This post is one in a series on prominent company nicknames. See all 25, and share your thoughts and memories about the Tiffany Network below in the comments.

If CBS Corp.'s (NYSE:CBS) nickname The Tiffany Network were newly coined, I'd speculate that it referred to the long history of Tiffany's, and how the current CBS viewing public had probably begun shopping there back in the '20s. If the company has a more recently gained nickname, it would be the silver (-haired) network, due to the skewing of its viewership toward the geezer crowd.

In reality, the Tiffany moniker hearkens back to the CBS of radio's heyday and the early days of television. With the likes of Edward R. Murrow reporting from London during the Blitz, Orson Wells scaring the bejebus out of listeners with his broadcast of The War of the Worlds, the hit multi-cultural comedy I Love Lucy, and the iconic western Gunsmoke, the network's reputation for quality was once as glittering as one of Tiffany's diamond-pavéd bracelets.

How the mighty have fallen. CBS, with debacles such as the Katie Couric news anchor stint, now lags behind Fox in weekly ratings.

The Tiffany Network is part of a massive entertainment company with fingers in television (66% of revenues), radio (remember radio?) (12%), outdoor advertising (16%), and publishing (6%). Yes, those are all very 20th century businesses. The question troubling current investors is just how the company will move into the 21st century without swapping all its diamonds for rhinestones?

Shares of CBS Corp. (NYSE: CBS) are trading up this morning after the corporate home of CSI, Two and a Half Men and Katie Couric, reported better-than-expected first quarter results.

Net income was $244.3 million, or 36 cents per share, up 14% from $213.5 million, or 28 cents, the New York-based company said in its earnings release. Revenue was little changed at $3.65 billion. The results beat Wall Street estimates of profit of 33 cents on sales of $3.55 billion.

Strength in the company's Television and Outdoor businesses overcame weaknesses in the Radio and Publishing divisions. The results were bolstered by an 85% gain in television licensing fees which were helped by higher domestic and international syndication sales. Rate increases and subscriber growth at Showtime Networks and CBS College Sports Network boosted affiliate revenues by 6%. The company also boosted its dividend by 8% to 27 cents per share.

Stanford Group analyst Fred Moran had an optimistic take on the results.

"It shows CBS is holding its own despite the recessionary advertising environment in the U.S," he told Bloomberg News. "The yearly dividend is now a 5 percent yield, and it's one of the cheapest stocks in the media group.''

The Nielsen/Net Rating recently began reporting a new metric for internet advertisers: the total minutes each page is viewed. Online content providers are panicking, as this threatens to overturn their customary pay per page view model that has been so lucrative.

This caused me to wonder if such a change isn't due in more traditional ad venues. For example:

Outdoor advertisers -- Companies such as Clear Channel (NYSE: CCU) have long charged by number of cars passing by a location, but what if the speed of the traffic were factored in? On some of California's crawlways, a single billboard might be in view for half an hour. Why should it cost no more than one on freeways that actually flow?

Advertising-supported content has become the dominant business model for the internet, as demonstrated by our (AOL, Time Warner, NYSE:TWX) recent change from a membership-based model. Advertising Age recently released its study of the 100 top advertisers and how they spend their advertising dollars. For all the brouhaha about the internet, traditional print advertising still dominates the marketing plans of the top corporations. A breakdown of 2006 expenditures by ad distribution platform shows --

1. Magazines -- $29.83 billion
2. Newspapers -- $29.80 billion
3. Network TV -- $27.16 billion
4. Spot TV -- $17.23 billion
5. Cable TV networks -- $16.75 billion
6. Radio -- $11.06 billion
7. Internet -- $9.75 billion
8. Syndicated TV -- $4.2 billion
9. Outdoor -- $3.83 billion

also see 2006 Advertising recap II- The big rollers

On tonight's MAD MONEY show on CNBC, Jim Cramer began his show saying "Out with the old and in with the new ... media." It isn't all out; he thinks outdoor advertising, traditionally as "old media" as you can get, will survive well because of the new digital ads. One of his two stocks in this category is Daktronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:DAKT), up 165% this year, but he thinks it's a buy and going higher. This isn't a billboard company, rather an interactive image advertising board for stadiums and sports. He's excited about Daktronics because even high schools are starting to add in boxes and special arenas. DAKT closed down 3% at $36.91 in normal trading, but shares rose to $38.30 after he touted the stock. Its 52-week range is $13.74 to $39.09.

[Photo Chris Metcalf]