CBS takes first steps to creating film operation

Bruce Tobey
By Claudia Eller and Meg James
Times Staff Writers

1:23 PM PST, March 7, 2007

CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves has made his first formal step toward launching a movie operation, hiring someone who once worked at former sister studio Paramount Pictures.

Bruce Tobey, who was forced out of his previous post at Paramount amid a management shake-up more than a year ago, will be chief operating officer of the newly created CBS Feature Films unit, CBS announced today.

Moonves is still looking for a CEO to run the operation that aims to expand CBS beyond its core television business. Tobey will be based at CBS' West Coast headquarters in Los Angeles and oversee finance, legal, business affairs and home video distribution.

While the new movie operation won't initially be a full-fledged Hollywood studio like the much larger Paramount -- it aims to produce only four to six films a year with budgets of $10 million to $40 million -- it gets Moonves closer to his long-time ambition to be a major player in the movie business.

The move also underscores the ongoing rivalry between CBS and Paramount parent Viacom Inc., the two companies controlled by chairman Sumner Redstone, and raises questions about his original strategy to split the media giant into two separate entities last year.

Paramount, headed by former talent manager and television producer Brad Grey, has continued to express interest in beefing up Paramount's television production business, which Moonves inherited as part of the breakup.

Moonves, who made his name in Hollywood as a top TV executive, has for the past year floated the idea to Wall Street of expanding into the movie business in a cost-effective way.

He has sought to assure wary investors that despite the volatility of the movie business, he could practically guarantee profits from the start by exploiting showing the movies via his company's assets -- the CBS broadcast network, the Showtime premium cable channel and its international television distribution operation to sell the films in foreign markets.

Moonves has contended that Showtime, in particular, could benefit from owning feature films rather than depending so heavily on outside studio suppliers such as Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM.

It's unclear whether Moonves plans to renew Showtime's agreements with those studios when they expire in the next year or so.

Another unanswered question is what major film studio would distribute the CBS feature films in theaters. Many industry insiders bet it won't be Paramount.