Posted by chicagomedia.org on February 20, 2009 at 14:01:03:
Ch. 2 tuning out news?
Boss denies talent forced to sign shortened pacts, possible end to local reports, thanks to economy
February 20, 2009
BY LEWIS LAZARE Sun-Times Columnist
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Not gonna happen. At least not on his watch at CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2, insisted WBBM President and General Manager Bruno Cohen.
Cohen was trying to squelch talk that CBS might be about to institute a talent contract policy that would call for all talent negotiating -- or renegotiating -- contracts to sign a one-year deal with a 90-day cancellation clause that station management could trigger at its discretion, possibly even with an eye toward getting out of the local news business altogether.
While admitting there might be situations where station management -- meaning himself -- might think a certain talent deserved such a deal, Cohen isn't a fan of the "one-size-fits-all" contract.
Though CBS announced a whopping 52 percent year-over-year drop in fourth-quarter profits this week, Cohen said no one from the network has told him he must adopt such a contract policy.
But at least one source familiar with the situation at WBBM said the station is making all new talent contracts it signs "as short as possible," even as short as four months. Sources also say there has been talk in CBS corporate offices in New York recently about doing away with all local newscasts at WBBM.
Such a doomsday move, of course, would unburden the ratings-challenged station of a huge amount of costly overhead, while taking off the air some of the city's best television news reporting talent. But it could happen within a year, an informed source predicted, if the economy continues to worsen along with CBS' fortunes.