—On M&A: CBS spent billions building its interactive group—much of it in large chunk when it acquired CNET—but between integration and market conditions, has slowed down considerably. Will that rev up again? “We’re well positioned to continue to invest and be aggressive in this new world order,” Lurie said. “We’re aggressively pursuing and evaluating all the opportunities. ... there is nothing that is new and growing that we’re not in dialog with on commercial partnerships, potential business combinations, anything. If it can extend our business, we’re by no means limited by capital or wherewithal. It’s just being smart and focused” Lurie attributes part of that ability to be aggressive to what he calls “the most successful integration” of a new media company with an established one.

—NCAA impact: At CBSi, Lurie was well informed but on the periphery of the $10.8 billion NCAA deal with Turner Broadcasting that was managed by CBS Sports President Sean McManus. Now he’ll be involved in figuring out the impact of the decision for Turner to get digital control of March Madness on Demand instead of CBSSports.com. Lurie: “This new announcement is a massive deal that affects sports, affects rights, affects networks, interactive and now that we’ve got another huge partner in the mix, there are going to be a lot of internal discussions with them and with us figure out the optimal strategy for both the network and the online distribution strategy.”

—Staying at CBS: Lurie and Ashe have stuck at CBS longer than some might have expected given how often the glowing words of praise from a CEO or the acquired execs fade in the light of reality. “Sometimes in the Valley, there’s this feeling of once you get acquired you don’t want to stay there,” says Lurie. Again, he attributes that to the integration—the way it was handled at the top and the way they were allowed to manage it at CBSi. “Les has gone full throttle behind this.” (Granted, he might not feel so positive about it if he were one of the CBS people who wound up on the outside.) As for his relationship with Ashe from here out, “if anything, we’ll be connected at the hip.”

Lurie also can skip the learning curve an exec new to CBS or to CBSi would have in his place. He’s already worked with key execs across the company. “I’m coming from a position where I don’t need to break glass and I don’t need to beat my chest. I can get in and offer people help on the business initiatives they have.” He’ll also be pushing to get them in front of new opportunities. What role would Lurie play in a CBS iPad player? “It would be key. Anything that touches content is something that’s close to Leslie’s heart.” Networks produces the shows; CBSi is responsible for digital distribution. He would be the go-between internally but also be “central” in putting deals together with the device makers, distribution companies and more. Is there a player cominig? No announcements on that or anything like it today.

—CBS Audience Network: One of the key decisions Smith and Moonves made in terms of online video was to stay out of Hulu as either an equity partner or a programmer, opting instead to form the CBS Audience Network. What happens to that now? “One of the things we’ve been proud of at CBS is we’ve controlled the merchandising of our content and the selling of ads against our content. The Audience Network has been a great vehicle for getting more users access to content where they are and whether we dial that up or dial that back continues to be an issue we will evaluate.”