NEWSWEEK INTERVIEW: Sumner Redstone - Chairman of Viacom and CBS Corporation

NEWSWEEK INTERVIEW: Sumner Redstone - Chairman of Viacom and CBS Corporation

Proclaims 'Unequivocal Faith in the Integrity' of Paramount Pictures Chairman Brad Grey; Would Be 'Shocked' If Grey's Involvement With Pellicano Were Illegal or Even 'Inappropriate'

Confident Katie Couric Can Revitalize CBS Evening News and About Winning Lawsuit Against Howard Stern

NEW YORK, April 16 /PRNewswire/ -- In an interview with Senior Writer Johnnie L. Roberts, Sumner Redstone, Chairman of Viacom and CBS corp., offered unqualified support for Brad Grey, chairman of Viacom's Paramount Pictures and an increasingly prominent figure in the Hollywood wiretapping scandal centering around rogue private eye Anthony Pellicano. "I have absolute unequivocal faith in the integrity of Brad," Redstone tells Newsweek in the April 24 issue (on newsstands Monday, April 17). "When Brad came aboard, he told us everything there was to tell us about what was going on with Pellicano ... I would be shocked, truly, if Brad engaged in any -- never mind illegal, but in any -- inappropriate conduct." A few days later, after a front-page story further detailed Grey's involvement with Pellicano, Redstone told Newsweek, "I have read the New York Times, and I still say I saw nothing in it that would make me change my opinion."

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060416/NYSU002 )

With Katie Couric heading to CBS News and industry experts questioning whether she can revitalize televisions' evening-news segment, Redstone tells Newsweek that her hiring, "was very innovative ... I'm not so much concerned about the evening-news category. I'm concerned about 'CBS Evening News.' She can certainly revitalize that. However, there's a second thing that people haven't grasped. To the extent we have hurt (NBC's) morning-news show, we help our morning show."

Asked why CBS delayed suing for talking up his future at a rival Sirius Satellite Radio until the radio host was at the new job, Redstone tells Newsweek that, "Howard Stern used our airwaves to advertise a competitor. We are supposed to get paid for advertising. We did not. And he was incentivized to do that, as shown by the bonus that he got [from Sirius] ... We're suing not only for what he did on the airwaves, but for the bonus that he got as a result of misusing our airwaves. We are pretty confident of winning."

Redstone also comments on government regulators fining CBS $4 million for "indecent" programs, including an episode of "Without A Trace" and Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. "I think it's awful. I think that the government absolutely should not determine what Americans see and hear ... The bottom line is, the government should stay out of this business."

(Read entire interview at www.Newsweek.com.)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12335360/site/newsweek/

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060416/NYSU002
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Source: Newsweek

CONTACT: Natalia Labenskyj of Newsweek, +1-212-445-4078

Web site: http://www.newsweek.msnbc.com/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12335360/site/newsweek

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