The Electric Barbarellas were an American all-female electropop group whose career with producer Midi Mafia was depicted in a short-lived, critically panned, eponymous reality show that ran for one season on MTV .
84-506: In 2010, Viacom CEO Sumner Redstone personally paid over $ 500,000 to fly the group to New York to meet with record labels while filming a reality-TV series based on the trip, after asking then-Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman to give one of his romantic pursuits an MTV series. Redstone then forced Viacom-owned MTV to air the series. MTV executives originally balked at airing it because it was "so bad" but their resistance almost cost MTV's then-CEO Judy McGrath her job. Les Moonves also arranged for
168-401: A Hindi entertainment channel and a Hindi movie channel would be housed in this joint venture. On December 19, 2007, Viacom signed a five-year, $ 500 million contract with Microsoft that included content sharing and advertisement. The deal allowed Microsoft to license many shows from Viacom owned cable television and film studios for use on Xbox Live and MSN . The deal also made Viacom
252-401: A portmanteau of Video & Audio Communications), was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate with interests primarily in film and television . It was established on December 31, 2005, as one of two companies which succeeded the original Viacom , alongside the second CBS Corporation . The controlling shareholder of both companies was National Amusements ,
336-481: A 15.4% stake in the company for $ 2.6 billion. Nexstar announced on August 15 that it would acquire a 75% majority share in The CW; the remaining 25% would be shared equally by Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery. As the deal did not require any regulatory approvals (unlike the "Big Four" networks, which includes CBS, The CW does not directly own any of its stations), Nexstar immediately took operational control of
420-618: A 30% ownership stake in the Rainbow S.p.A. animation studio. CBS Corporation retained the over-the-air broadcasting, television production, pay television subscription service, and publishing assets, which were previously owned by the first Viacom. The second Viacom was the world's ninth-largest media company in terms of revenue and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan , New York City . Viacom would announce its second merger with CBS Corporation on August 13, 2019. The merger
504-632: A 45-day window to shop for matching or superior offers from other bidders. Redstone will receive $ 2.4 billion for her share in National Amusements. If Paramount were to find a better offer, Skydance would be entitled to a $ 400 million breakup fee payout from the company. Skydance's executive team supported the potential sale of several Paramount assets which were deemed "not strategic" to their plans, including BET and others. In August 2024, Paramount announced it would lay off 15% of its U.S. workforce, amounting to about 2,000 employees. The cuts came as
588-416: A 49% minority stake in film studio Miramax from beIN Media Group for $ 379 million. As part of the purchase, Paramount Pictures reached a long-term deal for exclusive distribution rights to its library, and first-look agreements to co-develop new film and television projects based on Miramax-owned properties. On March 2, 2020, executive vice president Dana McClintock announced that he would depart
672-649: A co-owner of Rainbow S.p.A. , an Italian television studio best known for the Winx Club franchise. Since the purchase, Viacom's Nickelodeon networks have broadcast Rainbow's shows worldwide. Nickelodeon's American studios have also collaborated with Rainbow on multiple productions, including Winx Club and Club 57 . Later, in October 2011, Viacom purchased a majority stake in Bellator Fighting Championships . Spike TV started to air Bellator in 2013, after
756-428: A dividend. The second Viacom was created by Redstone and headed by Freston. It consisted of BET Networks , MTV Networks, and Paramount Pictures . It started trading on January 3, 2006. In June 2005, Viacom announced its purchase of Neopets , a virtual pet website, along with GameTrailers , GoCityKids, and iFilm . That December, Paramount announced it would acquire DreamWorks Pictures . All indications were that
840-519: A history of being associated with one another through a series of various corporate mergers and splits. Paramount Pictures was founded in 1912 as the Famous Players Film Company . CBS was founded in 1927, which Paramount Pictures held a 49 percent ownership stake in from 1929 to 1932. In 1952, CBS formed CBS Television Film Sales, a division which handled syndication rights for CBS's library of network-owned television series. This division
924-422: A hit in revenue for Viacom and a gain in advertisement revenue for YouTube. The complaint contended that almost 160,000 unauthorized clips of Viacom's programming were made available on YouTube and that these clips had collectively been viewed more than 1.5 billion times. In July 2008, the case generated controversy when District Judge Louis Stanton ruled that YouTube was required to hand over data detailing
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#17330924140801008-527: A letter to Viacom and CBS Corporation , encouraging the two companies to merge back into one company. On December 12, the deal was called off. On January 12, 2018, CNBC reported that Viacom had re-entered talks to merge back into CBS Corporation after the AT&;T - Time Warner merger was planned, as well as Disney 's proposed acquisition of most 21st Century Fox assets and heavy competition from companies such as Netflix and Amazon . Shortly afterward, it
1092-497: A marketing division, Viacom Velocity. On April 1, 2014, Cable One removed 15 channels owned by Viacom (MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, and TV Land ) off after the two companies failed to reach an agreement. Channels were replaced with other networks, including BBC America , Sprout , Sundance TV , IFC , Investigation Discovery , TV One , CMP/TV, National Geographic Channel , and TheBlaze . The change has been deemed permanent. On May 1, 2014, Viacom announced it had agreed to take over
1176-618: A motion for summary judgment , holding that Google was protected by provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act , notwithstanding evidence of intentional copyright infringement. Viacom announced its intention to appeal the ruling. On April 5, 2012, the ruling was overturned by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit . Writing for a two-judge panel (because Judge Roger Miner had died while
1260-489: A new proposal and a request to continue broadcasting 17 of Viacom's television networks (including Nickelodeon, MTV, Logo , and Comedy Central ) during talks, but received no response and thus Viacom ceased transmission to DirecTV's 20 million subscribers. On July 11, in a counter response to DirecTV advising its subscribers to view original programming from the affected networks online, Viacom scaled back access to recent episodes of Viacom-owned program content available to
1344-612: A preferred publisher partner for casual game development and distribution through MSN and Windows . On the advertisement side of the deal, Microsoft's Atlas ad-serving division became the exclusive provider of previously unsold advertising inventory on Viacom owned websites. Also, Microsoft purchased a large amount of advertising on Viacom owned broadcasts and online networks. Finally, Microsoft would also collaborate on promotions and sponsorships for MTV and BET award shows, two Viacom-owned cable networks. On December 4, 2008, Viacom announced layoffs of 850 personnel, or 7% of their workforce. At
1428-438: A presentation to investors, ViacomCBS announced that it would change its name to Paramount Global beginning the following day; in a memo to staff announcing the change, it was stated that the rebranding was intended to leverage the "iconic global name", and would "reflect who we are, what we aspire to be, and all that we stand for". The company primarily does business as simply "Paramount". In May 2022, Berkshire Hathaway acquired
1512-422: A result of a $ 6 billion write-down on its cable TV networks. This included the shutdown of Paramount Television Studios . The following month, Paramount sold Vidcon to UK firm Informa . In November 2024, it was reported that Shari Redstone would leave Paramount Global after the company completed its planned merger with Skydance Media. The merged entity will see David Ellison, founder of Skydance Media, assume
1596-520: A sale of the BET Media Group to buyers led by BET CEO Scott Mills for $ 1.6-$ 1.7 billion. On July 7, 2024, Paramount's board approved the deal to merge with Skydance. Under the final deal, which has an enterprise value of $ 28 billion, Ellison would be appointed as Chairman and CEO of what is currently being called "New Paramount" and former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell would become company president. Before finalization, Paramount Global would retain
1680-538: A substantial loss. By May 17, Sony and Apollo signed non-disclosure agreements allowing them to investigate Paramount's private financial information, further progressing their bid. However, at that time, the companies were reportedly backing away from their all-cash offer and were re-thinking their approach to a deal for the company's assets. In late May, Skydance would revise its offer to acquire National Amusements, paying $ 2.25 billion and stipulating that Paramount's shareholders would receive $ 4.5 billion in cash, with
1764-522: A theater company headed by businessman Sumner Redstone . The split was structured so that the original Viacom changed its name to CBS Corporation and spun out its cable and film interests as a new Viacom. The second Viacom operated Viacom Media Networks , through which it controlled approximately 170 networks and reached approximately 700 million subscribers in approximately 160 countries. Viacom's studio assets included Paramount Pictures , MTV Films , and Nickelodeon Animation Studio , as well as
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#17330924140801848-518: A three-way transaction between the companies. On April 18, it was reported that Sony Pictures was interested in acquiring Paramount Global through a joint buyout with Apollo. On April 29, 2024, Bob Bakish stepped down from his role as President and CEO. He was replaced by an office of the CEO, led by Brian Robbins , George Cheeks, and Chris McCarthy . The Los Angeles Times characterized this as an ouster by Redstone due to Bakish's reported opposition of
1932-552: Is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Times Square , Midtown Manhattan . The company was formed on December 4, 2019, as ViacomCBS through the merger of the second incarnations of CBS Corporation and Viacom (which were split from the original Viacom on December 31, 2005). The company took its current name on February 16, 2022. Paramount's main properties include
2016-459: The CBS Studio Center to Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management for $ 1.85 billion. On January 5, 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia (whose then-owner AT&T was selling it to Discovery to form Warner Bros. Discovery ) were exploring a possible sale of either a majority stake or all of The CW , and that Nexstar Media Group
2100-593: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC). On October 28, 2019, the merger was approved by National Amusements, which then announced the deal would close in early December; the recombined company trades its shares on Nasdaq under the symbols "VIAC" and "VIACA" after CBS Corporation delisted its shares on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). On November 25, 2019, Viacom and CBS announced the merger would close on December 4 and begin trading on NASDAQ on
2184-469: The Barbarellas were "singing wildly off pitch" in that Late Late Show appearance and that Moonves "dreaded" the requests by Redstone to promote the group on CBS. Two years later, Naylor hired Joe Simpson (father of Ashlee and Jessica Simpson ) to audition new members for the group, under the new name The Alectrix. Again, the ordeal was filmed as a reality-TV series and aired on MTV. And again, soon after
2268-454: The British broadcaster Channel 5 from Northern & Shell , the media group owned by the British newspaper publisher Richard Desmond . Viacom becomes the first American media company to take over a British broadcaster with a public service remit. The purchase of Channel 5 closed on September 10, 2014. On October 1, 2014, Suddenlink Communications , removed channels owned by Viacom off after
2352-546: The CBS-branded assets. However, on August 7, 2019, both CBS and Viacom delayed their merger announcement as the two companies reported the quarterly earnings, though the talks about the re-merger continues. On August 13, 2019, CBS and Viacom officially announced their merger; CBS would purchase Viacom and change its name to ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global ). Bakish would become president and CEO of ViacomCBS with Ianniello serving as chairman and CEO of CBS, where he would oversee
2436-450: The CBS-branded assets. Shari Redstone would also serve as chairwoman of the new company. On October 29, 2019, National Amusements approved the re-merger deal and expected to close the deal in early December with the recombined company trading its shares on Nasdaq under the symbols "VIAC" and "VIACA". On December 4, the deal was completed. In February 2007, Viacom sent upwards of 100,000 Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices to
2520-992: The Middle East, Greece, and Turkey. On August 4, 2020, ViacomCBS announced that the company's connected video advertising platform, EyeQ, is set to launch in fall 2020. On September 14, 2020, ViacomCBS announced an agreement to sell the CBSi-owned CNET Media Group to Red Ventures for $ 500 million. The deal included the eponymous CNET tech site, as well as ZDNet , GameSpot , the TV Guide digital assets, Metacritic , and Chowhound . The deal closed on October 30, 2020. On November 17, 2020, various news outlets reported that companies such as Vivendi , Bertelsmann 's Penguin Random House and News Corp 's HarperCollins had considered acquiring Simon & Schuster for as much as $ 1.7 billion. ViacomCBS had expected
2604-476: The Skydance deal. McCarthy was legally designated the company's "interim principal executive officer" in order to comply with SEC regulations stipulating that one person must conduct "the normal course of business". On May 2, Sony and Apollo submitted a non-binding offer to Paramount for a $ 26 billion all-cash offer, with terms unclear at that point. Skydance's exclusive negotiation window ended on May 3, 2024 and
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2688-621: The United Kingdom's Channel 5 , and Australia's Network 10 . From 2011 to 2023, the division also owned a 30% stake in the Italian Rainbow S.p.A. studio. As of 2019, the company operates over 170 networks and reaches approximately 700 million subscribers in 180 countries. In 2024, National Amusements held talks for a potential merger or acquisition of Paramount Global, with Warner Bros. Discovery , Sony Pictures , Apollo Global Management , and Skydance Media all considering acquiring
2772-492: The Viacom board appointed Bob Bakish as acting CEO. His appointment as president and CEO was made permanent on December 12, 2016. In November 2017, Viacom announced the opening of a new digital content division named Viacom Digital Studios. The company has hired former AwesomenessTV chief business officer Kelly Day to lead the studio. Day began her duties on November 20. In February 2018, Viacom announced their plans to acquire
2856-410: The Viacom deal, such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate or Sony Pictures . Moonves also considered Bakish a threat because he did not want an ally of Redstone as a board member of the combined company. On September 9, 2018, Moonves left CBS after being accused by twelve women of sexual assault. National Amusements agreed to not propose a CBS-Viacom merger for at least two years after the date of
2940-430: The Viacom deal, such as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate, or Sony Pictures . Moonves also considered Bakish a threat because he did not want an ally of Shari Redstone as a board member of the combined company. On September 9, 2018, Les Moonves exited CBS Corporation following multiple accusations of sexual assault. National Amusements agreed to not propose a CBS Corporation-Viacom merger for at least two years after
3024-828: The Viacom/CBS split, the Viacom board consisted of George S. Abrams, Philippe Dauman, Thomas E. Dooley , 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 2010, the Board consisted of George Abrams, Philippe Dauman, Thomas E. Dooley, Alan Greenberg, Robert Kraft , Blythe McGarvie , Bob Bakish , Charles Phillips , Shari E. Redstone, Sumner Redstone , Frederic Salerno, and William Schwartz. More than 400,000 television service subscribers. Paramount Global Paramount Global (also known simply as Paramount )
3108-489: The bids to be placed before November 26. On November 25, 2020, Penguin Random House agreed to purchase Simon & Schuster for $ 2.175 billion; however, the deal was blocked two years later by U.S. federal judge Florence Y. Pan . On August 16, 2021, ViacomCBS announced that they had agreed to sell the CBS Building to the real estate investment and management firm Harbor Group International for $ 760 million, leasing
3192-516: The company after 27 years in CBS Communications. On March 4, the company announced plans to potentially sell its Simon & Schuster publishing unit, with Bakish arguing that it lacked a "significant connection for our broader business". On June 19, 2020, Jaime Ondarza, formerly the senior vice president of Turner Broadcasting South Europe and Africa, became the new head of ViacomCBS Networks International for France, Spain, Portugal, Italy,
3276-447: The company and forcing a merger that was not supported by CBS or Viacom . CBS also accused Redstone of discouraging Verizon Communications from acquiring it, which could have been beneficial to its shareholders. On May 23, 2018, Les Moonves explained that he considered the Viacom channels to be an "albatross," and while he favored more content for CBS All Access (now Paramount+), he believed that there were better deals for CBS than
3360-472: The company and forcing a merger that was not supported by it or Viacom . CBS Corporation also accused Redstone of discouraging Verizon Communications from acquiring it, which could have been beneficial to its shareholders. On May 23, 2018, Les Moonves explained that he considered the Viacom channels to be an " albatross ," and while he favored more content for CBS All Access (now Paramount+), he believed that there were better deals for CBS Corporation than
3444-407: The company taking $ 1.5 billion in debt reduction funds, which The Wall Street Journal reported an independent committee representing Paramount had ultimately recommended. By June 3, Paramount and Skydance had agreed to terms of a merger. A final deal was expected to be announced in the coming days. However, at that point, Redstone's National Amusements had not formally approved the deal. Redstone
The Electric Barbarellas - Misplaced Pages Continue
3528-467: The company. By June 3, Paramount reportedly agreed to merger terms with Skydance. However, by June 11, merger talks between Paramount and Skydance had fallen apart, resulting in the proposed merger being called off. The companies would later re-negotiate the deal, and on July 2, 2024, Skydance reached a preliminary agreement to acquire National Amusements and merge with Paramount to create "New Paramount". Paramount Pictures , CBS , and Viacom each had
3612-559: The date of the settlement. On May 30, 2019, CNBC reported that CBS Corporation and Viacom would explore merger discussions in mid-June 2019. CBS Corporation's board of directors was revamped with people who were open to merging; the re-merger was made possible with the resignation of Moonves, who had opposed all merger attempts. The talks had started following rumors of CBS Corporation acquiring Starz from Lionsgate. Reports said that CBS Corporation and Viacom reportedly set August 8 as an informal deadline for reaching an agreement to recombine
3696-401: The deal was called off. On January 12, 2018, CNBC reported that Viacom had re-entered talks to merge back into CBS Corporation, after the merger of AT&T and Time Warner and Disney 's proposed acquisition of most of 21st Century Fox 's assets were announced. Viacom and CBS Corporation also faced heavy competition from companies such as Netflix and Amazon . Shortly afterward, it
3780-462: The end of the year, Time Warner Cable (along with partner Bright House Networks ) and Viacom's MTV Networks could not come to terms for the renewal of any Viacom channel beyond the end of year. Time Warner Cable's operations include New York City and Los Angeles, with Bright House including the Tampa Bay and Orlando markets, both top-20 markets. This blackout was narrowly avoided when a zero-hour deal
3864-557: The internet video conference VidCon in an effort to reach out to youth audiences (in a similar way to Viacom's Nickelodeon and MTV channels). In the same month, Viacom announced that they would launch an official Viacom streaming service in fall 2018, in another effort by Bakish to revitalize the company. This streaming service would support ads (similar to Hulu) and was expected to include television series from Viacom Media Networks that have not been available on other services, such as Hulu or Amazon Prime Video . Bakish has stated that
3948-870: The namesake Paramount Pictures film and television studio, the CBS Entertainment (consisting of the CBS and partially owned The CW television networks and television stations , BET Media Group (which oversees the BET and VH1 channels, among others), and other CBS-branded assets), CBS Media Networks (consisting of U.S.-based cable television networks including MTV , Nickelodeon , Comedy Central , CMT , Paramount Network , and Showtime ) and Paramount Streaming (including Paramount+ and Pluto TV ). It also has an international division that manages international versions of its pay TV networks, as well as region-specific assets including Argentina's Telefe , Chile's Chilevisión ,
4032-407: The near future, and a split was seen as a creative solution to the matter of replacing him. It was also intended to provide alternative investments that would be more appealing to investors: one a high cash flow, lower growth company that could afford to pay a substantial dividend and the other a growing company that would have greater investment opportunities and therefore would not be expected to pay
4116-530: The network on the same day. The deal was closed on October 3, with CEO Mark Pedowitz stepping down and Dennis Miller taking Pedowitz's role as president of The CW. Paramount's CBS News and Stations unit announced on May 5, 2023, that its eight CW stations would become independent on September 1, per the Nexstar buyout deal. On August 7, Paramount announced that it had agreed to sell Simon & Schuster to private equity firm KKR for $ 1.6 billion in cash. The sale
4200-482: The next day. On December 4, 2019, Bakish confirmed that the ViacomCBS merger had closed. On December 10, 2019, days after the merger, Bakish announced that ViacomCBS would look to divest Black Rock , the building that held CBS's headquarters since 1964. He stated, "Black Rock is not an asset we need to own and we believe that money would be put to better use elsewhere." On December 20, 2019, ViacomCBS agreed to acquire
4284-472: The re-combined company. Viacom rejected the offer as being too low, requesting an increase of $ 2.8 billion, and requesting that Bob Bakish be maintained as president and COO under Moonves. It was reported that these conflicts had resulted from Shari Redstone seeking more control over CBS and its leadership. Eventually, on May 14, 2018, CBS Corporation sued its and Viacom's parent company National Amusements and accused Redstone of abusing her voting power in
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#17330924140804368-585: The rights to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) library ended in 2012. On December 1, 2011, the company stopped trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and began listing its securities on Nasdaq instead. The stock ticker symbols are the same as that used while the company was on the NYSE. On July 10, 2012, during contract negotiations over raising carrier rates the U.S. satellite TV provider, DirecTV 's executives approached Viacom with
4452-401: The running. On June 11, National Amusements announced they had failed to reach an agreement with Skydance to acquire Paramount. By July 2, 2024, Skydance renegotiated the deal and reached a preliminary agreement to acquire National Amusements and merge with Paramount. The deal was referred by National Amusements to Paramount's special committee. Also, Paramount reportedly entered talks for
4536-540: The series ended, the group faded quickly into obscurity. Later, Naylor was sued by Sumner Redstone's girlfriend Sydney Holland for allegedly stealing her laptop. Naylor counter-sued, claiming Holland negatively influenced Redstone to intentionally interfere with the success of The Alectrix, however Naylor eventually dropped the lawsuit. Viacom (2005%E2%80%932019) The second phase of Viacom Inc. ( / ˈ v aɪ ə k ɒ m / VY -ə-kom or / ˈ v iː ə k ɒ m / VEE -ə-kom ;
4620-528: The series to be promoted on CBS, as a favor to Redstone. The series ended with a phone call from a record executive provoking much shrieking, but the group quickly faded into obscurity once the show ended. The group performed the song "Without You" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on May 27, 2011. In their 2023 book Unscripted: The Epic Battle for a Media Empire and the Redstone Family Legacy , James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams said that
4704-509: The settlement. On May 30, 2019, CNBC reported that CBS and Viacom would explore merger discussions in mid-June 2019. CBS's board of directors was revamped with people who were open to a merger. The re-merger was made possible with the resignation of Moonves (who opposed all attempts for a Viacom merger). The talks had started following rumors of CBS acquiring Starz from Lionsgate. Reports say that CBS and Viacom reportedly set August 8 as an informal deadline for reaching an agreement to recombine
4788-459: The space back under a short-term lease. On September 28, 2021, ViacomCBS announced that they had agreed to partner with software and data firm VideoAmp. On October 28, 2021, ViacomCBS announced that they had agreed to acquire a majority stake in the Spanish-language content producer TeleColombia & Estudios TeleMexico. On November 30, 2021, ViacomCBS announced that they had agreed to sell
4872-422: The streaming service would serve as a "complement" to OTT MVPDs , rather than a replacement. In April 2018, Viacom hosted its first presentation at the annual Digital Content NewFronts, where they announced new original content for sites such as Facebook , Twitter , and Snapchat . They also announced the expansion of VidCon to London in 2019 at the same conference. On July 25, 2018, Viacom announced that it
4956-651: The studio. On March 30, 2018, CBS Corporation made an all-stock offer slightly below Viacom's market value, insisting that its existing leadership, including long-time chairman and CEO Les Moonves , oversee the re-combined company. Viacom rejected the offer as too low, requesting a $ 2.8 billion increase and that Bob Bakish be maintained as president and COO under Moonves. These conflicts had resulted from Shari Redstone seeking more control over CBS Corporation and its leadership. Eventually, on May 14, 2018, CBS Corporation sued its and Viacom's parent company National Amusements and accused Redstone of abusing her voting power in
5040-404: The talks about the re-merger continued. On August 13, 2019, CBS and Viacom officially announced their merger; the combined company was to be named ViacomCBS, with Shari Redstone serving as chair. Upon the merger agreement, Viacom and CBS jointly announced that the transaction is expected to close by the end of 2019, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals. The merger required approval by
5124-746: The trial was pending) of the Second Circuit , Judge José A. Cabranes concluded that "a reasonable jury could find that YouTube had actual knowledge or awareness of specific infringing activity on its website". Eric Goldman , a professor at the Santa Clara University School of Law , expressed concern that the ruling would negatively affect startups , by making them "more hair-trigger on taking down news or content, for fear that failure to do so will be held against them by content providers". On April 18, 2013, Judge Stanton issued another order granting summary judgment in favor of YouTube. An appeal
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#17330924140805208-699: The two companies failed to reach an agreement. Channels were replaced with other networks including Sprout, FXX , Pivot , Uplifting Entertainment , Investigation Discovery, Oprah Winfrey Network , Women's Entertainment , and TheBlaze. On August 20, 2016, a settlement between Sumner and Shari Redstone and Philippe Dauman was reached that would have him resign as chief executive officer and be replaced with Thomas E. Dooley as interim CEO. Dauman would continue to serve as chairman until September 13. On May 25, 2017, Viacom channels returned to Suddenlink after nearly 3 years of absence. In November 2016, Viacom bought Argentine television network Telefe . In December 2016,
5292-570: The two media companies. CBS Corporation announced its plans to acquire Viacom as part of the re-merger deal for up to $ 15.4 billion. On August 2, 2019, it was reported that CBS Corporation and Viacom agreed to merge back into one entity, with both companies agreeing on the management team for the merger. Bob Bakish would serve as CEO of the combined company with the president and acting CEO of CBS Corporation, Joseph Ianniello , overseeing CBS Corporation-branded assets. On August 7, 2019, CBS and Viacom separately reported their quarterly earnings as
5376-407: The two media companies. CBS announced to acquire Viacom as part of the re-merger deal for up to $ 15.4 billion. On August 2, 2019, it was reported that CBS and Viacom agreed to merge back into one entity. Both companies came to an agreement on the management team for its merger with Bakish serving as CEO of the combined company and president and acting CEO of CBS, as Joseph Ianniello oversees
5460-579: The video-sharing service YouTube for copyright reasons. On February 21, Viacom publicly announced they would be offering free online access to their material through Silicon Valley's distributor Joost . On May 21, 2007, Viacom entered into a 50–50 joint venture with Indian media company Network 18 to form Viacom 18 which would house Viacom's existing channels in India: MTV , VH1 and Nickelodeon as well as Network 18's Bollywood movie business. All future Viacom content for India and new ventures such as
5544-434: The video-sharing site YouTube . Of the 100,000 notices, approximately 60–70 non-infringing videos were removed under the auspices of copyright infringement. On March 13, 2007, Viacom filed a US$ 1 billion legal claim ( Viacom International Inc. v. YouTube, Inc. ) against Google and YouTube alleging massive copyright infringement , alleging that users frequently uploaded copyrighted material to YouTube—enough to cause
5628-450: The viewing habits of every user who had ever watched videos on the site. Judge Stanton rejected Viacom's request for YouTube to hand over the source code of its search engine system, saying that the code was a trade secret . Google and Viacom later agreed to allow Google to anonymize all the data before handing it over to Viacom. On June 23, 2010, Judge Stanton ruled in Google's favor in
5712-410: The websites of its networks. Viacom described this as a "temporary slimdown" until a new carriage deal with DirecTV was reached. Viacom and DirecTV reached an agreement on July 20 to return the interrupted programming. In 2012 CEO Phillip Dauman began to report Viacom's intentions to bundle past programming and make it available on-demand via services like Hulu. On January 22, 2014, Viacom established
5796-788: The whole of DreamWorks—both live-comedy film and television 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)—would remain owned by Viacom, even though CBS Corporation acquired Paramount's television studio . In February 2006, Paramount completed the acquisition of DreamWorks. On April 24, Viacom obtained Xfire . In August, Viacom announced that it had acquired Atom Entertainment for $ 200 million. In September, Viacom acquired game developer Harmonix for $ 175 million. In February 2007, Viacom ordered leaked copyrighted video clips be taken off
5880-496: Was acquired by theater operator company National Amusements . Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures was acquired by Gulf and Western Industries in 1966, which then re-branded itself as Paramount Communications in 1989. Viacom then purchased Paramount Communications in 1994. In 1999, Viacom made its biggest acquisition to date by announcing plans to merge with its former parent CBS Corporation (the renamed Westinghouse Electric Corporation , which had merged with CBS in 1995). The merger
5964-591: Was begun, but the week before the parties were to appear in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a settlement was announced, and it was reported that no money changed hands. Viacom and its alternative name B_Viacom have since taken to removing videos or blocked countries themselves. The previous board of directors of Viacom were George S. Abrams, David Andelman, Joseph Califano, Jr. , William Cohen , Philippe Dauman , Alan C. Greenberg , Charles Phillips , Shari Redstone , Sumner Redstone (deceased), Frederic Salerno, William Schwartz, and Robert D. Walter . Following
6048-494: Was completed in 2000, resulting in CBS reuniting with its former syndication division. On December 31, 2005, Viacom was split into two companies: CBS Corporation , the former's corporate successor, and the spun-off Viacom company. On September 29, 2016, National Amusements , the parent company of CBS Corporation and Viacom, wrote to Viacom and CBS Corporation encouraging the two companies to merge back into one company. On December 12,
6132-402: Was completed on December 4, resulting in the creation of ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global ). In March 2005, the first Viacom announced plans of exploring the option of splitting the company into two publicly traded companies because of a stagnating stock price and the rivalry between Les Moonves and Tom Freston , longtime heads of CBS and MTV Networks , respectively. Also, the company
6216-459: Was completed on October 30. On December 20, 2023, it was reported by Axios and The New York Times that David Zaslav , CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, had met with Bob Bakish and had discussed a possible merger. Spokespeople for the two companies stated that the talks were preliminary and may not resulted in a deal, while Fox Business reported via internal sources that Zaslav was "not in deal mode". On January 10, 2024, National Amusements
6300-469: Was considered a leading bidder. Reports indicated that ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia could include a contractual commitment that would require any new owner to buy new programming from those companies, allowing them to reap some continual revenue through the network. Then-network president/CEO Mark Pedowitz confirmed talks of a potential sale in a memo to CW staffers, but added that "It's too early to speculate what might happen." On February 15, 2022, during
6384-467: Was facing issues after MTV was banned from producing any more Super Bowl halftime shows after the Super Bowl Halftime Show controversy in 2004. After the departure of Mel Karmazin in 2004, Sumner 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
6468-472: Was in talks to acquire AwesomenessTV for a fraction of the company's $ 650 million valuation in 2016. Two days later on July 27, Viacom officially acquired the company for $ 25 million. Jordan Levin would leave his position as CEO of AwesomenessTV following the acquisition. In January 2019, it was announced that Viacom has acquired Internet television streaming service, Pluto TV for $ 340 million. On September 29, 2016, National Amusements sent
6552-520: Was not renewed, although the company was still interested in buying Paramount. The following day, Paramount's board members met, considering a "go-shop" approach for other such offers; it was ultimately decided that they would begin negotiations regarding Sony and Apollo's offer while still holding non-exclusive talks with Skydance. That same day, Berkshire Hathaway's Warren Buffett stated in an annual meeting that he had sold all of his shares in Paramount at
6636-515: Was reached shortly after midnight on January 1, 2009. On December 7, 2009, Viacom sold its stake in MTV Brasil to Grupo Abril along with rights to the brand. Details on the deal were not disclosed. In February 2011, Hulu and Viacom announced the return of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report to Hulu, along with shows from the Viacom library. Nickelodeon 's shows are not part of this deal. Also that month, Viacom became
6720-560: Was renamed CBS Films in 1958, again renamed CBS Enterprises in January 1968, and finally renamed Viacom (an acronym of Video and Audio Communications) in 1970. In 1971, this syndication division was spun off amid new FCC rules forbidding television networks from owning syndication companies (these rules were eventually abolished completely in 1993). In 1986, Viacom purchased MTV Networks and Showtime/The Movie Channel Inc. from Warner Communications and American Express . In 1987, Viacom
6804-725: Was reported that the combined company could be a suitor for acquiring the film studio Lionsgate . Viacom and Lionsgate were both interested in acquiring The Weinstein Company (TWC) in the wake of sexual abuse allegations against Harvey Weinstein . Viacom was listed as one of 22 potential buyers that were interested in acquiring TWC. They lost the bid, and on March 1, 2018, it was announced that Maria Contreras-Sweet would acquire all of TWC's assets for $ 500 million. On March 30, 2018, CBS made an all-stock offer slightly below Viacom's market value and insisted that its existing leadership, including long-time chairman and CEO Les Moonves, oversee
6888-542: Was reported that the combined company could be a suitor for acquiring the film studio Lionsgate . Viacom and Lionsgate were both interested in acquiring The Weinstein Company (TWC). Following the Weinstein effect , Viacom was listed as one of 22 potential buyers that were interested in acquiring TWC. They lost the bid, and on March 1, 2018, it was announced that Maria Contreras-Sweet would acquire all of TWC's assets for $ 500 million. Lantern Capital would later acquire
6972-513: Was reported to be considering a deal or merger regarding Paramount Global, with Skydance Media considering an all-cash bid of $ 2.5 billion for the earlier company. During this time, Paramount announced it would be laying off 800 employees. On February 27, 2024, CNBC reported that Warner Bros. Discovery halted the merger talks with Paramount. On April 2, 2024, Paramount and National Amusements approached Skydance for an exclusive acquisition window agreement. Shari Redstone and David Ellison sought
7056-508: Was reportedly displeased with the revised terms, as she would now received less money for her shares and Skydance wanted Redstone to assume legal liabilities in the case of shareholders lawsuits unhappy with the deal. She considered a sale of her company to another bidder, with such names as writer and producer Steven Paul , businessman Edgar Bronfman Jr. , Bain Capital , Patrón Tequila founder John Paul DeJoria and businessman Barry Diller in
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