CBS CEO Les Moonves Still Sweet on Katie Couric, TV's Highest Paid News Anchor

Les still loves Katie.

Despite the ratings nosedive theCBS Evening News has taken since Katie Couric stepped in as anchor, CBS Corporation president and CEO Les Moonves supports her wholeheartedly. In fact, he recently raved, "I think she is spectacular."

Katie Couric and CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves © David Livingston/Getty Images

Les may love Katie, but other guys his age don't. According to a March 13 article in Mediaweek:

Moonves said, “Katie has lost mostly 55-plus-year-old men from [when she replaced] Bob Schieffer,” adding that this is where the bulk of her audience decline has come from....

“Are we thrilled with Katie’s ratings?” Moonves asked rhetorically. “No. But are we thrilled with the product? Yes.”

Moonves says that older men have left because they don't want to watch a female news anchor. Fortunately for Katie, the most important of her older male viewers doesn't feel that way. And since he's the one who gave her the job and the $15-million-a-year contract, that's probably the only opinion that matters.

Katie Couric's situation is a rare example of the tables being turned - she earns over twice as much as the two men holding down the same job at the other major networks. This was pointed out by columnist and radio talk show host Larry Elder, who broke down the numbers in a January 25, 2007 commentary at HumanEvents.com:

Although Couric sits in last place in the ratings of the Big Three, she earns a reported $15 million a year. [ABC's Charles] Gibson, in second place, clocks in at a reported $7 million. NBC's [Brian] Williams, who sits atop the ratings, reportedly makes $4 million per year.

Do the math. For the week of Jan. 15, [2007] Williams attracted 10.25 million viewers, which comes out to a salary of $.39 per set of eyeballs. Gibson, in second place with 9.5 million viewers that week, earns $.74 per viewer. And Ms. Couric, who had a whopping 2.45 million fewer viewers than the first-place Williams? At her $15 million per year salary, with her 7.8 million viewers, CBS pays her $1.92 per viewer! This means the third-place Couric gets five times the amount of money per viewer than does the first-place Williams. (Memo to Brian: Fire your agent.)

Katie Couric's got a very sweet deal, for as long as it lasts. In her case, Les is more.

Related article: When Katie Mocked Danny - Katie Couric's Video Jab at Dan Rather