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CBS’ Leslie Moonves not discouraged by poor start for CBS Films

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CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves acknowledged Tuesday that ‘Extraordinary Measures,’ the company’s first feature film, was a ‘major disappointment.’

The movie, a medical drama starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser has taken in just $12 million since its release in late January.

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Despite the weak performance, Moonves, speaking at the Credit Suisse 2010 Global Media and Communications Convergence Conference in Palm Beach, Fla., said there was a ‘little too much’ made out of it.

‘I was rather surprised when people expected us to have ‘Avatar’ as our first movie,’ he cracked. ‘Give me a little time, we’re building a new content company.’ Its next release is the romantic comedy ‘The Back-up Plan,’ starring Jennifer Lopez and being released next month.

Asked during the question-and-answer session whether a string of flops would make him rethink the movie business, Moonves said no.

‘We spent $30 million on this film ... it’s a minimum bet,’ he said. Moonves noted that movies help feed content to Showtime. Of course, if the movies are not critical or commercial hits, they won’t do Showtime much good either.

Moonves reassured conference attendees that when it comes to the movie business, ‘we’re not stupid.’ He promised that CBS would not be making ‘Spider-Man 6’ or any other $250-million movies.

The CBS chief had some tough talk for the affiliates that carry the network’s programming. Like other broadcasters, CBS has been successfully negotiating payments from cable operators carrying their television stations. But the network also wants a cut of money that independent broadcasters affiliated with the network are getting from cable companies.

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And if a station does not want to give CBS a cut of so-called retransmission consent money, ‘we will find some other way into that market.’

-- Joe Flint

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