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56-503: Founded by boxing promoter Gary Shaw and his son Jared in 2006 in partnership with Showtime Networks Inc. (a CBS Corporation subsidiary), the firm initially promoted live MMA events broadcast on Showtime and Showtime PPV under the EliteXC promotional banner. CBS contracted with ProElite to show live events on prime time network television with the first airing scheduled for May 31, 2008. A focal point of ProElite's live event promotions

112-470: A Peabody Award in 2002 for Bang Bang You're Dead . In 2008, SNI was honored at the 59th Annual Technology & Engineering Emmy Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Advanced Media Technology for Best Use of Commercial Advertising on Personal Computer for the companion website to the series The L Word . Paramount Global Paramount Global (also known simply as Paramount )

168-481: 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

224-632: 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

280-416: 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

336-439: A cut over his eye. He was replaced by the much lesser-known Seth Petruzelli who was originally scheduled to fight on the undercard. Petruzelli knocked Slice out in 14 seconds, but more importantly Petruzelli did a radio interview two days later where he divulged that ProElite had offered him financial incentives to keep the fight on the feet and protect Slice's reputation. The Florida state athletic commission instantly investigated

392-519: 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

448-521: A joint venture with Robert Redford and NBC Universal until 2008, when it was sold to Rainbow Media (now AMC Networks ). CBS Corporation re-merged with Viacom to form ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global ) in early December 2019. Year in parentheses denotes when each network and channel was brought into the SNI fold. Channel launched under Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment prior to 1983. Channel originally named Showtime Beyond from 1998 to 2020. SNI won

504-464: A partnership with DREAM to share fighters shortly before it went out of business. This partnership made possible a fight between Kendall Grove and Ikuhisa Minowa in ProElite 3 in early 2012. After this event ProElite has seemingly gone out of business. As the company was established the man who initially had the idea to launch ProElite, Wallid Ismail, was pressured to have signed out all of his rights, with

560-438: 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

616-422: 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

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672-520: 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

728-472: A stake until the 1990s). In 1988, the company was renamed Showtime Networks, Inc. On March 1, 1994, a partnership between Showtime Networks and Home Box Office, Inc. (parent of HBO and Cinemax) implemented a cooperative content advisory system that was initially unveiled across Showtime, The Movie Channel and the HBO properties that would provide specific content information for pay-cable subscribers to determine

784-538: 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

840-518: 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

896-463: A web portal with social networking for MMA fighters and fans and live streams of MMA bouts not broadcast on Showtime. While EliteXC was a pioneer in MMA's growth (in addition to its groundbreaking network television deal, its first card included the first televised women's MMA match when Gina Carano faced Julie Kedzie , and it continued to air female matches on many of its shows) its run came to an end after

952-552: 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

1008-459: 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

1064-593: 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

1120-992: 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

1176-476: 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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1232-621: 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

1288-479: 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

1344-489: 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

1400-516: 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,

1456-472: 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

1512-521: The company for match fixing : while the allegations were unproven, it effectively doomed ProElite's reputation as a legitimate promoter. It eventually sold its tape library, rights to fighters under contract, and most importantly its Showtime/CBS broadcast agreement to Strikeforce chairman Scott Coker in 2009. In March 2011 ProElite was rumored to be the unsuccessful second bidder against the UFC in an attempt to acquire rival MMA promotion Strikeforce. The offer

1568-407: 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

1624-467: 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

1680-559: 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

1736-401: 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

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1792-505: The event EliteXC: Heat , which was held in October 2008 and broadcast live on CBS. Held near star fighter Kimbo Slice 's hometown of Miami , the event was designed to give the wildly popular viral video street-fighter legitimacy as a martial artist by matching him up against a well-known talent in Ken Shamrock . However just hours before the fight, Shamrock was declared unfit to fight due to

1848-870: 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 ,

1904-530: 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

1960-447: The new half-owner of Showtime/TMC. In 1985, Warner sold its half-interest to Viacom, making the company a wholly owned subsidiary of Viacom. The acquisition was completed on May 20, 1986, along with MTV Networks. It also saw the pay-per-view service Viewer's Choice become part of the operation; it merged with rival PPV service Home Premiere Television in 1988, and Viacom ceded control to the cable companies that owned HPT (Viacom still held

2016-482: 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

2072-610: The objectionable content depicted in specific programs (and categorized based on violence, profanity, sexuality or miscellaneous mature material). Labels are assigned to each program at the discretion of the participating service. A revised system—centered around ten content codes of two to three letters in length—was implemented across the Showtime Networks and Home Box Office services on June 10, 1994. SNI became part of CBS Corporation when it officially split from Viacom on December 31, 2005. SNI managed Sundance Channel as part of

2128-782: The other stakeholders gaining complete control over the startup. Showtime Networks Showtime Networks, Inc. is a subsidiary of American media conglomerate Paramount Global under its networks division that oversees the company's premium cable television channels , including its flagship namesake service . The company was established in 1983 as Showtime/The Movie Channel, Inc. after Viacom and Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment (now Paramount Media Networks ) merged their premium channels, Showtime and The Movie Channel respectively, into one division. In 1984, American Express sold their interest in Warner-Amex to Warner Communications (now Warner Bros. Discovery ) making Warner

2184-401: 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

2240-459: 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

2296-527: The stock routinely traded at $ 15 per share while ProElite was promoting live events. In June 2011, Stratus Media Group secured a 95% ownership of ProElite. The group confirmed their intention to return to promoting mixed martial arts with former ICON owner T. Jay Thompson and former Strikeforce matchmaker Rich Chou brought on board to run the show. The company's return show took place on August 27, 2011 in Hawaii and streamed live on Sherdog.com . ProElite announced

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2352-651: 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

2408-550: The suitability of a program for children. The development of the system—inspired by the advisory ratings featured in Showtime and The Movie Channel's respective program guides and those distributed by other participating premium cable services—was in response to concerns from parents and advocacy groups about violent content on television, allowing the Showtime Networks and other services to assign individual ratings corresponding to

2464-404: 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

2520-570: 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

2576-681: Was EliteXC . Running its first show in 2007, it quickly became one of the most visible brands in mixed martial arts in the United States. ProElite also acquired several long-standing mixed martial arts promotions since its founding, including King of the Cage , Hawaii-based Icon Sport, and British promotion Cage Rage . The company also had working relationships with Rumble on the Rock, Japanese-based DREAM , South Korean-based Spirit MC, and Northern California-based Strikeforce . ProElite also operated ProElite.com,

2632-496: 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

2688-494: 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,

2744-459: 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

2800-469: 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

2856-520: 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

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2912-560: 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

2968-592: 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

3024-513: 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

3080-508: 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

3136-569: Was said to exceed 40 million dollars. Principals at ProElite immediately confirmed the companies intention to re enter the MMA live event promotional business as they had with the record breaking Kimbo Slice events on CBS. Rumors immediately began circulating that ProElite was targeted as a strategic acquisition by either the UFC or an unidentified third party investor wishing to enter the MMA promotional space. PELE.PK stock jumped from .01 per share to more than .20 per share in two days as investors realized

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