• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

ViacomCBS

RadioPatrol said:
CBS has been mentioned to be unlikely in the Starz talks due to the recent Viacom/CBS Deal by the Redstones.
Click to expand...

No surprise. Once the merger happens, they'll have more traditional cable channels than they know what to do with. They don't need to add more. They will have Paramount Studios to work with, so they don't need to spend outside money on content acquisition. If they need anything, it's not anything having to do with traditional platforms. It's all about their own digital space. They already own Pluto, so that's a good start.
 
TheBigA said:
So now that the merger has been announced, the current question is: What next? That question is the subject of this article:

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2019/09/cbs-viacom-marriage-concerns-about-synergies-and-size

The conclusion seems to be that even after the merger the company will still be too small to compete against the other media companies. Both company stocks are way down (over 20%) since the merger announcement.
Click to expand...
I can see them going after Discovery. But let's say the new company gets bought out. Who would be allowed to do it. Comcast is out. AT&T is out. Disney is out. I can't see Amazon or Apple making a play. There would have to be an unknown player with deep pockets.
 
https://variety.com/2019/tv/news/viacomcbs-dede-lea-lobbyist-john-orlando-1203364030/

Viacom veteran DeDe Lea has been tapped to head public policy and governmental relations for ViacomCBS.

Lea has been Viacom’s head lobbyist since 2013. When merger of Viacom and CBS is complete, Lea will serve as exec VP of global public policy and government affairs, reporting to ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish.

“DeDe has been an incredible advocate for Viacom, our audiences and the creative community over the past two decades,” said Bakish. “She brings unmatched experience, relationships and leadership to this role, and we’re thrilled she will serve as the voice of ViacomCBS in Washington and in the highest levels of government around the world.”
Click to expand...

Now changes at CBS also affects lobbyists who work for the media outlet.
 
https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/241130/cbs-viacom-merger-to-close-next-month/

Update on the Viacom/ CBS Talks

When the New Year dawns, CBS Corp. should no longer be a stand-alone company, but reunited with Viacom after nearly 16 years of separation. “We are on track to close in just a few weeks,” CBS Corp. CEO Joe Ianniello told analysts in the company’s third quarter conference call Tuesday morning. He will continue to oversee the CBS-branded assets, but the merged company will be headed by Viacom’s Bob Bakish as CEO.

For 3Q, Ianniello said growth was driven by an 18% increase in subscriber fees: retrans, reverse comp and virtual MVPDs. And that was despite a 19-day blackout by AT&T in a carriage dispute. While Wall Street has been concerned about the subscriber impact of cord cutting on broadcast and cable companies, the CBS executive declared that total subs are up 4% year-over-year, including the vMVPDs.
Click to expand...
 
Nickelodeon shows are coming to CBS All Access.
The subscription video platform is adding children's programming from Viacom-backed Nickelodeon in one of the first moves ahead of the media titans' Dec. 4 merger. The news was announced Monday, the same day that kids programming from Boat Rocker Studios (Danger Mouse) and WildBrain (Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs) began streaming on CBS All Access.
Click to expand...
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/l...=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_source=Direct
 
https://deadline.com/2019/12/cbs-bl...ing-will-be-sold-off-by-viacomcbs-1202804659/

Viacom to sell the Black Rock offices.

Three days after the long-awaited merger of CBS and Viacom closed, the combined company has decided to sell off the fabled headquarters building of CBS known as “Black Rock.”

Bob Bakish, CEO of ViacomCBS, confirmed the company is proceeding with the divestiture during an appearance at the UBS TMT Conference in New York. He offered the update when asked by UBS analyst John Hodulik about any further M&A moves investors could anticipate.

“There’s a lot of noise about this,” Bakish said. “We don’t see any asset that we have to own. Will we look? Of course we’ll look.” In addition to buying back its shares and offering a dividend to shareholders, the company is looking to unload “non-core assets — real estate, other forms of assets,” Bakish said. “Black Rock is not an asset we need to own and we believe that money would be put to better use elsewhere.”
Click to expand...
 
RadioPatrol said:
Viacom to sell the Black Rock offices.
Click to expand...

Interesting....this comes on the heels of CBS selling Television City in Los Angeles and their Washington DC news bureau.

In both cases, they are now leasing space in both buildings, and that's likely what will happen with 51W52.
 
TheBigA said:
Interesting....this comes on the heels of CBS selling Television City in Los Angeles and their Washington DC news bureau.

In both cases, they are now leasing space in both buildings, and that's likely what will happen with 51W52.
Click to expand...

Cashing-in the commercial real estate holdings and moving to a pure OpEx model..

Given all the competition for creating and distributing content, there's an argument either way that these merged companies are now pure content models. Selling off long-held investments reduces the business-facing value by eliminating tangible corporate assets. In the end, you've become just another Time Warner/AOL.
 
Kelly A said:
Selling off long-held investments reduces the business-facing value by eliminating tangible corporate assets. In the end, you've become just another Time Warner/AOL.
Click to expand...

The difference is they still own lots of TV stations, and those TV stations own property and assets. Viacom owns its heritage building on Times Square. It also owns lots of property connected with Paramount Studios. Fox sold off a lot of its older assets to Disney. Of course Disney and Universal own lots of property with their theme parks. Warner Media owns the Warner Studio in Burbank. I'm not sure if they own their new headquarters building in the Hudson Yards. But there's still a lot of property in these media companies.
 
https://www.thewrap.com/et-online-et-live-teams-merge-layoffs-entertainment-tonight/


Update ET will get cuts

The teams at website ET Online and digital network ET Live have merged, resulting in layoffs across those “Entertainment Tonight”-adjacent brands.

“We have integrated the ET Online and ET Live teams to create one content group that will support and drive the ET brand across all digital platforms,” a CBS Television Distribution spokeswoman said in a statement. “As a result, some positions were reduced.”



Only those specific platforms were affected, two people with knowledge of the staff cuts tells TheWrap. No one from television series “Entertainment Tonight” lost their jobs today
Click to expand...
 
Now that the merger is complete, I gotta ask: What will become of certain assets?

For instance, will CBS Television Distribution and Paramount Television remerge?

What about the CW network? Will it become "VCW" or "The VW"?
 
HawkeyeST said:
For instance, will CBS Television Distribution and Paramount Television remerge?
Click to expand...

That's a good question. Certainly the stronger of the two is CBS Television Distribution. They have the former KingWorld shows. They even have the former Paramount shows, such as Entertainment Tonight. A few days ago, ET eliminated some positions that were duplications because of the merger. So my expectation is we'll see a lot of consolidation within the two companies in the coming weeks. A couple days ago, they announced the sale of the CBS Building on 52nd street. I'm sure all of this has been in discussions since the summer when the merger was first announced. They've had lots of time to figure out what they're doing.
 
Most everything online will get merged into CBS All Access.

I can't really think of anything on the cable side that would merge with the network side. Viacom doesn't have any sports rights the way Comcast had when they merged it with NBC.
 
Don CT said:
I can't really think of anything on the cable side that would merge with the network side. Viacom doesn't have any sports rights the way Comcast had when they merged it with NBC.
Click to expand...

However there are several exceptionally weak cable channels that would benefit from fresh content from CBS. There's no question that CBS owns better content. The main area where Viacom failed in the last ten years was new content development. I see at least two Viacom channels being replaced with CBS content in the next year. Perhaps an upgrade for CBS Sports replacing the Paramount Channel and another channel focusing on off-network repeats of popular series that aren't yet in syndication.
 
TheBigA said:
However there are several exceptionally weak cable channels that would benefit from fresh content from CBS. There's no question that CBS owns better content. The main area where Viacom failed in the last ten years was new content development. I see at least two Viacom channels being replaced with CBS content in the next year. Perhaps an upgrade for CBS Sports replacing the Paramount Channel and another channel focusing on off-network repeats of popular series that aren't yet in syndication.
Click to expand...

TV land already seems to be showing 90/2000's sitcoms from CBS.

I wonder if they drop 2 or 3 Viacom networks. CBS Sports Network's major issue is lack of major sports. Could we see CBSN move to a former Viacom network?
 
Don CT said:
CBS Sports Network's major issue is lack of major sports. Could we see CBSN move to a former Viacom network?
Click to expand...

It seems logical although Sheri Redstone said no. CBS Sports Network lacks major sports because it's smaller than any other sports channel. If it moved to the Paramount Channel, it would be equal to NBC. Then you'd likely see more college sports as a start.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom