CBS to reboot ‘ Twilight Zone’ for web service

CBS Corp. is bringing back another quirky classic — “The Twilight Zone” — for its CBS All Access streaming service, after the company’s successful launch this fall of “Star Trek: Discovery.”

CBS Chief Executive Leslie Moonves announced a reboot of the Rod Sterling program Thursday during the company’s third- quarter earnings call with analysts. His message was that CBS was mixing old with new — in this case, new versions of old gems to encourage subscribers to sign up for the company’s stand- alone $ 5.99- a- month streaming service.

The company has been adding original programming to its streaming service, which includes live feeds of local CBS stations, as a hedge as more people cancel their payTV bundles in favor of digital options. CBS does not expect the streaming service to replace the linear TV network, but the service reaches a younger audience and it gives CBS an additional platform for its programming.

The New York broadcast giant failed to deliver a knockout punch in its July- through- September earnings. Revenue was up 3% to $ 3.17 billion. Subscription fees were significantly higher because of interest in the Floyd Mayweather- Conor McGregor pay- per- view fight, which was distributed by CBS’ Showtime premium channel.

Net income from continuing operations declined 10% to $ 418 million, or $ 1.03 per share, compared with $ 466 million, or $ 1.04 per share, in the year- earlier period.

Advertising revenue was down 5%, reflecting an industrywide trend that has been worrisome to Wall Street. Prime- time ratings have been down. CBS also faced a tough comparison because TV stations a year earlier raked in political dollars tied to the November 2016 elections. Analysts also have been concerned about a decline in NFL ratings because football has long been a ratings engine for the TV networks, including CBS, that carry it.