CBS Is 'Firing On All Cylinders' Now

CBS is no longer reliant on advertising -- its retransmission revenue is strong and growing -- affiliate and subscription revenue grew 15 percent in the quarter.

Chairman Sumner Redstone kicked off the company's earnings call as he has for the past several quarters, declaring that "content is king," and that the company is "top of its game" and "firing on all cylinders." CEO Les Moonves followed with a positive outlook for the future: each quarter this year has been better than the last, and the momentum is on track to continue through 2011. He says that the ad market is strong, even with out the addition of political ads, and he sees plenty of room for the ad market to continue to recover. And starting next year the company will start to really feel the benefit of what Moonves calls "dramatically improved contracts" like the Comcast deal. It also helps that the cost of CBS' lineup of shows this year is less than last year.