CBS’s Nuñez backs linear TV

NATPE: Linear TV is “going to be around forever,” the head of CBS Studios International has claimed, with producers still keen to work with traditional broadcasters despite the explosion of the OTT market.

Armando Nuñez during his keynote chat at Natpe

Armando Nuñez, the company’s president and CEO, made the comments during his keynote conversation at Natpe Miami. He said CBS continues to prove there is a market for traditional linear TV around the world, demonstrated by its takeover of Australia’s Network 10 last year.

“Linear TV is not going anywhere,” he told delegates. “What linear broadcasters do and how they programme is going to evolve, but linear is not going anywhere.

“There have been naysayers about broadcast TV going back 20, 30 years but the good old-fashioned broadcast network model works. We continue to produce mass-appeal, primetime content that many of the traditional platforms around the world are still looking for today: programmes that work in the linear and digital environments.”

He added that global expansion is something all major players need to progress, and that companies must think about using their assets abroad. “We have production operations in different places around the world, channel ventures and now the acquisition of Network 10,” he said.

Nuñez acknowledged OTT was part of this conversation, noting the expansion of CBS All Access into Canada and Australia, which he doubts will be the only markets it will launch it in. But he said CBS doesn’t “need to be Netflix,” with huge subscriber levels, “to make a go of it in any particular market.”

Despite rumours circulating that CBS could be looking to merge with another media giant, such as Sony or previous partner Viacom, Nuñez said he could not “speak to any specific conversations or thoughts” on these matters.

“The realities are all media companies are progressive, they look at their assets constantly, and companies like ours kick the tires of assets when they become available around the world. It’s a constant evaluation of the assets.”