Amid Paramount Layoffs And Skydance Talks, CBS Sports Has Emerged “Largely Intact” And “Strong” Due To Viewer Demand, Division Chief David Berson Says

CBS Sports CEO David Berson said the volatility at parent company Paramount Global, which is laying off 15% of its U.S. workforce and preparing to merge with Skydance Media, isn’t taking his division off its game.

“There’s no doubt that the media and entertainment world is incredibly complex these days, but there’s no doubt that the sports world is growing in value every single day,” the exec said Wednesday at an NFL media breakfast at Paramount’s corporate headquarters in New York.

Berson has been in the top job at CBS Sports since the springtime. He was the No. 2 exec during the lengthy tenure of former Chairman Sean McManus and was named to the CEO position when McManus announced his plan to retire. The two remain close, Berson said.

Asked about managing through a whirlwind (something he and McManus experienced during the years when CBS Corp. was a separate company led by Les Moonves), he said the sports division has been shielded from the worst of it. Viewer demand continues to surge for the NFL and CBS aired the most-watched Super Bowl of all time last February.

As to the layoffs, Berson said, “Every group’s impacted, of course, but we’re largely intact.” The layoffs followed an eye-popping write-down last Thursday of $6 billion of the value of the company’s cable networks, a day after an even larger one by Warner Bros. Discovery.

The Skydance merger, which would take effect in the first half of 2025 unless a rival bidder gains favor with the Paramount board before next week’s expiration of a “go-shop” period, gives Berson reason for optimism. RedBird Capital, a key financial backer of Skydance, has a sports portfolio including the YES Network, AC Milan and the UFL. Jeff Shell, who joined RedBird this year and will take a top role in the merged company, ran NBCUniversal as CEO until 2023. He shepherded major sports franchises like the Olympics, NFL Sunday Night Football and the Premier League.

“I’ll let the Office of the CEO talk about the larger transaction,” he said. “As it pertains to sports, even on the call announcing the deal, you heard from Skydance and RedBird how much they value sports. They believe in sports, they value sports. They love our portfolio, they love our strategy and they love our team. So, let’s see how everything plays out. But it’s exciting, the interest they have and the appreciation they have for sports.”

The reporting structure established when the three members of the Office of the CEO took over for Bob Bakish last spring has remained consistent, Berson said. “George Cheeks was my boss before and he’s my boss now,” he explained, noting that each of the three Co-CEOs maintains oversight of a particular “lane,” which for Cheeks means CBS.

Reflecting on the times of transition, he added, “We have to be aware of the environment that we’re in, of course, but as it pertains to CBS Sports, we’re in a really strong position in a really strong category.”