• The Hollywood Reporter, Monday, March 12, 2012 12:35 PM

About a year ago, CBS CEO Leslie Moonves says he was approached by Steve Jobs about providing content for Apple's long-rumored TV service. His answer? No thanks. “I told Steve, ‘You know more than me about 99 percent of things but I know more about the television business,’” Moonves said at the UCLA Entertainment Symposium on Saturday.

Moonves saidhe was chiefly concerned about providing content to a service that could disrupt CBS’ existing revenue streams, writes The Hollywood Reporter. “Moonves said Jobs, in characteristic fashion, strongly disagreed with his assessment,” THR reports. More broadly, Moonves has demonstrated his openness to digital deals, as in the case of CBS’s partnership with Netflix and Amazon. "That's what changed the CW from being a losing proposition to being a (money maker)," Moonves said regarding of pacts with Hulu and Netflix for The CW network, co-owned by CBS and Time Warner. As for why CBS’ stock just hit a 52-week high, Moonves credited the recovery of the ad market as well as new revenue streams that didn't exist three years ago, including retransmission fees from distributors, reverse compensation, and the rise of Netflix and Amazon.

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