CBS & Viacom merging to form $30B streaming powerhouse

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in General Discussion edited August 2019
Media giants CBS and Viacom have agreed to terms to conclude an on-again off-again merger, reuniting the pair after a 13-year split.




The combined entity called ViacomCBS, is valued at $30 billion, and will contain the entirety of the CBS production and distribution network, and all of Viacom's properties including Paramount movie and television, all of the MTV properties, Nickelodeon, and much more. Bob Bakish will become the CEO of the combined entity.

Acting Chief Executive Joe Ianniello is expected run anything with a CBS brand on it. Shari Redstone, daughter of Sumner Redstone who executed the split, served as the vice chairman of both companies, and will become chairman of the board for the combined company.

The move has been positioned by insiders as a tactical one, to better compete with Disney and similar media giants who have invested billions in streaming -- including Apple.

At present, it isn't clear what will happen specifically to CBS All Access and to Viacom's competing Pluto TV. The tentpole shows for CBS All Access are the "NCIS" franchise, and a host of "Star Trek" shows which will be reunited with the "Star Trek" Paramount movie productions under one roof. Pluto TV was purchased by Viacom in January 2019 for $340 million, and is mostly free with ad support, drawing from Viacom produced shows and 100 other live streaming cable channels distributed under license.

The combined deal is expected to close before January 2020. National Amusements holds controlling ownership in both companies, simplifying the merger.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 17
    AppleExposedAppleExposed Posts: 1,805unconfirmed, member
    Viacom is one of the better companies I wish Apple would have acquired. If not for TV+ content for extra revenue from 3rd party streaming services.
  • Reply 2 of 17
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    Big fish eaten by bigger fish, small fish starve. 
  • Reply 3 of 17
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,417member
    spice-boy said:
    Big fish eaten by bigger fish, small fish starve. 
    Small fish don’t eat bigger fish, so...
  • Reply 4 of 17
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    fastasleep said:
    spice-boy said:
    Big fish eaten by bigger fish, small fish starve. 
    Small fish don’t eat bigger fish, so…
    I'm pretty sure that they do.
    lolliverCloudTalkin
  • Reply 5 of 17
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,877member
    Hopefully this reuniting will fix the total clusterfrak that is the Star Trek universe, which was fractured due to licensing agreements between CBS and Paramount, resulting in the JJ Abrams movies timeline vs TOS & TNG TV canon. Part of their deal was everything had to look different, and resulted in the Kelvin timeline where old canon (“prime universe”) was jettisoned. Yuck. They just messed it all up, due to wanting to keep the profits on toys and collectibles licensing separated. 

    And put an end to all the GD lens flare 😎
    edited August 2019 macseekerdysamoria
  • Reply 6 of 17
    macseekermacseeker Posts: 545member
    StrangeDays said:
    Hopefully this reuniting will fix the total clusterfrak that is the Star Trek universe, which was fractured due to licensing agreements between CBS and Paramount, resulting in the JJ Abrams movies timeline vs TOS & TNG TV canon. Part of their deal was everything had to look different, and resulted in the Kelvin timeline where old canon (“prime universe”) was jettisoned. Yuck. They just messed it all up, due to wanting to keep the profits on toys and collectibles licensing separated. 
    Amen to THAT post.
  • Reply 7 of 17
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,417member
    Soli said:
    fastasleep said:
    spice-boy said:
    Big fish eaten by bigger fish, small fish starve. 
    Small fish don’t eat bigger fish, so…
    I'm pretty sure that they do.
    Some do, and some eat bad analogies. 
    lolliver
  • Reply 8 of 17
    thadgarrisonthadgarrison Posts: 69member
    $30B is chump change for Apple, they should gobble them up for exclusive access to their library and let them continue running as an independent company until TV dies. 
  • Reply 9 of 17
    dysamoriadysamoria Posts: 3,430member
    Oh yay, more corporate merging in the media realm. That will be great for absolutely no consumers. Though I appreciate the comments above about the Star Trek licensing, I don’t think that’s enough to justify more corporate mergers.
  • Reply 10 of 17
    WgkruegerWgkrueger Posts: 352member
    StrangeDays said:
    Hopefully this reuniting will fix the total clusterfrak that is the Star Trek universe, which was fractured due to licensing agreements between CBS and Paramount, resulting in the JJ Abrams movies timeline vs TOS & TNG TV canon. Part of their deal was everything had to look different, and resulted in the Kelvin timeline where old canon (“prime universe”) was jettisoned. Yuck. They just messed it all up, due to wanting to keep the profits on toys and collectibles licensing separated. 

    And put an end to all the GD lens flare 😎
    I suspect this is the only reason for the merger.  :-)
    StrangeDays
  • Reply 11 of 17
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    Sh#t is gettin’ real, yo.
  • Reply 12 of 17
    godofbiscuitsgodofbiscuits Posts: 249member
    StrangeDays said:
    Hopefully this reuniting will fix the total clusterfrak that is the Star Trek universe, which was fractured due to licensing agreements between CBS and Paramount, resulting in the JJ Abrams movies timeline vs TOS & TNG TV canon. Part of their deal was everything had to look different, and resulted in the Kelvin timeline where old canon (“prime universe”) was jettisoned. Yuck. They just messed it all up, due to wanting to keep the profits on toys and collectibles licensing separated. 

    And put an end to all the GD lens flare 😎
    The only reason for the difference was that Bad Robot wanted to make even more money off of the films.
  • Reply 13 of 17
    CloudTalkinCloudTalkin Posts: 916member
    $30B is chump change for Apple, they should gobble them up for exclusive access to their library and let them continue running as an independent company until TV dies. 
    You and I have very different definitions of chump change.  $30B isn't chump change for any company.  That represents almost 27% of Apple's estimated $112B cash reserves.  Also, that $30B is a valuation.  So a hypothetical sell price would be higher... possibly much higher.   "Apple should just buy X" works just fine to illustrate how much money Apple has on hand.  As a practical matter relative to how often the phrase is used, it's not relevant.  

    Apple's leadership usually makes good financial decisions.  Trying to buy entities of this size and scope really doesn't fit the good financial decisions model imo.  If they were going to do something like that, it should have been done before they announced their intentions to enter the entertainment space.  Hard to bargain when everybody knows the size of your wallet. 
    edited August 2019
  • Reply 14 of 17
    beowulfschmidtbeowulfschmidt Posts: 2,132member
    Soli said:
    fastasleep said:
    spice-boy said:
    Big fish eaten by bigger fish, small fish starve. 
    Small fish don’t eat bigger fish, so…
    I'm pretty sure that they do.
    Usually when the bigger fish die. :)
  • Reply 15 of 17
    spice-boyspice-boy Posts: 1,450member
    spice-boy said:
    Big fish eaten by bigger fish, small fish starve. 
    Small fish don’t eat bigger fish, so...
    my point the consumer will suffer (small fish)
  • Reply 16 of 17
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,877member
    godofbiscuits said:
    StrangeDays said:
    Hopefully this reuniting will fix the total clusterfrak that is the Star Trek universe, which was fractured due to licensing agreements between CBS and Paramount, resulting in the JJ Abrams movies timeline vs TOS & TNG TV canon. Part of their deal was everything had to look different, and resulted in the Kelvin timeline where old canon (“prime universe”) was jettisoned. Yuck. They just messed it all up, due to wanting to keep the profits on toys and collectibles licensing separated. 

    And put an end to all the GD lens flare 😎
    The only reason for the difference was that Bad Robot wanted to make even more money off of the films.
    No, the reason was because they were issued specific licensing terms. It is about the merchandising, and who gets the revenue from them; thus the requirement from CBS that Paramount’s Bad Robot films had to be 20% different in costumes, ships, set design, etc. It is all about the licensing, and CBS was in charge of that.

    Midnight’s Edge on youtube has a bunch of videos on it and the cluster it created.
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