NEW YORK — Les Moonves, the CEO of CBS, blasted an offer from Time Warner Cable to end a blackout over fees that lingered into its fifth day Tuesday, calling it a clever public-relations ploy. In a letter released Tuesday, Moonves rebuffed Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt’s offer to allow CBS to sell its programming to consumers “a la carte” instead of bundled with other channels.
Moonves said if the cable operator were truly open to the idea, it would allow Los Angeles customers to choose whether to pay for Time Warner Cable’s new sports networks covering Lakers basketball and Dodgers baseball games.
The two companies are engaged in a struggle over how much Time Warner Cable pays for CBS programming. Moonves also declined a Time Warner Cable proposal that would require the cable provider to pay higher rates while getting video streaming rights for no extra charge. Such an arrangement would make it impossible to earn revenue by licensing shows from online video outlets.
