We Revisit Katie Couric

Has she really paid for herself?

Here's a quote from Katie's boss, Les Moonvies: "Katie probably paid for herself in the first week of our upfront ... (sales to advertisers). We brought in about $15 million more for the Early Evening News (sic) in the first week. ... She will be one of the best bargains. I've already made my money back. There aren't too many Katies."

But how can that be? How can CBS sell more ad time for one show? They only have X number of ad minutes. And they've always sold those. The only way this can be true is if the price being paid is being jacked up and advertisers are paying a total of $15 million MORE than was being paid before. That would work out to about $2 million more a minute, assuming 7 ad minutes per 30 minute block.

Which does return me to my original point: Who is really paying for Katie?