CBS denies folding over Reagans

Actor James Brolin played Ronald Reagan in the drama

The chairman of TV network CBS said it was "an absolute lie" to claim he gave in to political or corporate pressure in pulling The Reagans mini-series.

"It was a moral decision, not an economic or political one," Leslie Moonves told Daily Variety magazine.

The series did not present a balanced view of former President Reagan and his wife Nancy, Mr Moonves stated.

The two-part drama will now be shown on US cable channel Showtime, owned by CBS' parent company Viacom.

Mr Moonves stated that the decision to pull the drama was his alone.

The mini-series is said to emphasise Reagan's views on Aids

He added that he was not influenced by the Republican outcry over the mini-series or pressure from Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone or president Mel Karmazin.

"Unfortunately, in this instance, some of the criticisms, although coming from obviously one political perspective, I felt were somewhat well-founded," Mr Moonves said.

Mr Reagan is now 92 and suffers from Alzheimer's disease. He was president for eight years from 1981.

The New York Times said the drama gave Reagan "most of the credit for ending the cold war" and portrayed him as "a moral man who stuck to his beliefs".

But it stressed Reagan's forgetfulness and his strong opinions on Aids, the newspaper reported.

In one scene, Nancy is shown pleading with her husband to help people with Aids but he responds: "They that live in sin shall die in sin."

'Caved in'

The Republican party had demanded an advance viewing of the drama, due to have aired on 16 and 18 November, while others called for a boycott of CBS.

Last week singer Barbra Streisand criticised CBS' decision not to screen The Reagans, which starred her husband James Brolin.

Streisand, a Democratic fundraiser, claimed the network had "caved in" to right-wing pressure and described it as a "sad day for artistic freedom".

But Mr Reagan's daughter, Patti Davis, accused the show's producers of "astounding carelessness and cruelty" and said CBS did the "right thing" in pulling it from schedules.