CBS would be in a buying mood if a key cap is raised by new FCC Chairman Ajit Pai.
“If [the cap is] lifted, we’d want to buy more stations,” CBS Chief Executive Moonves told analysts on a conference call on Wednesday afternoon. “Through retransmission and political ads, the local markets are extremely good for us.
“We’d be very interested in the cap moving up,” Moonves added.
Current rules cap TV station ownership at two per market and overall ownership can’t reach more than 39 percent of US households.
The CBS boss made the comments during a fourth-quarter earnings call in which the Viacom-owned broadcaster reported profit that hit forecasts but it missed on the revenue side.
Adjusted earnings per share were $1.11 a share, up from 92 cents, a penny better than expected.
The company reported sales of $3.52 billion compared with $3.59 billion in the year-earlier quarter, missing Street expectations.
CBS had three fewer Thursday night NFL games to air than the previous period and entertainment programming revenue was down due to election-related preemptions.
Shares fell nine cents, to $65.24, on Wednesday.
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