CBS Executive Explains How Network Decides Which Shows Air on Linear TV and Which Head to Paramount+
Speaking with Vulture, CBS president George Cheeks gave fascinating insight into how his company decides which shows premiere where.
CBS took a big hit from the failure of Hollywood executives to strike a timely deal with writer and actor unions in 2023. Despite CBS being the No. 1-rated network for 15 years, ratings dropped by more than 30% for CBS last fall season as compared to the previous season’s and shows like “Ghosts” and “Young Sheldon” have just recently made their way back to airwaves with new episodes. In response to a lack of new scripted episodes due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, CBS began airing titles like “Star Trek: Discovery” and “Yellowstone,” some of which were formerly streaming exclusives on Paramount+. CBS president and CEO George Cheeks recently sat down with Vulture to explain why his network doesn’t plan to line up a wide variety of streaming exclusives for their broadcast premieres in the future, and how Paramount Global decides which shows head to streaming and which premiere on broadcast.
- Under normal circumstances, there simply isn’t enough real estate in the schedule to make more shows that premiere on streaming and broadcast exclusively, according to Cheeks.
- Affiliates are sensitive to such dual premieres, as they prefer shows that were specifically intended to air on CBS.
- Cheeks pointed to the “NCIS” franchise as an example of how the company decides whether to stream a show on Paramount+ or air it on CBS.
Moving titles like “Yellowstone” to from the Paramount Network and Paramount+’s “Seal Team” to CBS while scripted productions were still getting back on their feet following the strikes helped the Eye Network to tread water, giving viewers something to watch while they waited for their favorites to return. However, Cheeks believes that there are two major hurdles for his network to overcome before the channel can carve out a block for streaming shows to air on broadcast.
“We have two hour-long comedy blocks [on Monday and Thursday] that are immensely successful,” Cheeks explained. “There’s not a lot of available real estate for a typical 20- or 22-episode [season].”
Cheeks also said that the reason that CBS does not develop more shows to premiere on its network and on Paramount+ simultaneously is that station owners value exclusivity. The draw to streaming services is already strong enough in the minds of local affiliate owners, and they don’t want to give audiences multiple ways to watch new episodes of popular CBS shows.
“The affiliates really expect that they’re going to get CBS premieres on CBS,” Cheeks said. “And so there’s always a conversation with affiliates to make sure that they’re comfortable [sharing with Paramount+] … The ecosystem is evolving so quickly it’s hard to predict where that goes, but I do think there’s a hurdle to overcome to make affiliates comfortable with the idea of a block of programming in-season that is repurposed Paramount+ originals. I think that’s a tall request.”
It sounds as if Paramount will continue to target specific Paramount+ titles that it thinks will cross over onto linear channels successfully — such as the upcoming premiere of “Tulsa King” on CBS this summer —, but that there will still be a good number of shows that are specifically intended to air exclusively on either Paramount+ or on CBS. That’s a strategy similar to the one Hulu is currently pursuing; that streamer’s chief content officer recently spoke about the success of putting episodes “Only Murders in the Building” on ABC, revealing that the move had improved streaming ratings as well as drawing a linear audience.
How Does Paramount Decide if a Show is Better for CBS or Paramount+?
Not only does Cheeks see hurdles confronting CBS before it imports a wider range of Paramount+ titles, but he also sees value in producing different types of content for different mediums. He believes that each individual platform or channel comes with its own set of viewer expectations as well as the types of ideas that do well there. So, his team’s job is all about determining which projects are the best fit for each platform.
“The whole goal here is to look at each potential creative execution and figure out where we think it ultimately should land,” Cheeks told Vulture. “We had two really fantastic ‘NCIS’ franchise extension ideas. One felt really right for broadcast, being more procedural, and one felt like a serialized streaming 10 or 13-episode idea. So when you’re trying to consistently expand what is the number one TV franchise in the world, why wouldn’t you want to develop both, and why not take advantage of the fact that one may creatively skew more towards a streaming environment versus the other?”
Long-established, successful franchises like “NCIS” offer Paramount to develop projects for TV and streaming simultaneously, but Cheeks believes that viewers shouldn’t expect CBS to focus solely on franchises in order to get back to ratings dominance.
“One of the biggest misconceptions is that people think that franchise extensions are somehow easier,” he said. “I think it’s a lot harder. Every single franchise extension you do has to have an independent reason to live. It is a very challenging thing to do.”
One of Paramount’s most successful franchises is Star Trek, which is slated to wrap up one of its two remaining live-action shows this year when “Star Trek: Discovery” airs its fifth and final season on Paramount+. Cheeks says that Trek is still very much a part of Paramount’s future plans, even though the number of Trek projects in development doesn’t approach what Disney is doing with Star Wars or Marvel, even as the Mouse House has pared back offerings from its superhero franchise significantly.
“We don’t want to offer up all these amazing premium drama series at once,” the CEO explained. “We want to time it out appropriately. Luckily, we have this incredible partner in Alex Kurtzman, and we all work together to sort of manage long-range planning across many years, to figure out what’s the right cadence for dropping new Star Trek series. So there’s a lot we’re focused on, but it should not suggest to you [a scaling back]. There is a tremendous amount of focus and prioritizing of the Star Trek franchise.”
CBS is a critical component of the greater Paramount ecosystem; after all, 23 of the top 30 shows on Paramount+ in terms of engagement generated were originally CBS shows. As Paramount Global engages in potential merger and acquisition talks the future of the channel is somewhat clouded, but Cheeks’ comments show how CBS and Paramount+ work together to provide audiences with different types of content.
Paramount Plus
Paramount+ is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 40,000+ TV show episodes from BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and more. The lineup includes “1883,” “Tulsa King,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and “PAW Patrol.” Subscribers can watch the NFL, college football, The Masters, college basketball, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa, Serie A, and NWSL. The service also offers the option to watch your live CBS affiliate. The upgraded ad-free package includes premium movies and shows from Showtime.