By Amanda Al-Sayah
Viacom
Courtesy of Dailyfinance.com
Viacom Inc.
1515 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
(212) 258-6000
www.viacom.com
@Viacom
Facebook.com/Viacom
Key Executives
Courtesy of IMDB
Sumner M. Redstone: Founder of Viacom and Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. He is also the Executive Chairman of CBS.
Courtesy of allthingsd.com
Philippe Dauman: President and Chief Executive Officer
Courtesy of CNN.com
Thomas E. Dooley: Chief Operating Officer.
Courtesy of poandpo.com
Wade Davis: Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development
Company description:
Viacom, which stands for “Video & Audio Communications”, is a mass media company that encompasses cable television and cinema. It is the fourth-largest media conglomerate. National Amusements, Inc., owns Viacom as well as a stake in CBS Corporation. Viacom owns over 205 television stations many of which are well-known including Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Spike, Vh1, Comedy Central, etc. It also acquired Paramount Pictures which has been successful in movie releases including Bad Grandpa. [6] Viacom’s competitors include Time Warner, NBCUniversal, and Walt Disney, but still dominates in the cable television market.[7]
Since Viacom has been a company for a long time, many of its TV stations are familiar to audiences. This means that Viacom has to make a lot of content across different markets. MTV, which stands for Music Television, was bought in 1986 and still attract a younger generation and it is one of the most watched TV stations by the youth because it brings modern trends to the screen that teenagers tend to follow. Nickelodeon is for a younger crowd and BET, Spike, Comedy Central are for an older generation with more mature content. Nickelodeon’s Spongebob Squarepants is the most watched television show of this fall.
MTV’s popular TV show Headbanger’s Ball in the 1980s-early 90s was a big hit that gave rise to a slew of big name artists in rock and heavy metal including bands such as Skid Row, Pantera, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, Metallica, etc.
Nickelodeon has had many successful cartoons kids’ shows during the 90s
Brief History:
In June of 1971, Viacom became a public company after completing a spin-off from CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System). In 1985, Viacom formed a joint venture with Warner Communications and Warner Amex Cable Communications and acquired 66 percent of MTV Networks. [11] Viacom then merged with Paramount Communications for a deal that was about $10 billion. In 2000, CBS and Viacom merged in a deal for $40 billion and then purchased more assets. Paramount acquired Dreamworks as well and Viacom International Media Networks was created in 2011.
Financials:
Share Price:
Viacom, Inc.
NASDAQ: VIA – Nov 19 3:55 PM ET
79.65+0.01 (0.01%)
[12]
Financials for the last quarter of 2013.
Viacom has had a very successful fourth quarter of 2013. The quarterly revenues are up by 9% and adjusted net earnings by 18%. The media networks quarterly revenues increased by 7% as advertising revenues are up by 10% and operating income increased 11% to $1.04 Billion. Revenues are up by 11% and adjusted operating income grew 49% [14]. These are big numbers for Viacom and are mainly due to increased viewership and ratings. Viacom has had many must-see moments on television during the year. For instance, the incident during the annual MTV Video Music Awards included the infamous moment where singer Miley Cyrus dances inappropriately with Robin Thicke [15]. As preposterous as it sounds, this must-see moment garnered many viewers and it became a viral video as well. Additionally, many new television shows have been successful.
Catfish the TV show, a show about long-distance online relationships, has been successful on MTV.
The Daily show has been a popular show on Comedy Central where Jon Stewart satirizes the acts of the government and it garners many viewers.
Founder Sumner Redstone was very proud of what Viacom had accomplished this semester and said “Viacom’s outstanding performance proved once again the broad global demand for our valuable content. Looking forward, our world-class brands are perfectly positioned to build on this performance and achieve even greater success.” [18]
Redstone is always know for his catchphrase “content is king” meaning that people watch TV not for the TV station but to see great shows that they remember and want to watch more and that’s what makes Viacom successful.
Recent news:
Sony and Viacom Reach Tentative Deal to Stream Cable Channels
Sony’s PlayStation 4 could be used to deliver Sony’s TV service
Courtesy of New York Times
Viacom has agreed to let its popular TV channels such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, etc. to be carried by an internet TV service that Sony is creating which would be the PlayStation 4. This is big news to many gamers or people looking into buying a PlayStation. This could provide large competition for other game consoles that are being released such as the Xbox One and the newer version of the Wii. It could also be big competition for cable and satellite providers and would make them lose customers. It is an innovative idea but it could also be hurtful for the channels because the user can now use Hulu and other such internet TV services instead of watching traditional live television. This agreement would be the first time in which a major programmer and a technology giant try to disrupt the modes of TV delivery and a new era would begin if other programmers do the same. It would be a step closer to cutting the cord. <a href="Viacom has agreed to let its popular TV channels such as MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, etc. to be carried by an internet TV service that Sony is creating which would be the PlayStation 4. This is big news to many gamers or people looking into buying a PlayStation. This could provide large competition for other game consoles that are being released such as the Xbox one and the newer version of the Wii. It could also be big competition for cable and satellite providers and would make them lose customers. It is an innovative idea but it could also be hurtful for the channels because the user can now use Hulu and other such internet TV services instead of watching traditional live television. This agreement would be the first time in which a major programmer and a technology giant try to disrupt the modes of TV delivery and a new era would begin if other programmers do the same. It would be a step closer to cutting the cord. [20]
Nick Cannon hosts fifth annual HALO awards
[21]
Enrique Iglesias, Fall Out Boy, Austin Mahone, Dax Shepard, Darren Criss, Kevin Jonas, Nikki Reed, Chloe Bennet and Jennette McCurdy and others joined host Nick Cannon in honoring four extraordinary teens at the fifth annual TeenNick HALO Awards on Sunday November 17th. The four teens included Miranda Fuentes who was paired with Shay Mitchell, Zachary Kerr who was paired with Josh Hutcherson, Rocio Ortega who was paired with Chris Paul, and Denzel Thompson who was paired with Queen Latifah. The teens were awarded $5000 for their achievements among other awards and enjoyed their times with the celebrity pairings. [22]
Comedy Central acquired @midnight with Chris Hardwick and it is doing very well.
Cablevision sues Viacom for packaging channels
Cablevision released a lawsuit against Viacom in March for basically bundling all its stations and forcing cablevision to buy them all instead of just the well-known ones. Cablevision claims that this is “tying” which is illegal. This is considered an argument that is not very strong because as economists figured out a long time ago, a monopolist can only reap a monopoly profit once. Viacom and other major conglomerates have been doing the same thing for a long time and it is seemingly odd that cablevision is suing them now. It is true that the less popular channels are not garnering views and customers are paying extra for channels they won’t watch but it is the only way that these channels will be able to get the exposure they are getting. [24]
This is a video from Wall Street Journal about Viacom being sued by Cablevision
References:
[1] Viacom Logo
[2] Sumner Redstone photo
[3] Philippe Dauman photo
[4] Thomas E. Dooley photo
[5] Wade Davis photo
[6] Viacom.com overview
[7] Viacom competitors
[8] Viacom assets logos photo
[9] Headbangers Ball photo
[10] Nickelodeon photo
[11] Viacom’s Historical timeline
[12] Share Price for Viacom from Yahoo
[13] Viacom.com financial report for 4th quarter
[14] Viacom.com financial report for 4th quarter
[15] VMAs moment Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke
[16] Catfish TV show photo
[17] The Daily Show photo
[18] Sumner Redstone quote
[19] Summner Redstone video
[20] PlayStation 4 photo
[21] Sony and Viacom Deal Article
[22] Nick Cannon HALO Awards photo
[23] Chris Hardwick photo
[24] Cablevision sues Viacom article
[25] Wall Street Journal video