Viacom
Headquarters:
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
Phone: (212) 258-6000
Employees: 10,800
CEO: Philippe Dauman
Stock Symbol: VIA
Website:
http://www.viacom.com
Career Site
Viacom is a leading media company owning
some of the world's best-known cable networks including MTV,
VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, BET, Spike TV, TV Land and
CMT. The company operates more than 130 networks around the world
and also owns movie studio Paramount Pictures.
Viacom is led by 83-year old Sumner Redstone,
who became Chairman when his company National Amusements acquired
a controlling interest in Viacom in 1987. National Amusements
is the parent company of Viacom and operates 1,400 movie screens
in the U.S.
Viacom spun off CBS on January 1, 2006.
CBS is now a separate corporation with its own stock and is made
up of the CBS television network, CBS television stations, CBS
Radio, CBS Outdoor, Simon & Schuster and Paramount Parks.
In 2007, Viacom had total revenues of $13.42
billion, up 18% from the previous year, and net income of $1.83
billion.
History
Viacom originated as CBS Films,
the television syndication division of CBS. In 1971, the division
was renamed VIACOM (Video & Audio Communications),
and in 1973 it was spun off, amid new FCC rules forbidding television
networks from owning syndication companies (the rules were later
repented).
In 1985, Viacom bought Warner-Amex Satellite
Entertainment, which owned MTV and Nickelodeon, renaming the
company MTV Networks. Viacom also received Showtime Networks,
Inc. (which included Showtime and The Movie Channel), which has
retained its original name, Showtime Networks, Inc. In 1986,
Viacom was bought by movie theater owner National Amusements,
which brought Sumner Redstone to the company. Redstone made a
string of large acquisitions in the early 1990s, announcing plans
to buy Paramount Communications, parent of Paramount Pictures,
in 1993, and buying the Blockbuster Video chain in 1994.
The Blockbuster acquisition gave Viacom
access to large television holdings controlled by Aaron Spelling's
company, Spelling Entertainment; along with his own productions
(such as The Love Boat and Beverly Hills 90210), Spelling controlled
the pre-1973 ABC and NBC back catalogs by way of Worldvision
Enterprises and Republic Pictures. After these acquisitions,
Viacom owned many movie and television production and syndication
units, which were slowly integrated into Paramount; many TV shows
previously distributed by Viacom, Republic or Worldvision have
since gained Paramount closing logos.
In 1999, Viacom made what has been its
biggest acquisition so far, by announcing plans to buy its former
parent CBS. The merger was approved in 2000, bringing cable channels
TNN (now Spike TV) and Country Music Television (CMT) under Viacom's
wing, as well as CBS's production units and TV syndicators Eyemark
(formerly Group W) and King World. As of this writing, CBS's
production unit and King World (which has since absorbed Eyemark)
are operating under their own names, as parts of CBS, and no
attempt has been made thus far to move them around in Viacom's
corporate structure; however, TNN and CMT were merged into MTV
Networks almost immediately.
In 2005, Viacom spun off CBS as a separate
corporation.
Updated August 4, 2008
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