CBS made its position clear yesterday when CEO Leslie Moonves told the Television Critics Association that the network was against taking commercials for hard liquor, saying he did not feel it was the right thing to do.
However, its motives might not be entirely altruistic. CBS is thought to be keen to keep its important beer advertisers happy, as well as wanting to avoid the public backlash which NBC is currently suffering following its decision in December to accept hard liquor ads.
The beer market is more important to CBS than to NBC as it carries a great deal of sports programming, which relies heavily on beer advertising.
NBC became the first major US broadcaster to lift its ban on advertising hard liquor in December, when it agreed to run ads for distilled spirits after 9pm. The first advertiser was the Diageo-owned brand Smirnoff.
The decision to take spirits advertising was not taken lightly. The network set strict guidelines accompanying the change in policy: actors appearing in the ads must be at least 30 years old; the ads can only be broadcast in programmes where more than 85% of the audience is over 21 years of age; and no professional athletes can appear in the ads.
There has so far been no indication that the remaining rival networks, ABC and Fox, have plans to change their policies.
In the US, it has been more than 50 years since major networks have accepted ads for hard liquor, although more recently cable networks have carried liquor ads.
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