• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, December 10, 2008

Despite concern over continued advertiser woes, CBS head Leslie Moonves on Wednesday was optimistic about the future of the company and its existing business model.

"I'm here to tell you the model ain't broke," he told attendees at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference in New York. "Some people are having audience erosion. We're not."

According to Moonves, just 2% of the company's revenue is coming from the actual streaming of episodes online. "The Internet will not be the place for regurgitated network content," he said. "It will be the place for clips, for communities, for the things that are involved with the shows."

Regarding the economic downturn, Moonves described it as "something that came on rapidly," but noted how important it was for CBS to maintain the quality of its content.

"Obviously, advertising is very challenged," said Moonves. "We do need a better economy and a return to faith in advertising ... We need automotive back."

For his part, Moonves said it was unwise to try predicting when economic conditions--particularly with regard to ad sales--would improve. "To make predictions that the economy is going to come back ... probably is a fool's errand."

In addition, while Moonves expressed his satisfaction with Cnet Networks--which CBS Interactive agreed to buy for $1.8 billion in May--he said such a deal would never happen today.

With the deal, CBS expected to triple its interactive footprint, making it one of the top 10 largest properties online. At one point, by combining Cnet with its CBS Interactive unit, Moonves predicted that CBS would generate as much as $1 billion in online revenue by 2010.

What's more, Moonves on Wednesday appeared to rule out the possibility of any acquisitions in the near term. "Now is not the right time to be looking at acquisitions," he said.

Moonves did not comment on the exit of Patrick Keane, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of CBS Interactive, who joined CBS from Google in 2007. After the Cnet acquisition, Keane's CBS responsibilities shifted; he has been unreachable over the last month as he's transitioned out of his role, reported D: All Things Digital's Peter Kafka earlier this week. Although CBS did not offer official comment, Keane's shoes will likely be filled by Mickey Wilson, former SVP of marketing at Cnet, according to Kafka.

Moonves said content and its distribution remain critical to the success of the company. "When you can sell something in ten different areas is where the future is," he said, regarding distribution over multiple channels.

On the subject of new distribution partners, Moonves predicted that CBS would eventually strike a partnership with Hulu, the joint video venture between NBC Universal and News Corp.

"We feel like syndicating is best as long as we are selling the advertising, and keeping the lions share of the advertising," he said.

In regard to NBC's decision to move "The Tonight Show" hosted by Jay Leno to 10 p.m., Moonves appeared to welcome the change. "For them, it's a model that could very well work," he said, adding: "I will bet anybody that would like to bet that CSI on Monday night will beat Jay by a lot."