CBS to ABC: It’s Time to Be Confident : * Television: Responding to his counterpart at ABC, CBS Broadcast Group President Howard Stringer says network TV may be down but it’s not out.

The sky is not yet falling on network television, CBS Broadcast Group President Howard Stringer assured reporters Wednesday.

“It’s a funny thing for everyone to be writing about a network going out of business when a fourth network (Fox) was just added a year ago,” he told a news conference at the annual summer TV press tour here.

Stringer was responding to suggestions earlier in the week from ABC Entertainment President Robert Iger that, in the current multichannel environment, one of the major broadcast networks may crumble and that all the networks may be forced to reduce the number of hours they program each week.

He acknowledged the depressed economy that fueled Iger’s comments. Executives at NBC, ABC and CBS reportedly have conceded that 1991 will be the first year ever that the three of them collectively post a loss. But “it’s not a time to be self-defeating,” Stringer said.

He instead pointed to stronger programming as a way to stave off declining revenues.

Four years ago, people thought that CBS was going under, Stringer said, because the No. 3 network couldn’t attract more than 14% of the audience on Tuesday nights. Now that night (with “Rescue 911” and a TV-movie slot) is a “keystone in the superstructure of CBS programming,” Stringer said.

CBS’ strategy, he said, is to develop one night at a time, like building blocks.

For the most part, Stringer acted Wednesday as a cheerleader for CBS, supporting brash predictions from CBS Entertainment President Jeff Sagansky and research vice president David Poltrack that the network is destined to be No. 1 in the prime-time ratings this fall.

“It’s time to be confident. We’ve been defensive for a long time,” he said. “It’s too good a mood to hold back. I can’t hold back this horse; it’s running.”

On Tuesday, Poltrack noted that last season CBS had five shows in the Top 20, compared to two shows the previous season. And four of those shows--”Murphy Brown,” “60 Minutes,” “Designing Women” and the Sunday-night movie--increased their audience from a year earlier. No. 1 NBC’s six Top 20 programs, meanwhile, dropped an average of 14%, he said.

Poltrack also cited CBS’ strong lineup of returning series and an increase in younger viewers as contributing factors to his hopes for CBS next season.

“Historical conditions for a change in network leadership are present,” the research chief said, “with NBC following the path of the soon-to-be-dethroned, and CBS following the path of the emerging challenger.”

The new attitude at CBS, Stringer said, was necessary in a network TV environment that he suggested was overly cautious. He said TV studios are so busy battling over the rights for syndication profits that creativity is being stifled.

“We need to take risks,” he said. “If we don’t, the demon out there is the 100-channel universe where writers and producers are spread thin and mediocrity is inevitable.”