronyms, double-chin laughs and a karate chop or two, might be better than the original.

On Wednesday afternoon, in New York Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan, Justice Ira Gammerman decided to allow Dan Rather's $70 million civil lawsuit against his former bosses to move forward into the discovery phase.

Afterwards, Mr. Rather stood in the hallway outside the courtroom, surrounded by reporters, and said he was "pleased" by the justice's decision, which would "put us on the road" to finding out "what really happened."  read more »

When Jim Stewart stepped down from CBS News in November 2006 after some 16 years of reporting on a range of topics for the Tiffany Network, the longtime Washington-based correspondent retired to the warmth of Florida. Now, depending on a judge’s ruling in an ongoing case, Mr. Stewart could be spending a part of his golden years in a much less sunny position—namely in contempt of a federal court.

In legal documents filed on the eve of the holidays, Mr. Stewart, citing promises of confidentiality, continued to defy a judge’s order to reveal the names of his sources for a series of reports he produced in 2003 for CBS News about the F.B.I.’s investigation into the domestic anthrax attacks of 2001.  read more »

David Letterman is winning the battle of the re-runs, the New York Post reports.

Since the writers strike began over a month ago, forcing both Mr. Letterman of CBS and his late-night rival, Jay Leno of NBC, into re-runs, Mr. Letterman's numbers are down only around 21 percent, whle Mr. Leno's are off by 40 percent. Mr. Leno still leads, but, says the Post, "Letterman hasn't been this close to Leno in years."  read more »

New executive producer Shelley Ross continues to shake up CBS' The Early Show, which for some tmie now has been stuck in third place in the morning news battles.

Today, CBS announced that they've added a new anchor to the tag-team cast: Maggie Rodriguez, who has been co-anchoring the Saturday version of the show since June.  read more »

Yesterday evening, the Democratic National Committee announced that it was putting the kibosh on CBS's December 10 debate between Democratic presidential candidates.

"Hollywood's television and film writers have been on strike since Nov. 5, and most of the Democratic candidates had pledged not to cross picket lines to attend the debate, which had been set to take place in a studio at CBS Television City in Los Angeles," reports The New York Times. "That location has been picketed most days since the start of the strike, and no aspiring Democratic presidential candidate would have wanted to be caught on camera crossing the picket lines."  read more »

Last week, lawyers for CBS filed a motion to dismiss Dan Rather’s $70 million civil lawsuit against them in New York State Supreme Court.

One of their arguments is that Mr. Rather is essentially bringing a defamation charge against the network. Yesterday we caught up with Mr. Rather's lawyer, Martin Gold.  read more »

Herein, CBS's 30-page motion to dismiss argument in "Dan Rather vs. CBS Coporation, Viacom Inc., Leslie Moonves, Sumner Redstone, and Andrew Heyward." CBS filed the motion to dismiss today in New York Supreme Court.

Click here to read the filing (pdf).

Today, in New York Supreme Court, in response to Dan Rather's civil lawsuit, CBS filed a lengthy 30-page motion to dismiss the case.

CBS executives also released a statement today, noting that they are "mystified" by Rather's "bizarre allegations" but will "vigorously" defend themselves in court if need be.

UPDATE: Click here to read the filing (pdf).  read more »

Tomorrow, Thursday November 15, marks an important date in Dan Rather's civil lawsuit against CBS.

CBS has until the end of the day, according to members of Mr. Rather's legal team, to file its motion to dismiss argument in response to Mr. Rather's suit.

Contacted on Wednesday evening, Rebecca Hughes Parker, an associate with Sonnenschein, Nath, & Rosenthal, the firm representing Mr. Rather, said that she had yet to see the motion, but expected CBS to meet the deadline tomorrow.

Media Mob has put in a call to Weil, Gotshal & Manges, the firm, which, according to court documents, is representing CBS in the case. We'll let you know when we hear back from them.  read more »

MONDAY

It’s only been a week, but the strike has done plenty of damage. Late night TV is kaput. Saturday Night Live, too. (Poor Jonah Hill, of Superbad fame, was slated to host.) But it’s Mondays that may suffer the most. Production of 24 has been delayed, with the possibility that Fox may even hold showing the seventh season until next Fall, in order to make sure it airs uninterrupted. Don’t the networks know that if they postpone 24, the terrorists win? End the strike now. Give the writers whatever they want. Please.

In the meantime, enjoy your last episode of the Big Bang Theory for the foreseeable future. Production has shut down. And tonight’s is the last that they have in the can. Also, Billy Crystal is honored with the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for Humor (PBS, 9 PM). Plenty of comedians who you could have sworn were dead will be on hand to celebrate.

TUESDAY

“From John Langley, producer of the groundbreaking Cops”—uh oh—“comes the next big law enforcement reality series”—oh no—“Jail” (MyNetworkTV, 9:00 PM). Where does Mr. Langley come up with these ideas? It’s really just another dagger into the slow-beating heart of Tuesday nights. What else is there other than House (Fox, 9:00 PM)? And don’t say the Dancing With the Stars results show (ABC, 9:00 PM) …  read more »

An invitation to appear on one of the Sunday morning talk shows is a privilege that every presidential candidate—even Duncan Hunter—is afforded at some point.

The no-shot curiosities—like Mr. Hunter or Mike Gravel—usually show up early in the campaign for their perfunctory segment or two in a nationally-televised hot seat. Ron Paul was supposed to among this class of candidates, and for a while it seemed that his Sunday morning exposure would be limited to being told by George Stephanopoulos over the summer that he had zero chance of winning the presidency.  read more »

MONDAY

Darlene’s back! Well, sort of. It didn't take long for The Big Bang Theory (CBS, 8:30 p.m.) to reunite its star Johnny Galecki with former Roseanne co-star Sara Gilbert. The erstwhile awkward TV lovers have been reunited as … awkward lovers! And just in the nick of time. The show is only several episodes old and the flustered interplay between the two supergeeks and their hot next-door neighbor, Penny, was getting a little stale. This week, they attend Penny’s Halloween party. Let’s hope Dar—ahem—Leslie is there to add a little spice. Halle Berry attempts the same on Inside the Actor’s Studio (Bravo, 8 p.m.). Watch to hear James Lipton exclaim, “Make me feel good.”

TUESDAY

The 47th Democratic National Debate (MSNBC, 9 p.m.) of the 2008 presidential election airs tonight. Will Barack Obama make good on his promise to The Times to hold Hillary’s feet to the flames? Will Hillary show up hungover from a weeklong birthday bender? Will John Edwards appear on stage with his wife in a desperate bid for attention? What will Joe Biden say? What will Dennis Kucinich extract from his pockets? Who knows? Who cares? Brian Williams moderates. (Can’t someone at NBC get him on a show with good ratings?) If you really want to watch something you feel like you’ve seen a million times, check out It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (NBC, 8 p.m.). Or watch the Spurs annihilate the Oden-less Trail Blazers in the NBA season opener (TNT, 8 p.m.).  read more »

Christina Applegate’s Samantha Who? (9:30 PM, ABC) debuts tonight, sandwiched in between Dancing With the Stars and The Bachelor. She plays a woman who wakes from an eight-day coma with retrograde amnesia only to slowly come to the realization that she was a total bitch. Perhaps a little amnesia is necessary on the part of viewers, who will need to forget Surviving Christmas in order to give this show a shot. (Who am I kidding?  read more »

Meet stewmurray47, the future of television! The network leader dosn't have a lot of room for new programming in its lineup, but it's doing what it can to keep up with the almost-universal television trends of 2007.  read more »

How I Met Your Mother is the best television show you’re not watching.  read more »