- "I would like to buy CBS. I'm not going to," says CEO Les Moonves of the now-frequent speculation that he'd like to take over the controlling stake that Sumner Redstone's firm has in the broadcaster.
- “The board of directors will decide the fate of this company,” he said while speaking at Code Conference, echoing what Redstone has said himself.
- Moonves has reportedly talked with financiers about trying to assemble $2B to buy control of the stake. He added that while TV/Internet distributors are consolidating, he doesn't see the need for content companies to do the same.
- "We don't want to be reunited with them, not them with us," he said of Viacom (VIA, VIAB) -- run by Philippe Dauman, whose style Moonves reportedly clashes with.
- When it comes to CBS working with a revamped Apple TV, Moonves pointed to the key: "money." He's met with Apple's Eddy Cue about joining a small bundle of channels for iOS devices.
- Moonves has previously noted "You can't live without us" in skinny bundles, and today pointed again to must-have attributes: Apple's looking at "a more select group at a lower price. Any one of those groups will need CBS. We have the NFL, which is must-have television."