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Information about Viacom

''This page is about the post-2005 Viacom. For the company known as Viacom prior to 2006 (and now known as CBS Corporation), see Viacom (1971-2005).
Viacom, Inc.
Enlarge picture
Viacom logo
Public (NYSE: VIAB, VNV)
Founded2006[1]
HeadquartersNew York, New York, USA
Key peopleSumner Redstone, Chairman (through National Amusements, owns a controlling amount of voting shares)
Philippe Dauman, President & CEO
IndustryCable TV, Motion Pictures
ProductsMTV, Nickelodeon, BET, more...
Revenue$9.609 Billion USD (2005)[1]
Net income$1.256 Billion USD (2005)
Employees9,500 (2006)
ParentNational Amusements; the company owns a controlling amount of voting share (through New Viacom Corp.)
Websitewww.viacom.com
Viacom (NYSE: VIA) (NYSE: VIAb) is an American media conglomerate with various worldwide interests in cable and satellite television networks (MTV Networks and BET), and movie production and distribution (the Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks movie studios). Sumner Redstone is the Chairman and, through National Amusements, the majority shareholder.

The new Viacom is considered to be the "high-growth" side of the much larger former Viacom. The former Viacom was renamed CBS Corporation, from which this firm was split off on December 31, 2005. CBS, not Viacom, retains control of the over-the-air broadcasting, TV production, and publishing assets formerly owned by the larger company. However, National Amusements remains the common majority shareholder of both firms.

History

In March 2005, the prior Viacom (now known as CBS Corporation) announced plans of looking into splitting the company into two publicly traded companies. The company was not only dealing with a stagnating stock price, but also the rivalry between Leslie Moonves and Tom Freston, longtime heads of CBS and MTV Networks respectively.

After the departure of Mel Karmazin in 2004, Redstone, who served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, decided to split the offices of President and Chief Operating Officer between Moonves and Freston. Redstone was set to retire in the near future, and a split would be a creative solution to the matter of replacing him.

The split was approved by Viacom's board June 14, 2005, approved December 31, 2005, and effectively undid the Viacom/CBS merger of 1999. The original Viacom changed its name to CBS Corporation and is headed by Moonves. It now includes Viacom's "slow growth businesses", namely CBS, The CW (formerly The WB and UPN), CBS Radio, Simon & Schuster, CBS Outdoor, Showtime, CBS Records, CBS Paramount Television and most television production assets.

These, according to some analysts, were suffocating the growth of the MTV Networks cable businesses (the split was structured such that CBS Corporation is actually the company previously known as Viacom). At the time of the split, CBS Corporation was also given control of Paramount Parks. CBS sold Paramount Parks to amusement parks management company Cedar Fair, L.P. on June 30, 2006.

A new company, the present Viacom, was also spun-off and was headed by Freston. It is comprised of MTV Networks, BET Networks, Paramount's movie studio, and Paramount Pictures' home entertainment operations. These businesses are categorized as the high-growth businesses (MTV Networks and BET Networks in particular), and if they were split into a separate company, it could infuse new capital to allow for future acquisitions and expansion.

Sumner Redstone still controls 71 percent of the voting stock of both companies and is the chairman of both companies.

2005

In June, Viacom announced its purchase of Neopets, a virtual pet website. That December, Paramount announced it would acquire DreamWorks. All indications are that the whole of DreamWorks - both live-action film and TV studios, albeit not the DreamWorks archive - which was sold to a group led by George Soros in March 2006 - (nor the animated unit, which was not part of the deal) will remain owned by Viacom, even though CBS acquired Paramount's own TV studio.

2006

On February 1, Paramount completed its long-awaited acquisition of DreamWorks. As of April 24, Viacom has obtained Xfire. In August, just hours before announcing its most recent quarterly earnings, Viacom announced that it had acquired Atom Entertainment for $200 million. In September, Viacom acquired game developer Harmonix for $175 million dollars.

2007

In February, Viacom ordered leaked copyrighted video clips be taken off of the videosharing service YouTube due to claims of noncompensation for the violation of their own copyright. On February 21, Viacom publicly announced they would be offering free online access to their own material through Silicon Valley's distributor Joost thanks to a thorough content licensing deal.

On May 21, Viacom entered into a 50-50 joint venture with Indian media company Global Broadcast News to form Viacom-18 which will house Viacom's existing channels in India - MTV, VH1 and Nick as well as Network 18's Bollywood movie business. All future Viacom content for India and new ventures such as a Hindi entertainment channel and a Hindi movie channel would be housed in this JV.

Copyright complaints against YouTube

In February 2007, Viacom sent upwards of 100,000 DMCA takedown notices to the video-sharing site YouTube, alleging large-scale copyright infringement. Of the 100,000, approximately 70,000 non-infringing videos were erroneously removed under the auspices of copyright infringement.[2].

On March 13, 2007, Viacom filed a US $1 billion lawsuit against Google and YouTube alleging massive copyright infringement, alleging that users frequently uploaded copyrighted material to YouTube - enough to cause a hit in revenue for Viacom and a gain in advertisement revenue for YouTube.[3]

The complaint contends that almost 160,000 unauthorized clips of Viacom’s programming have been available on YouTube and that these clips had been viewed more than 1.5 billion times.

Viacom International

Main article: Viacom International
As with the old Viacom, the current company owns Viacom International, which is the formal owner of copyrights associated with Viacom's corporate website and its cable networks. This division now owns the rights to a majority of Elvis Presley films made for Paramount Pictures, such as Blue Hawaii and King Creole.

It also continues to focus on its own in-house productions made for its various networks (MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, etc.) – these programs include Dora the Explorer, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!, LazyTown, SpongeBob SquarePants, Catscratch, The Hills and Behind The Music.

Corporate governance

The previous board of directors of Viacom were George Abrams, Vincent Erazo, David Andelman, Joseph Califano, Jr., William Cohen, Philippe Dauman, Alan Greenberg, Charles Phillips, Shari Redstone, Sumner Redstone, Frederic Salerno, William Schwartz, and Robert D. Walter.

Following the Viacom/CBS split, the Viacom board consisted of George Abrams, Philippe Dauman, Thomas E. Dooley, Tom Freston, Ellen V. Futter, Robert Kraft, Alan Greenberg, Charles Phillips, Sumner Redstone (Chairman), Shari Redstone (non-executive Vice-Chair), Frederic Salerno, and William Schwartz.

As of September 5, 2006 Tom Freston has resigned from the company. He is replaced by Philippe P. Dauman.

Assets

This is a summary of the main Viacom divisions. For detailed assets see List of assets owned by Viacom.

Footnote

1. ^ Although Viacom was originally founded in 1971 (split from the original CBS Corporation), it was reincorporated in 1986, and the current Viacom was spun off (re-founded) from CBS Corporation (which is, formally, the 1986 Viacom renamed) on January 1 2006.
2. ^ Media Companies Blast YouTube for Anti-Piracy Policy
3. ^ Text of complaint

See also

External links

 •  • [ e]
Cable, satellite, and other speciality television providers in the Americas
CableAdams Cable Advanced Cable Communications Armstrong Telephone Company Alameda Power and Telecom Allegiance Communications Bright House Networks CableOne Cablevision Champion Broadband Charter Communications Comcast Corporation Cox Communications Crestview Cable Fairpoint Communications General Communications Graceba Total Communications Insight Communications King Videocable MCV Broadband Mediacom Midcontinent Communications Millennium Digital Media Northland Cable Television RCN Corporation Rogers Communications Satview Broadband Ltd Seaport Capital Service Electric Suddenlink Communications SuperTV Tele-Communications Inc. Time Warner Cable Truvista Communications Western Broadband WOW! Internet Cable Phone
SatelliteAlphaStar Bell ExpressVu DirecTV Dish Network Glorystar PrimeStar Sky Angel Voom
IPTVAliant TV U-Verse VDC
TerrestrialMulti-Choice TV (Barbados) USDTV
FiberQwest Verizon FiOS




Coordinates:
CBS Corporation

Public (NYSE:  CBS , NYSE:  CBSA )
Founded 1986[1]
Headquarters New York, New York, USA

Key people Sumner Redstone, Chairman (through National Amusements, owns a controlling amount of voting shares)
..... Click the link for more information.
Viacom (pronounced with a long i as in "eye") began life as CBS Films, the television syndication division of CBS. In 1971, the division was renamed VIACOM (VIdeo & Audio COMmunications)
..... Click the link for more information.
A public company usually refers to a company that is permitted to offer its securities (stock, bonds, etc.) for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange.
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New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the "Big Board", is a New York City-based stock exchange. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and, with 2,764 listed securities[1], has the second most securities of all stock exchanges.
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20th century - 21st century - 22nd century
1970s  1980s  1990s  - 2000s -  2010s  2020s  2030s
2003 2004 2005 - 2006 - 2007 2008 2009

2006 by topic:
News by month
Jan - Feb - Mar - Apr - May - Jun
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City of New York
New York City at sunset

Flag
Seal
Nickname: The Big Apple, Gotham, The City that Never Sleeps
Location in the state of New York
Coordinates:
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Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
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Sumner Murray Redstone (born Sumner Murray Rothstein on May 27 1923 in Boston, Massachusetts) is majority owner and Chairman of the Board of the National Amusements theater chain. Through National Amusements, he is majority owner of Midway Games, Viacom and CBS Corporation.
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National Amusements, Inc.

Private
Founded Dedham, Massachusetts (1936)
Founder Michael Redstone
Headquarters Dedham, Massachusetts

Key people Sumner Redstone, Chairman & CEO
Shari Redstone, President
..... Click the link for more information.
Philippe Dauman is the CEO of Viacom. He has served at this post since September of 2006. Dauman is a longtime associate of the company's chairman Sumner Redstone. Dauman served from 1994 to 2000 as a member of Viacom's executive committee and as executive vice president in charge
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Industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent, industrious"), is the segment of economy concerned with production of goods. Industry began in its present form during the 1800s, aided by technological advances, and it has continued to develop to this day.
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cable television into the house.]]

Cable television is a system of providing cocoy television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional
..... Click the link for more information.
Film is a term that encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or special effects.
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Aspinwall Classification System (Leo Aspinwall, 1958) classifies and rates products based on five variables:
  1. Replacement rate (How frequently is the product repurchased?)
  2. Gross margin (How much profit is obtained from each product?)

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Availability
Satellite
DirecTV Channel 331
Dish Network Channel 160
Cable
Available on many cable systems Check local listings for channels

MTV (Music Television) is an American cable television network based in New York City.
..... Click the link for more information.
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV Channel 299/300
Dish Network Channel 170/171
Cable
Available on most cable systems Check local listings for channels

Nickelodeon (commonly referred to as Nick
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Availability
Satellite
DirecTV Channel 329
Dish Network Channel 124
Cable
Available on most cable systems Check local listings for channels

Black Entertainment Television is an American cable network based in Washington, D.C.
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Revenue is a business term for the amount of money that a company receives from its activities in a given period, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers.
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United States dollar
dólar estadounidense (Spanish)
dólar amerikanu (Tetum)
dólar americano
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Net income is equal to the income that a firm has after subtracting costs and expenses from the total revenue. Net income can be distributed among holders of common stock as a dividend or held by the firm as retained earnings.
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United States dollar
dólar estadounidense (Spanish)
dólar amerikanu (Tetum)
dólar americano
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Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has
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worldwide view.


A holding company is a company that owns part, all, or a majority of other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself, rather its only
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National Amusements, Inc.

Private
Founded Dedham, Massachusetts (1936)
Founder Michael Redstone
Headquarters Dedham, Massachusetts

Key people Sumner Redstone, Chairman & CEO
Shari Redstone, President
..... Click the link for more information.
A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN.
..... Click the link for more information.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the "Big Board", is a New York City-based stock exchange. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and, with 2,764 listed securities[1], has the second most securities of all stock exchanges.
..... Click the link for more information.
New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the "Big Board", is a New York City-based stock exchange. It is the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and, with 2,764 listed securities[1], has the second most securities of all stock exchanges.
..... Click the link for more information.
Motto
"In God We Trust"   (since 1956)
"E Pluribus Unum"   ("From Many, One"; Latin, traditional)
Anthem
..... Click the link for more information.
A media conglomerate describes companies that own large numbers of companies in various mass media such as television, radio, publishing, movies, and the Internet.

Terminology


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cable television into the house.]]

Cable television is a system of providing cocoy television to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through fixed optical fibers or coaxial cables as opposed to the over-the-air method used in traditional
..... Click the link for more information.


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