Tisch Declares That CBS Is Not on the Sale Block

Challenging the widespread speculation about his company’s future, CBS Chairman Laurence Tisch said Wednesday that CBS is not for sale.

Tisch’s comments were made after the annual meeting of CBS shareholders and the stock closed down $1.125 at $65.

“There have been rumors and rumors,” Tisch told reporters. “CBS is not for sale.

CBS has been widely reported to be on the block, and many believe Tisch would still sell for the right price. He is said to value the company at $80 a share--about $5 billion. Cable television magnate Ted Turner has wanted to buy CBS, and other possible suitors recently mentioned include Barry Diller, MCA and Westinghouse Broadcasting.

In comments to The Times, Tisch drew a distinction between outright sale of the network and a possible merger.

“QVC was a merger, not a sale,” Tisch said, referring to the ill-fated deal last year in which Barry Diller’s QVC Inc. would have merged with CBS, with Diller playing a major role in the company. “The CBS board stayed completely intact in that transaction,” Tisch noted.

“I think Wall Street has been too quick to say Larry wants out,” said Ed Atarino, a media analyst at the Dillon Reed investment firm who has followed CBS and Tisch’s Loews Corp. for many years. “I believe he does want to effect a change in the structure of CBS. But he may not want out--he may want help in the form of a partner. He has made a point of saying the company is not for sale, which is not the same as saying he wouldn’t do a merger. Despite all of CBS’s problems--and there are many--he regards CBS as a good investment.”

At the shareholder’s meeting, Tisch focused on efforts to rebuild CBS’s prime-time schedule, which has fallen from first to third place in the ratings, causing the network to suffer a sharp decline in earnings.

“We were clearly disappointed in our prime-time performance this year,” Tisch said, “and we recognize that the major task before us is rebuilding our schedule.”

The slate of shows for next season--expected to be announced later this month--is aimed at increasing CBS’s younger viewership, Tisch said, without abandoning older viewers. Tisch cited an exclusive agreement beginning in 1996 with “NYPD Blue” creator Steven Bochco as an example of talent coming to CBS.

Last month CBS said its earnings fell 68% in the first quarter from the previous year, with net income falling to $21.9 million from $69.3 million. Sales fell 28% to $897.7 million over the same period. In addition to its prime-time ratings decline in the last year, the network said that earnings had dropped because of the absence of the Winter Olympics, a ratings and advertising bonanza for CBS in 1994.

Tisch noted Wednesday that the CBS TV and radio stations are making a profit, and he said a recent agreement with Westinghouse had strengthened the CBS lineup of stations.