viacom by rana

1. Viacom A multi-billion dollar corporation which controls a huge portion of network television on the air today, including, but not limited to: MTV, BET, VH1, Nickelodeon, and Comedy Central. Viacom's influence on the ideals of Americans ranging in age from 6 to mid-20s is enormous. Viacom is methodically eliminating independent media organizations in an effort to monopolize American media. Viacom is a "special interest group" to US presidents, meaning Viacom essentially bribes government officials to turn the other way as it takes hold on more and more media. History The original Viacom began as CBS Films, Inc., the television syndication division of CBSestablished in 1952. The division was spun off and renamed Viacom in 1971, amid new FCC rules forbidding television networks from owning syndication companies[1] (the rules were later repealed). String of acquisitions

2. Viacom's first non-programming acquisition came in 1978 when the company purchased the Sonderling Broadcasting chain, giving it radio stations in New York City, Washington, D.C., Houston, and San Francisco, and one television station, WAST (now WNYT) in Albany, New York. Later that year, Viacom added WHNB-TV in New Britain, Connecticut, changing its call letters to WVIT. The early 1980s saw Viacom sorting through the Sonderling stations with several being donated, swapped, or being the nucleus for new corporationsfor example, WOL in Washington launched the Radio One group, which today is the largest African-American-owned broadcasting corporation. In 1983, Viacom purchased KSLA-TV in Shreveport, Louisiana, and WHEC-TV in Rochester, New York, in separate transactions, followed in 1986 with (ironically) CBS-owned KMOX-TV in St. Louis; with the purchase, that station's call letters were changed to KMOV. In 1985, Viacom bought Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, which owned MTV and Nickelodeon, renaming the company MTV Networks. Viacom also received Warner-Amex's share of Viacom/WASEC joint venture Showtime Networks, Inc, which included Showtime and The Movie Channel. In 1986, movie theater owner National Amusements bought controlling interest in Viacom, which brought Sumner Redstone to the company. Redstone retained the Viacom name and made a string of large acquisitions in the early 1990s, announcing plans to merge with Paramount Communications (formerly Gulf+Western), parent of Paramount Pictures, in 1993, and buying the Blockbuster Video chain in 1994. The Blockbuster acquisition gave Viacom access to large television holdings controlled by Aaron Spelling's company, Spelling Entertainment; along with his own productions, Spelling controlled the pre-1973 ABC and NBC back catalogs by way of Worldvision Enterprises and Republic Pictures.

3. In 1999, Viacom made its biggest acquisition to date by announcing plans to merge with its former parent CBS Corporation. The merger was approved in 2000, bringing cable channels TNN (now Spike TV) and Country Music Television (CMT) under Viacom's wing, as well as CBS's production units and TV syndicaters Eyemark Entertainment (formerly Group W) and King World. CBS's production unit and King World (which has since folded Eyemark) operated under their own names; however, TNN and CMT were merged into MTV Networks almost immediately. In 2001, Viacom completed its purchase of Black Entertainment Television (BET). As with TNN/Spike TV and CMT, it was immediately integrated into MTV Networks, causing some outcry among BET workers in the Washington area (where BET was based before the merger). As a result, BET was eventually de-integrated from MTV Networks. Although a majority economic interest in Viacom was held by independent shareholders, the Redstone family maintained 71-percent voting control of the company through National Amusements' holdings of Viacom's stock. In 2002, Viacom bought independently run music channel TMF, which at the time was broadcasting in Belgium and the Netherlands. In June 2004, Viacom bought VIVA Media AG, the German equivalent to MTV. The same month, plans were announced to dispose of Viacom's interest in Blockbuster later that year by means of an exchange offer. Also in 2002, Viacom acquired the remaining shares of Infinity Broadcasting radio chain. And in April 2003, Viacom acquired the remaining ownership shares of Comedy Central from Time Warner, making Comedy Central integrated into MTV Networks. 2005

4. In March 2005, Viacom announced plans of looking into splitting the company into two publicly traded companies under the continuing ownership of National Amusements. The company was not only dealing with a stagnating stock price, but also the rivalry between Les Moonves and Tom Freston, longtime heads of CBS andMTV Networks respectively. After the departure of Mel Karmazin in 2004, Redstone, who served as Chairmanand 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, took effect December 31, 2005, and effectively reversed the Viacom/CBS merger of 1999. The existing Viacom was renamed CBS Corporation and was headed by Moonves. It now includes Viacom's "slow growth businesses", namely CBS, The CW (a merger of UPN and The WB), CBS Radio, Simon & Schuster, CBS Outdoor (formerly Viacom Outdoor), Showtime, CBS Television Studios, CBS Television Distribution and CBS Studios International. These, according to some analysts were suffocating the growth of the MTV Networks cable businesses. The split effectively made CBS an independent company again. In addition, CBS Corporation was given Paramount Parks (which they sold to amusement park operator Cedar Fair, L.P. on June 30, 2006) and the CBS College Sports Network. Additionally, a new spin-off company was created called Viacom, which was headed by Freston. It comprises 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 funds/capital to allow for future acquisitions and expansion.

5. In September 2006, Redstone fired Freston and named Philippe Dauman as the new head of Viacom. History Early years.. In March 2005, the prior Viacom announced plans of looking into splitting the company into two publicly traded companies because of not only a stagnating stock price but also the rivalry between Leslie Moonves and Tom Freston, longtime heads of MTV Networks. In addition, the company was facing issues after MTV was banned from producing any more Super Bowl halftime shows after the Super Bowl Halftime Show controversy of 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 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 different 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 a dividend. A new company, the present Viacom, was created and was headed by Freston. It comprises BET Networks, MTV Networks, and Paramount Pictures Corporation. 2000 2005 In June, Viacom announced its purchase of Neopets, a virtual pet website, along with GameTrailers, GoCityKids, and IFILM. That December, Paramount announced it would acquire DreamWorks. All indications were that the whole of DreamWorksboth live-comedy 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

6. was not part of the deal)would 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. On April 24, Viacom 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. 2007 In February, Viacom ordered leaked copyrighted video clips be taken off the videosharing service YouTube for copyright reasons.[8] On February 21, Viacom publicly announced they would be offering free online access to their own material through Silicon Valley's distributor Joostthanks to a thorough content licensing deal. On May 21, Viacom entered into a 5050 joint venture with Indian media company Network 18 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 joint venture. On December 19, 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 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 web sites. Also, Microsoft purchased a large amount of advertising on Viacom owned broadcasts and online networks. Finally, Microsoft will also collaborate on promotions and

7. sponsorships for MTV and BET award shows, two Viacom owned cable networks. 2008 On December 4, Viacom announced layoffs of 850 personnel, or 7% of their workforce. At 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 was reached shortly after 12 Midnight ET on January 1, 2009. 2009 On December 7, Viacom sold its stake in MTV Brasil to Grupo Abril along with rights to the brand. Details on the deal were not disclosed. 2010 On May 5, 2010, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Viacom's Comedy Central "is developing a whole animated series around Jesus Christ" who, according to the network, wants to escape the shadow of his "powerful but apathetic father" 2011 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 invested in Rainbow S.r.l., an Italian children's animated and consumer products company best known for the Winx Clubfranchise. Later, in October 2011, Viacom purchased a majority stake in Bellator Fighting Championships. Spike TV plans to air Bellator in 2013, after

8. the rights to the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) library ends in 2012.[17] On December 1, the company stopped trading on the New York Stock Exchange 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 2012 On July 10, 2012, during contract negotiations over raising carrier rates the U.S. satellite TV provider, DirecTV's executives approached Viacom with 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 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. 2014 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, SundanceTV, 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 the British broadcaster Channel 5 from Northern & Shell, the media group owned by the British newspaper publisher Richard Desmond. Viacom

9. becomes the first American media company to take over a British broadcaster with a public service remit.] The takeover of Channel 5 closed on September 10, 2014. Copyright complaints against YouTube In February 2007, Viacom sent upwards of 100,000 DMCA takedown notices to the video-sharing site YouTube. Of

10. the 100,000 notices, approximately 6070 non-infringing videos were removed under the auspices of copyright infringement. On March 13, 2007, Viacom filed a US$1 billion legal claim against Google and YouTube alleging massive copyright infringement, alleging that users frequently uploaded copyrighted material to YouTubeenough to cause 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 the viewing habits of every user who had ever watched videos on the site.[25] Judge Stanton rejected Viacom's request for YouTube to hand over thesource 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 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.[29] Writing for a two-judge panel (because Judge Roger Miner had died while the trial was pending) of the Second Circuit, Judge Jos A. Cabranes concluded that "a reasonablejury could find that YouTube had actual knowledge or awareness of specific infringing activity on its website". Eric Goldman, a professor at theSanta 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".

11. Wiki-PR Viacom is one of the companies that uses the services of Wiki-PR, a public relations firm specialized in editing of Wikipedia that is accused ofsubverting Wikipedia content for business interest. Viacom International

12. 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.). Corporate governance 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, Frederic Salerno, William Schwartz, and Robert D. Walter. Following 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 consists of George Abrams, Philippe Dauman, Thomas E. Dooley, Alan Greenberg, Robert Kraft, Blythe McGarvie, Charles Phillips, Shari E. Redstone, Sumner M. Redstone, Frederic Salerno, and William Schwartz. List of assets owned by Viacom The following is a list of major assets owned by Viacom. Prior to the completion of the CBS/Viacom split at the end of 2005, the assets listed at were also owned by Viacom: Filmed entertainment Paramount Motion Pictures Group

13. Paramount Pictures Paramount Television Paramount Vantage Insurge Pictures Paramount Animation Paramount Pictures International MTV Motion Pictures Group MTV Films Nickelodeon Movies Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Famous Productions United International Pictures (UIP), formerly Cinema International Corporation (CIC). It is a joint venture with NBCUniversal's Universal Studios. Republic Pictures (or Republic Entertainment, Inc.), which in 2012 became Melange Pictures

14. Media networks Television networks Viacom Media Networks Music and Entertainment Group MTV MTV2 MTV Desi MTV Hits MTV Jams mtvU VH1 VH1 Classic VH1 Soul Logo Palladia Comedy Central

15. Spike Kids & Family Group Nickelodeon Nick 2/Nick at Nite Nick Jr. (Previously known as Noggin from February 2, 1999 until its relaunch September 28, 2009 as Nick Jr.) TeenNick (Previously known as The N from April 1, 2002 until its relaunch September 28, 2009 as TeenNick) Nicktoons Nick Gas (1999 2009) NickMom TV Land CMT CMT Pure Country CMT (Canada) (10%) BET Networks BET BET Hip-Hop BET Gospel Centric Viacom International Media Networks Colors TV TMF VIVA Tr3s Channel 5 5* 5USA Channel 5 +1 Channel 5 +24

16. Brands of viacom

19. Internet Atom Entertainment, which consists of AddictingGames, Atom Uploads, and Shockwave.com BET.com GoCityKids Monkey Quest MTV.com Nick.com Neopets (till 2014, bought by JumpStart) Quizilla Smartplanet.com Xfire Record Labels Comedy Central Records Nick Records Miscellaneous assets Nickelodeon & Viacom Consumer Products MTVN Direct (a division of MTV Networks Company) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Viacom International, Inc. KGBS-CD (a Tr3s owned & operated TV station in Austin, Texas) Bellator MMAL Viacom Media Networks

20. Formerly called MTV Networks (19842011) Type Division of Viacom Industry Entertainment, cable andsatellite television Founded New York City, New York(July 1984) Founder Robert Pittman Headquarters 1515 Broadway, 44th Floor New York City, NY 10036- 5797, United States Key people Doug Herzog (President, Viacom Music and Entertainment Group) Cyma Zarghami (President, Viacom Kids & Family Group) Owner Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment (19841986) Viacom (19872005) Viacom Inc. (2006Present)

21. Website Viacom Brands Part of a series on MTV in the United States MTV channels MTV2 Tres mtvU MTV Hits Jams Programs on MTV MTV personalities Censorship on MTV Viacom Media Networks V T E

22. Viacom Media Networks (originally MTV Networks), is a division of media conglomerate Viacomthat oversees the operations of many television channels and Internet brands, including the originalMTV channel in the United States. Sibling to Viacom Media Networks is Viacom International Media Networks. The company was established in 1984 after Warner Communications and American Expressdecided to divest the basic cable assets of Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, renaming it MTV Networks, Inc.[1] Warner-Amex originally created and owned Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1 and The Movie Channel (TMC). Viacom acquired 66% of the company in 1985, and then acquired the remaining interest in 1986. It was then folded into Viacom International Inc., a subsidiary of Viacom Inc., and is no longer a distinct legal entity. Contents 1 Cable channels owned by Viacom Media Networks

23. o 1.1 Music and Entertainment Group o 1.2 Kids & Family Group o 1.3 BET Networks[2] o 1.4 Former channels o 1.5 Notes 2 Internet properties 3 Game properties 4 Viacom International Media Networks 5 Viacom Media Networks Rating Issues 6 See also 7 References 8 External links Cable channels owned by Viacom Media Networks Viacom Media Networks' family of brands is divided into three sections, based on the type of television programming and audiences they serve.[2] Music and Entertainment Group MTV1 MTV2 MTV Jams Hits MTV mtvU Tr3s VH1

24. VH1 Classic VH1 Soul Logo TV4 Palladia Comedy Central7 Spike2 8 Epix9 Kids & Family Group[ Nickelodeon1 Nick 2, Nickelodeon's alternate East/West feed Nick HD, Nickelodeon's high-definition feed Nick at Nite, evening programming block on Nickelodeon Nick Jr.5 NickMom, night-time programming block on Nick Jr. TeenNick6 Nicktoons10 CMT2 CMT Pure Country3 TV Land BET Networks

25. BET BET Gospel BET Hip-Hop Centric MTVX (1998-2002) Nick Gas (19992009) Tempo Networks (20052007) VH1 Uno (2001-2008) Notes[ 1Channel created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment prior to 1984. 2Channel originally owned by CBS, became part of MTV Networks when CBS merged with Viacom. 3Created as VH1 Country prior to Viacom/CBS merger. 4Channel was originally known as VH1 MegaHits before being discontinued in July 2005 to facilitate Logo launch. 5Channel was originally known as Noggin before being rebranded as Nick Jr. in 2009. Co-owned with Sesame Workshop from 1999 to 2002. 6Channel was originally known as The N before being rebranded as TeenNick in 2009.

26. 7Channel started as Ha!, merged with HBO's The Comedy Channel the following year, became fully owned by Viacom in 2003. 8Channel originally known as The Nashville Network until 2000 and The National Network until 2003. 9Co-owned with sister company Paramount, Lionsgate and MGM. Viacom Media Networks handles operations. 10Channel was originally known as Nicktoons TV until 2003 when it was rebranded as Nicktoons which was rebranded again as Nicktoons Network in 2005 and finally rebranded yet again as Nicktoons once more in 2009. Internet properties The company also owns internet properties, such as Atom Films, Addicting Games, MTV News, MTV International, Rhapsody, LyricsMode.com,iFilm, GoCityKids, Jokes.com, GameTrailers, Xfire, 365gay.com, Shockwave.com,[3] and Q uizilla.[4] MTV Networks has also made a partnership with Nexon to promote its Neopets service. New York headquarters Game properties Viacom had a game division called MTV Games, which used to publish the Rock Band and Dance Central series by Harmonix Music Systems, its former subsidiary. Dance Central was the last game from MTV Games before its closure, but will be resurrected in 2012 and will not publish the Rock Band andDance Central series, as it will focus on other games, starting with The Age of Decadence by Iron Tower Studio. MTV Networks opened another game division called 345 Games in New York

27. City and it will start to publish future games. The Rock Band series and the Dance Central series will be published byWarner Bros. Games. The first game published by 345 Games was Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegaddeonbased on the Comedy Central TV series, Ugly Americans. Recently, 345 games has announced a video game based on the popular MMA franchise, Bellator Fighting Championships. Viacom International Media Networks Viacom International Media Networks is a division of Viacom International. Its headquarters are based in New York, London, Warsaw and Buenos Aires. It consists of 64 localized MTV channels, MTV Live HD, VH1 (6 in total), Nickelodeon, TMF, VIVA, Comedy Central, Game One, Neopets,GameTrailers, Nitrome Limited, Shockwave, Addicting Games, Atom Films and Xfire. MTV Networks' brands are seen globally in 560 million households in 162 countries and 33 languages via more than 150 locally programmed and operated TV channels and more than 350 digital media properties. The Viacom International Media Networks network consists of: Viacom International Media Networks Europe Viacom International Media Networks Northern Europe Viacom International Media Networks Southern Europe Viacom International Media Networks The Americas Viacom Networks Japan K.K. Viacom Networks Japan G.K. MTV Networks Asia Pacific MTV Networks Latin America, US Hispanic and Canada[5]

28. MTV Networks Africa Viacom Media Networks Rating Issues In Fall 2012, media analysts began to report that ratings amongst some of MTV Networks leading brands in the U.S. including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon are experiencing falls in viewership unlike other US broadcasters. It has been reported that MTV Networks portfolio of channels fourteen of the 16 channels in the MTV and Nickelodeon families had viewership declines in September, according to Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Todd Jeunger, citing Nielsen data. MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon are of most concern to investors. The three account for roughly 50% of Viacom's operating profit, estimates David Bank of RBC Capital Markets..

viacom by rana

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