History Creator / CBS

Moonves had been trying to prevent a re-merger with Viacom led by Shari Redstone. With him out of the way, the two companies would ultimately merge as [=ViacomCBS=] on December 4, 2019, adding streaming platforms Creator/PlutoTV and Creator/{{BET}}+, along with Viacom's Media Networks division (including the UK's Creator/ChannelFive), to the combined company's portfolio. The company's streaming platform, CBS All Access, was rebranded as Creator/ParamountPlus and would include a diverse spread of content, spanning the assets owned by [=ViacomCBS=] (since renamed to Paramount Global).

* ''Series/{{Girlfriends}}'' (2006-08)

* ''Series/TheDefenders2010''

* ''WesternAnimation/DungeonsAndDragons1983'' (1983-85)

* '''''Series/EastNewYork''''' (2022-present)

* ''Series/Jericho1966'' (1966-67)
* ''Series/Jericho2006'' (2006-08)

* '''''Series/TheLateLateShow''''' (1995-present)

** ''Series/PromisedLand1996'' (1996-1999)

* '''''Series/{{True Lies|2023}}''''' (2023-present)

* ''Series/DeadToMe'' (2019-present)

* ''Series/TheGame'' (2006-09, 2011-15)

** ''Series/{{Gossip Girl|2021}}'' (2021-present; with Warner Bros.)

* ''Series/{{Nancy Drew|2019}}'' (2019-present)

* ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' (2020, 2022-present)

** ''Series/WalkerIndependence'' (2022-present)
* ''Series/TheWinchesters'' (2022-present; with Warner Bros.)

Nevertheless, the rural purge worked. CBS' replacements for its canceled rural-themed shows (mainly acquired or in-house) such as ''Series/TheMaryTylerMooreShow'' and ''Series/AllInTheFamily'', got the ratings that they wanted and became classics in their own right. Even as Creator/{{ABC}} boomed in the '70s and took the top spot, CBS continued to do well, sitting comfortably in second place right into the early 1980s, with several classic TV shows such as ''Series/{{MASH}}'' [[note]]whose GrandFinale, [[Recap/MashS11E16GoodbyeFarewellAndAmen "Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen"]], set a ratings record for scripted programming that still stands as of February 2022, and has only ever been bested by [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague the Super Bowl]][[/note]] and ''All in the Family'''s many {{spinoff}}s (''Series/TheJeffersons'', ''Series/{{Maude}}'', and ''Series/GoodTimes'') carrying the load handily. They even indulged in genre TV in the late 1970s with shows based on Marvel superheroes ''Series/TheAmazingSpiderMan1978'' and ''Series/TheIncredibleHulk1977''; further, ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'' proved that CBS could, once in a while, air successful rural programming even with the demographic shift.

Meanwhile, CBS's sports coverage--long a mainstay of its weekend programming--started to hit a few road bumps of its own. The network lost the NBA in 1990, a 1990-93 deal with Major League Baseball was a financial and ratings disaster, and after they lost rights to the NFL in 1994, the joke became "'''C'''an't '''B'''roadcast '''S'''ports". Not helping matters was CBS losing a number of key affiliates (Atlanta, Detroit, Milwaukee, Dallas and others) to Creator/{{Fox}}, leaving them to find affiliation elsewhere, many on UHF channels, causing a DisasterDominoes situation across much of the US. Still without any solid hits (and a short-lived attempt at being YoungerAndHipper which resulted in major flops), CBS ended up merging with Westinghouse [[note]]an old-style industrial conglomerate whose main attraction was their "Group W" broadcasting division, which had been for years hamstrung with two of their stations being affiliated with Creator/{{NBC}}, which dictated heavily how to present their schedule and news against their wishes[[/note]] in 1995; this was prefaced by a deal (part of the aforementioned mess that resulted from Fox's plundering of their affiliate base) that switched three of Westinghouse's five stations [[note]]NBC affiliates KYW-TV in UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}} and WBZ-TV in UsefulNotes/{{Boston}}, and ABC affiliate WJZ-TV in Baltimore[[/note]] to CBS.[[note]]The other two, KPIX-TV in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco and KDKA-TV in UsefulNotes/{{Pittsburgh}}, were already CBS affiliates; the only change to them was less pre-emptions. The deal occurred due to WJZ-TV in Baltimore losing its Creator/{{ABC}} affiliation to Creator/{{NBC}} affiliate WMAR-TV (owned by Scripps, which had signed with ABC so the latter could prevent CBS from taking their affiliates in Cleveland and Detroit), something which angered Westinghouse and caused them to fear more defections. CBS picked up Philadelphia's KYW-TV in this deal, which meant they had to sell longtime O&O WCAU-TV. The buyer wound up being Creator/{{NBC}}, who had wanted to own a station in Philadelphia for decades and traded KCNC-TV in UsefulNotes/{{Denver}} and KUTV in Salt Lake City for WCAU-TV.[[/note]] The network would then attempt to rebuild its sports division by signing a football rights contract with the [[UsefulNotes/CollegiateAmericanFootballConferences Southeastern Conference]] (SEC) in 1996, quickly becoming one of CBS Sports' [[CashCowFranchise biggest ratings hits]] in years. A further merger occurred, this time with Creator/{{Viacom}} (CBS's own former distribution arm) in 2000. This was initially complicated by the fact that Viacom already owned half of Creator/{{UPN}}, and both CBS and UPN had owned-and-operated stations in many of the same markets (Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Miami, and Pittsburgh). Viacom cleared this hurdle when the FCC legalized duopolies, leading to the two networks becoming corporate siblings. CBS regained the NFL in 1998 when it aggressively outbid NBC for their expiring AFC rights, while NBC attempted (and failed) to get the rights to ''Series/MondayNightFootball''.

The network also carries the AFC side of the Sunday afternoon UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague schedule [[note]]including NFC home games against AFC away teams; conversely, AFC home games with NFC away teams belong to Fox[[/note]] on Sundays, along with The Masters golf tournament, tennis's U.S. Open, and sports from the Southeastern Conference, whose highly competitive football schedule has given it an audience just as large as for NFL events.

From 1928 (when it originated on radio) until 1974, this network was officially known as the [[http://cbs.com Columbia Broadcasting System]]. It was founded by Westinghouse and currently owned by Creator/ParamountGlobal. Its eye logo (known internally as the "Eyemark") is among the most widely recognized corporate logos; based on old Shaker art, the logo premiered on CBS-TV in 1951, and eventually became the symbol for the entire company.

But, as CBS' broader struggles began to emerge in 2017, turmoil has struck here too -- not only was Scott Pelley forced to leave the ''Evening News'' to be replaced by Jeff Glor in another attempt to bring the EN out of third place (in addition to Pelley reporting on the toxic workplace culture at CBS), but both ''CBS This Morning'' anchor Charlie Rose and longtime ''60 Mintues'' head Jeff Fager were both caught in the wave of sexual harassment scandals revealed by the [=#MeToo=] movement, resulting in both of their terminations. Glor's tenure as EN anchor was short-lived; former ''CBSTM'' anchor Norah O'Donnell replaced him in July of 2019, with the newscast moving to CBS News' Washington DC bureau in December. Localized versions of CBSN based out of CBS' O&O stations have also begun launching; CBSN New York launched in late 2018, with more following through 2019 and 2020. In the wake of this and the COVID-19 Pandemic, CBS News has largely continued to rate third among the networks, without a clear direction. CBS Television Stations also took a major blow with the firings of Peter Dunn and David Friend, heads of the O&O station group, following revelations of sexist and racist behavior from them (as well as the acquisition of WLNY-TV 55 in Long Island so Friend, Dunn and other CBS executives could gain an an exclusive country club membership -- [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer no, seriously]]).

Thus, Paramount opted to merge the CBS News and O&O station group together as "CBS News and Stations", with a marked commitment towards reconfiguring the national and local news operations into streaming-first operations. This has included a major expansion of programming on CBSN (renamed to simply CBS News) and more local expansion, including the reworking of the traditional newscast into incorporating a community-based reporting approach, the creation of national/local hybrid newscasts to air on some of the non-duopoly or smaller stations in the group, and [[https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/cbs-to-motor-news-department-back-into-detroit-launching-local-broadcasts-on-wwj-tv-after-20-years-1235133071/ the build-out of a new, streaming-focused news operation]] at CBS' Detroit duopoly, which has historically lacked in news, much to CBS' embarrassment[[note]]after the aforementioned DisasterDominoes situation in the mid-90s, CBS was forced to buy a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWJ-TV little-known station on channel 62]] from the Freemasons, WGPR-TV; said station was infamous for being majority black-owned but having NoBudget of any kind and an incredibly weak signal. When CBS and Viacom merged in 1999, this meant the renamed WWJ-TV moved into the facilities of the area's UPN station, [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WKBD-TV WKBD-50]], whose 10PM newscast had struggled after CBS' former affiliate WJBK-2 switched to Fox and moved their newscast to 10. An attempt was made at an 11PM newscast on WWJ, but using the same exact anchors, reporters and set as the WKBD newscast led to negative ratings; ultimately the entire news operation was closed down in 2002. Afterwards, WKBD aired an outsourced newscast from Detroit's ABC station, WXYZ-7 for a couple years, and afterwards both stations have only aired weather updates and public affairs shows, along with a brief attempt at a weather-centric morning show called "First Forecast Mornings" in the early 2010s.[[/note]].

CBS has dipped in and out of feature film production many times over the years. They ran Cinema Center Films from 1967 to 1972, then CBS Theatrical Films from 1979 to 1986. They were an initial partner in Creator/TristarPictures, and formally aligned with Creator/{{Paramount}} after they were acquired by Viacom. After CBS and Viacom split in 2007, they created Creator/CBSFilms, which lasted until 2019, when the Viacom re-merger put Paramount back in the same family.

* ''Series/GhostWhisperer''(2005-2010)

* '''''Series/UndercoverBoss''''' (2010-20, 2022)

* ''Series/CriminalMinds''
** ''Series/CriminalMindsSuspectBehavior''
** ''Series/CriminalMindsBeyondBorders''
** ''[[Series/CriminalMindsEvolution Criminal Minds: Evolution]]''

* '''''Series/UndercoverBoss''''' (2010-present)

* ''Franchise/CriminalMinds''
** ''Series/CriminalMinds''

* ''Series/{{Partners}}'' (2012)

* ''''' Series/AlertMissingPersonsUnit''''' (2023-present)

!!The DorkAge (1984-2000)

However, there has been a bigger emphasis on their news department going towards hard news after the end of the [[DorkAge Dan Rather/Katie Couric era]], with ''60 Minutes'' anchor Scott Pelley moving to the ''Evening News'', and the fact that CBS News dominates on Sundays but withers the rest of the week. This can be seen in their newscasts not going after the newest sordid scandal in the way ABC and NBC do, but focusing more on international news, and ''CBS This Morning'', which seems more comfortable with its lower audience with a news-bent program meant to compete more with ''Morning Joe'' and ''Fox & Friends'' than just playing FollowTheLeader with the others (Creator/{{PBS}}' Charlie Rose is one of the anchors for starters; he previously anchored their overnight ''Nightwatch''' newscast back in the 80s, bringing it full circle). They also recently launched their own [[Main/TwentyFourHourNewsNetworks 24-hour news network]], CBSN; uniquely, it streams live on their website, mobile apps, and devices like the Roku instead of traditional TV providers; it draws upon the resources of CBS News, their affiliates and CBS-owned properties (like ''The NFL Today'' from Showtime and CNET's websites).

* ''Series/{{Stalker}}'' (2014-15)