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CBS and Viacom seeking to merge... again


The Frog

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Viacom has been pretty much a scapegoat for cable's severe churn. From Vue and Hulu not carrying Viacom, to Spectrum moving the higher-rated channels to a digital tier (until 1/28, then it goes back to Select), Viacom has been maligned, some of it their own fault.

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They should divest Viacom's cable and movie studio assists to NBCUniversal.

At least Comcast has the sense to shut down niche networks with no sense of growth. They did it three times last year (Cloo, Esquire, Chiller).

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So, like, everyone knows they're both super-majority owned by National Amusements/the Redstones, right? This seems more organizational than anything, and I doubt anything major would change superficially.

The whole point of the split was for Sumner to have both a slow-growth, “old media” conglomerate in CBS and a fast-growth, “new media” conglomerate in Viacom.

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The whole point of the split was for Sumner to have both a slow-growth, “old media” conglomerate in CBS and a fast-growth, “new media” conglomerate in Viacom.

 

Also, Viacom was transparently the one he cared about more, because it owned Paramount and "youthful" assets like MTV.

Have you seen what's been going on? It's size for the sake of survival.

 

The bigger the company - especially one formed through mergers - the more of a challenge it is to manage it properly. This is why the old Viacom was so poorly run, this is why Time Warner never made sense, and why Eisner preferred organic growth when he ran Disney. (The CapCities merger was the main exception to this, and it did solidify Disney's transformation from indie studio/amusement company to entertainment behemoth, but IMO, ABC has never been that well-managed under Disney, save for the few times they've hit upon a string of hits. Also, much of the reason Eisner bought ABC was to get back at Jeffrey Katzenberg - long story there)

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Also, Viacom was transparently the one he cared about more, because it owned Paramount and "youthful" assets like MTV.

There were also several other issues that led to the split, including the internal war over who would succeed Sumner as head of Viacom (Tom Freston won after Les Moonves got shunted to CBS, but ended up getting fired a few years after), and the fact that MTV produced that Super Bowl halftime show with Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction-- Sumner most likely wanted CBS and MTV kept away from each other after that debacle.

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A three-way merger between CBS, Lionsgate, and Viacom is being discussed.

 

http://deadline.com/2018/01/lionsgate-talks-amazon-verizon-cbs-viacom-1202244991/

 

Makes sense because Lionsgate and CBS already jointly own Pop, and collaborate on a few shows, such as the new version of MacGyver and Power on Starz. As for Viacom. the two used to co-own Epix before MGM bought those two's shares of it. The combined company would also distribute Wendy Williams and Family Feud.

 

The only iffy part is what happens with Showtime and Starz. Will those two be allowed to be under the same ownership?

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I don't think that CBS should merge with Viacom again. If CBS wants to merge, they should do it with a different company that isn't tv networks.

 

Hello. To be honest, I do hope that the re-merger happen, as it is the best way to save the Star Trek franchise. My apologies for my repetition.

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its one of their Franchises/Properties.

The franchise is split evenly between CBS and Viacom vis-a-vis Paramount, and National Amusements controls both. So nothing would really change with a merger.

 

And TBH, William Shatner and Patrick Stewart aren’t coming back.

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Does anyone think this will go through? They can't even decide on a COO

 

It's really up to the Redstone family. They probably want to maximize shareholder value and that's where this deal makes some sense. But a merger benefits Viacom WAY more than it does CBS. Viacom are the ones floundering here--and their approach right now completely flies in the face with CBS taking a digital-first strategy via All Access, CBS Sports HQ and CBSN.

 

Do those entities survive under a CBS/Viacom merger--or will the Viacom library and their cable nets suddenly get a lot more accessible in the digital world? I don't know.

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Not just Les...the entire CBS board.

 

She's really willing to kill the golden goose just to keep the cable side afloat?

 

Wow. Moonves ought to call her bluff. He wouldn't be out of work for long, and CBS would be looking down the barrel of another Tisch era.

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