You never forget your first love.
Deadline reports that CBS and Viacom will merge again after operating as separate entities for nearly thirteen years. The deal will take months to finalize, but once its all done, the newly-named ViacomCBS will enter this new corporate merger world by, you guessed it, gearing up to launch a streaming service!
Board chair Shari Redstone described ViacomCBS as “a world-class, multiplatform media organization that is well-positioned for growth in a rapidly transforming industry.” She isn’t joking either, as Deadline also had this handy infographic that outlines the dominance ViacomCBS will have on the television side.
The CW, CBS, Showtime, The Paramount Network, Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, VH1, Comedy Central, Pop, and Pluto TV all under one corporation. It’s a powerhouse of popular TV channels, strengthened by Paramount Pictures, one of the last remaining major movie studios.
Now while Deadline doesn’t explicitly mention ViacomCBS launching a streaming service, The Verge says the corporation “will be able to offer a library of more than 140,000 TV episodes and more than 3,600 movies”, including the Transformers franchise.
Now CBS already has a streaming service, CBS All Access, and Showtime has its own subscription service as well, so it will be interesting to see if ViacomCBS expands and renames CBS All Access, or if it will be an add-on like Hulu will be for Disney+.
I have no opinion on this merger, beyond the fact that I’m just glad shit isn’t going to Disney or WarnerMedia. I’d rather two medium companies merge to create one larger company just so they can stand toe-to-toe with Disney’s massive empire.
I’m not sure they will succeed with a streaming service, but Paramount does have some great franchises like Transformers, Mission: Impossible, and G.I. Joe (which is getting a Snake Eyes spinoff) that they could mine for streaming.
Oh, and Star Trek will finally be reunited after the film and TV rights split apart when Viacom and CBS first separated. So for all you Trekkies out there, I guess this is a pretty big day for you, eh?
What are your thoughts on the ViacomCBS merger? Does it even matter when there are larger heavy hitters like Disney/Fox, WarnerMedia, and NBCUniversal to contend with?
