Viacom+CBS+Corperation

=History and Background=

Viacom or CBS Corporation as of 2006 is in the cable television and motion pictures industry. It is run by Massachusetts native, Sumner Redstone who is the Executive Chairman and founder of the company and assisted by Phillippe Dauman who is the President and CEO.

Channels like Black Entertainment Television (BET), Music Television (MTV), VH1, Country Music Television (CMT), Nickelodeon, Spike TV, and Comedy Central are among its television networks. Its film production and distribution include Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks, MTV Films, among many more.

The company reaches to many audiences of different genres of entertainment interests. Music and reality television, it appears, seem to be the focus behind Viacom/CBS Corporation’s television success currently. The greatest successes of Viacom/CBS Corporation are MTV and Paramount, two widely known names in pop culture.

Paramount is the longest-lived American movie studio. It is located in Hollywood, California. Some of its most successful films have been: The Ten Commandments (1923), Cleopatra (1934), Samson and Delilah (1949), Grease (1978), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and Mean Girls (2004). It is also the company that released Tom Cruise from contract after all of his controversial Scientology preaching and strange behavior.

MTV networks is located in Manhattan, New York in Times Square. It was created in 1981. This network reaches out to audiences of all ages and had networks all over the world. Due to its success with reality television, MTV 2 was created merely for the viewing of music videos, whereas MTV airs more top 10 countdowns, breaking news in the music industry, award shows, and television shows like Laguna Beach, My Super Sweet 16, and the Real World that are supposed to show the “reality” behind living privileged American lifestyles.

=Merger with CBS=



With the merger of CBS and the VIACOM in 1999, a new superpower of media was created. By combining the immense power of both the CBS Corporation, with its variety of business holdings in television, film, music and radio, and combining that with Viacoms interests in television and film as well, observers could have a potential problem with the merger. Having two major media forces combine does create certain issues with its merger.

One issue is that there is a reduced diversity in the number of voices that have control over mass media. With the creation of CBS VIACOM, now a major power in key aspects of media culture is being controlled by 1 board of trustee’s, all who have their own specific agenda, what that is, who knows. For all intensive purposes, they can control the news on the CBS networks, and influence their own political views on the broadcasts, from the nightly news, to even the development or creation of different sitcoms.

This merger is a textbook example of vertical integration, as two companies combine that are in virtually identical market places, as CBS’s television holdings can now be combined with Viacom’s film and television production facilities. This works out well for both CBS and VIACOM, as CBS has greater access to Viacom’s television production and VIACOM can has access to CBS’s television market place. The chance to do collaborative projects between the two groups increases greatly with this merger.

"Viacom." 19 Nov. 2006 .