Though dominant in ratings, NBC still clearly suffered from the same weakness in programming that had limited it in radio, mainly because of Sarnoff’s indifference to content. When Paley and his team of programmers launched their attack, the strategy would be one that had worked before, that of promoting CBS as the higher-quality alternative—the Tiffany Network—purveyor of the best of the best.

Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, loc. 442