CBS Only Wants to Be on the Apple TV–Under Their Terms

During yesterday’s earning call, CBS Chief Executive Officer Les Moonves was asked about adding CBS content to the Apple TV, and as usual, he responded, “Sure! As long as it’s on our terms.”

Most recently, CBS sparked deals with both Netflix and Amazon. So the question in pattern is why not the Apple TV? I know for a fact the Apple TV has just as large an audience as Amazon Instant Video.

Here’s the answer, via Seeking Alpha:

Look, Anthony, you’ve — we’ve had this discussion many times before. You’re right, it depends what the terms are, it depends what we get paid for. It depends on what effect Apple TV would have on either our advertising, our syndication or our retrans, which are our 3 main buckets of revenue for our content. So if it sits in well, like Netflix did and Amazon did, we’re happy to discuss it. If it doesn’t and we’re — they’re using our content to build a business, we’re not quite as favorable to that. So the devil is in the details. I know it sounds like a pat answer, but it’s really true.

During the past, CBS and Apple were close to completing a deal, but the deal fell apart due to apparent revenue talks. And most recently, CBS revealed how Steve Jobs envisioned the CBS-Apple TV deal.

Is CBS asking for too much, or are Apple’s guidelines just too strict?

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