Viacom/CBS possibly to re-merge

[DaveyNY]

It's interesting that a Fifty+ Year Old TV Show, may be the defining force that creates a recombined and somewhat new, major entertainment corporation.
Trek really has gone where no franchise has gone before, and survived.

 

[Mudd]

Les Moonves Era At CBS Hangs In Balance Amid Viacom Merger Turbulence

As the CBS-Viacom deal talks play out in unusually public fashion, investors on Wall Street have begun to more loudly question whether the shotgun marriage makes sense — or will even happen at all.

The latest wave to hit is a CNBC report that longtime CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves could be forced out if the two former corporate siblings can’t come to terms on a re-merger. Shari Redstone, who runs controlling CBS and Viacom shareholder National Amusements, will also fire the entire CBS board in the event of a non-deal, CNBC said, citing unidentified sources. While those dramatic moves are difficult to imagine on an average day in the media business, these days have been anything but average for the two companies, whose fates have been closely intertwined over the past 20 years.

The report drew immediate responses from CBS and National Amusements, which is the controlling shareholder of CBS and Viacom. “The industry and the marketplace know Leslie Moonves’ record and we think it speaks for itself,” CBS said in its statement. National Amusements said it “has tremendous respect for Les Moonves and it has always been our intention that he run a combined company.”

Viacom did not comment.

The stocks of both companies have taken a hit today, though overall market declines are a major factor along with the merger atmosphere. CBS ended the trading day at $51.01, down about 2%, and Viacom was at $30.51, down almost 2% on the day.

The last phrase in the National Amusements statement — “a combined company” — remains a mirage for now, though as recently as last week most media and finance types took the re-merger as a given. The companies formed committees to explore getting back together, but negotiations are off to a bumpy start, especially in terms of management and the valuation of the two entities.

Today’s drama was preceded by a blistering research note put out yesterday by Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger. Labeling it an “arranged marriage,” he wondered whether the network would be pursuing the struggling Viacom at all if it weren’t for the intervention of Shari Redstone, who heads up National Amusements.

“We think a defining question for investors considering the pending CBS/Viacom nuptials is this: if CBS were an independent entity, would they be pursuing a bid for Viacom?” Juenger wrote. “If you believe, like we do, the answer to that question is ‘absolutely not,’ then how hard do you want to work to try and convince yourself this is good for CBS shareholders?”

CBS clearly views the deal as not a merger of equals. Its initial all-stock offer to acquire Viacom that pegged the company’s worth at below market value and proposed a management team for the combined entity that snubbed Bob Bakish, the Viacom chief executive attempting to effect a turn-around. Viacom countered this week with a proposal that calls on CBS to sweeten the deal.

There remain disagreements over executive leadership and the strange – or perhaps unprecedented — situation of Viacom claiming greater synergies through the combination than the buyer.

“CBS cannot fix Viacom’s core problems,” Juenger wrote. “Viewership of linear TV among young people, especially kids 2-11, continues to free-fall … Even MTV, the supposed turnaround proof point, has returned to decline for the past eight weeks.”

At least one prominent Wall Street figure thinks its possible for both parties to walk away from the bargaining table, as they did in 2016. Despite Redstone’s prodding, the two sides may not be able to arrive at a valuation for Viacom that avoids shareholder lawsuits (either CBS investors who might raise qualms about overpayment or Viacom’s shareholders might fee they’ve reaped too little reward).

CBS already has emerged as the belle of the OTT ball, with the highly rated broadcast network a must-carry for the new class of streaming TV services. And Bakish has put a plan in place to revitalize Viacom — indeed, Paramount Pictures had a triumph this weekend with A Quiet Place, a nearly dialog-free horror movie that opened to $50 million in domestic ticket sales.

 

[ITDUDE]

Les Moonves Era At CBS Hangs In Balance Amid Viacom Merger Turbulence

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

Les Moonves sounds like the name of a really lame super villain.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

The most likely result would be Discovery being retconned as a prequel to the Kelvinverse films. They would probably celebrate the merger by having an episode where someone mentions the Enterprise is putting in at Riverside Shipyards for an extensive refit and refurbishing and Captain Pike saying something about some hot shot new recruits he's trying to bring up.

Either way, Discovery remains free to fill in the gaps in whatever universe it finds itself beholden to. TOS didn't establish much of anything solid in terms of history before about the 2280s, so Discovery has a shit ton of maneuvering room to play with.

 

[lawman]

Meh. A bunch of absurdly rich people playing ego games with other people's livelihoods. Just another day on the business pages.

 

[Butters]

The most likely result would be Discovery being retconned as a prequel to the Kelvinverse films.

That, to me, seems the least likely outcome. The kelvin films will either continue in their separate continuity, perhaps diverging further from the established continuity to become more distinct, or, they’ll stop at three films and be relegated to footnotes of Trek Lore.

I’ve been wrong before, but Discovery showed that the bulk of existing canon was an asset, and the kelvin movies could quietly be dropped.

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

The most likely result would be Discovery being retconned as a prequel to the Kelvinverse films. They would probably celebrate the merger by having an episode where someone mentions the Enterprise is putting in at Riverside Shipyards for an extensive refit and refurbishing and Captain Pike saying something about some hot shot new recruits he's trying to bring up.

Either way, Discovery remains free to fill in the gaps in whatever universe it finds itself beholden to. TOS didn't establish much of anything solid in terms of history before about the 2280s, so Discovery has a shit ton of maneuvering room to play with.

Eddie, you crazy. Like babies on spikes crazy.

 

[Mudd]

In the end it's not about anyone's egos. It's about money.

 

[ITDUDE]

In the end it's not about anyone's egos. It's about money.

Always is... always is

 

[Rahul]

What does that even look like though? The prime casts aren't coming back, so it's a new cast whatever happens - and they aren't going to recreate the look of 90s TV for the big screen so it'll look something more like JJverse. What functional difference will making it a 'prime' movie make?

Narrative coherence.
I'd be totally down with a new cast, new species and new futuristic designs that aren't beholden to a "prequel" or "reboot" look, but can actually go creatively wild and new.

Hell, give me a single short cameo appereance of Patrick Steward giving a small advice to the new team before it goes on their merry adventure, and I'd be giggling and smiling for days. But that's 100% optional. I just want Star Trek to move.... forward....again. It's about the future. It shouldn't be so stuck up in it's own continuity and past!

 

[Rahul]

Les Moonves Era At CBS Hangs In Balance Amid Viacom Merger Turbulence

As the CBS-Viacom deal talks play out in unusually public fashion, investors on Wall Street have begun to more loudly question whether the shotgun marriage makes sense — or will even happen at all.

The latest wave to hit is a CNBC report that longtime CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves could be forced out if the two former corporate siblings can’t come to terms on a re-merger. Shari Redstone, who runs controlling CBS and Viacom shareholder National Amusements, will also fire the entire CBS board in the event of a non-deal, CNBC said, citing unidentified sources. While those dramatic moves are difficult to imagine on an average day in the media business, these days have been anything but average for the two companies, whose fates have been closely intertwined over the past 20 years.

The report drew immediate responses from CBS and National Amusements, which is the controlling shareholder of CBS and Viacom. “The industry and the marketplace know Leslie Moonves’ record and we think it speaks for itself,” CBS said in its statement. National Amusements said it “has tremendous respect for Les Moonves and it has always been our intention that he run a combined company.”

Viacom did not comment.

The stocks of both companies have taken a hit today, though overall market declines are a major factor along with the merger atmosphere. CBS ended the trading day at $51.01, down about 2%, and Viacom was at $30.51, down almost 2% on the day.

The last phrase in the National Amusements statement — “a combined company” — remains a mirage for now, though as recently as last week most media and finance types took the re-merger as a given. The companies formed committees to explore getting back together, but negotiations are off to a bumpy start, especially in terms of management and the valuation of the two entities.

Today’s drama was preceded by a blistering research note put out yesterday by Bernstein analyst Todd Juenger. Labeling it an “arranged marriage,” he wondered whether the network would be pursuing the struggling Viacom at all if it weren’t for the intervention of Shari Redstone, who heads up National Amusements.

“We think a defining question for investors considering the pending CBS/Viacom nuptials is this: if CBS were an independent entity, would they be pursuing a bid for Viacom?” Juenger wrote. “If you believe, like we do, the answer to that question is ‘absolutely not,’ then how hard do you want to work to try and convince yourself this is good for CBS shareholders?”

CBS clearly views the deal as not a merger of equals. Its initial all-stock offer to acquire Viacom that pegged the company’s worth at below market value and proposed a management team for the combined entity that snubbed Bob Bakish, the Viacom chief executive attempting to effect a turn-around. Viacom countered this week with a proposal that calls on CBS to sweeten the deal.

There remain disagreements over executive leadership and the strange – or perhaps unprecedented — situation of Viacom claiming greater synergies through the combination than the buyer.

“CBS cannot fix Viacom’s core problems,” Juenger wrote. “Viewership of linear TV among young people, especially kids 2-11, continues to free-fall … Even MTV, the supposed turnaround proof point, has returned to decline for the past eight weeks.”

At least one prominent Wall Street figure thinks its possible for both parties to walk away from the bargaining table, as they did in 2016. Despite Redstone’s prodding, the two sides may not be able to arrive at a valuation for Viacom that avoids shareholder lawsuits (either CBS investors who might raise qualms about overpayment or Viacom’s shareholders might fee they’ve reaped too little reward).

CBS already has emerged as the belle of the OTT ball, with the highly rated broadcast network a must-carry for the new class of streaming TV services. And Bakish has put a plan in place to revitalize Viacom — indeed, Paramount Pictures had a triumph this weekend with A Quiet Place, a nearly dialog-free horror movie that opened to $50 million in domestic ticket sales.

Damn! Either the Star Trek IP re-united again, or Les Moonves getting canned? Can we have...both?

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

Damn! Either the Star Trek IP re-united again, or Les Moonves getting canned? Can we have...both?

And on that day a lame super-villain was born!

 

[lawman]

In the end it's not about anyone's egos. It's about money.

At that level it's not really about the money. At least, not anything the money can buy... it's not as if the lifestyles of any of the people at the top of these organizations is going to be changed by the terms of this prospective deal. After all, the word is that Moonves would walk away with a cool $184 million even if he's ousted from CBS, for heaven's sake.

The money is just a convenient way of keeping score. It's about social status and power. IOW, ego. It's a larger-scale, big-kids version of deciding who gets to play on the monkey bars.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I’ve been wrong before, but Discovery showed that the bulk of existing canon was an asset, and the kelvin movies could quietly be dropped.

How exactly did Discovery show that?

 

[pst]

I’ve been wrong before, but Discovery showed that the bulk of existing canon was an asset, and the kelvin movies could quietly be dropped.

yeah my takeaway is the opposite: canon is an albatross around the neck of this series and the kelvin timeline is an unappreciated opportunity to do something different (no matter how much you may like or dislike abrams' approach).

 

[Rahul]

yeah my takeaway is the opposite: canon is an albatross around the neck of this series and the kelvin timeline is an unappreciated opportunity to do something different (no matter how much you may like or dislike abrams' approach).

The Kelvin timeline is pretty much exactly the old Star Trek though, only in shinier clothes - and with more internal continuity issues.

 

[Butters]

How exactly did Discovery show that?

By being both successful and balls deep in fifty years worth of TV history.

yeah my takeaway is the opposite: canon is an albatross around the neck of this series and the kelvin timeline is an unappreciated opportunity to do something different (no matter how much you may like or dislike abrams' approach).

I can see that too, and by the same measure, a fresh reboot wouldn’t be burdened by the destruction of Vulcan, for example.

 

[pst]

and with more internal continuity issues.

i'm not sure that's possible.

I can see that too, and by the same measure, a fresh reboot wouldn’t be burdened by the destruction of Vulcan, for example.

truth, but there's a sweet spot in the 30 years between the destruction of the kelvin and the destruction of vulcan where discovery could've lived and not been particularly disturbed by the events of the movies (and vice versa) and not had to bend over backwards to slot into existing continuity.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

By being both successful and balls deep in fifty years worth of TV history.

And the Kelvin films... weren't?

I can see that too, and by the same measure, a fresh reboot wouldn’t be burdened by the destruction of Vulcan, for example.

It's not much of a burden considering that event and the fallout thereof was never covered in any detail.