Jericho: Moonves and Nielsen

"As the media industry ponders its efficiencies in a shaky economy, one bigwig who's not panicking is Les Moonves. The president-CEO of CBS Corp. said in his fourth-quarter 2007 earnings call to investors this morning that the TV side of CBS has not seen a recession thus far.

Earlier in the call, Mr. Moonves also addressed the gray area that continues to surround the effectiveness of Nielsen's commercial ratings in the post-strike TV market. "With the new C3 measurement system, it is virtually impossible to draw apples-to-apples comparisons," he said. "And with the strike adding more repeats there is little conclusion that can be drawn from the numbers this season. What is important is that the advertisers are generally pleased that we have a more precise measuring system."