What is viacom

The present-day Viacom was created as a spin-off from the original company, which was renamed as CBS Corporation afterwards, on December 31, The latter currently retains control of the over-the-air broadcasting, TV production, subscription pay television, and publishing assets, which were previously owned by the original Viacom.

Comprising BET Networks, Viacom Media Networks, and Paramount Pictures, Viacom operates approximately networks, reaching approximately million subscribers in approximately countries. The Viacom board pays great attention to its governance and its responsibilities to all stockholders. We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.

If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.

Forgot your password? Retrieve it. If by any chance you spot an inappropriate image within your search results please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly. Term » Definition. Word in Definition. Wikipedia 4. How to pronounce viacom? Alex US English. David US English. Mark US English. Daniel British. Libby British. Infinity Radio owns and operates a wealth of radio stations.

Viacom Outdoor is engaged in display advertising. Blockbuster Inc. It formally became a separate company in when CBS distributed Viacom's stock to its stockholders at the rate of one share for every seven shares of CBS stock. It had about 90, cable subscribers, making it one of the largest cable operators in the United States.

It also had an enviable stable of popular, previously-run CBS television series, including I Love Lucy, available for syndication, which accounted for a sizable percentage of Viacom's income.

By there were about 2, cable systems in the United States, with about 7. This market fragmentation, along with the lack of an infrastructure in many communities and tough federal regulations, slowed the development of cable television. In , Viacom had 47, subscribers on Long Island, New York, but a drive to find 2, more added only In , to compete with Home Box Office HBO , the leading outlet for films in cable, Viacom established the Showtime movie network, which sought to provide its audience with feature films recently released in theaters.

Viacom retained half interest in the network while Warner Amex owned the other half. Most of the company's earnings represented sales of television series, but it also reflected the growth of its own cable systems, which at this time had about , subscribers.

Showtime continued to compete aggressively with HBO. The following year it worked out a deal with Teleprompter Corp. Showtime also began offering a service channel called Front Row. Viacom's forays into the production of original programming in the late s and early s had mixed results. Competition was stiff, the odds of producing a successful television series or film were long, and Viacom experienced several failures.

In the early s Viacom started on a program of rapid growth across a range of media categories. Company President Terrence A. Elkes told Business Week that Viacom hoped to become a billion-dollar company in three to five years. Because management felt that cable operations were not a strong enough engine for that growth, Viacom looked to communications and entertainment.

It also bought Video Corp. That firm's video production equipment stood to save Viacom a great deal of money on production costs. While its increased size would give Viacom clout with advertisers and advertising agencies, some industry analysts believed that the acquisitions were partly intended to discourage takeover attempts.

Buying radio and TV stations increased the firm's debt, and added broadcast licenses to Viacom's portfolio. The transfer of such licenses was a laborious process overseen by the FCC, thereby slowing down attempts to act quickly in taking over a company.

By Showtime had 3. The growth rate of syndication had declined, however, while that for cable had increased, and by Viacom had added , subscribers to the 90, it inherited from CBS, making it the ninth largest cable operator in the United States. However, a decline in pay-TV's popularity began in , and growth in the industry was virtually halted. In early , Showtime became a sister station to Warner Amex's The Movie Channel in a move calculated to increase sales for both of them.

HBO and its sister channel Cinemax were being offered on 5, of the 5, cable systems in the United States, while Showtime or The Movie Channel were available on 2, Besides having a far larger share of the market, HBO already featured many of the films shown by Showtime and The Movie Channel, removing some of the incentive for subscribing to both groups of services.

In September , Viacom purchased the MTV Networks and the other half interest in Showtime from Warner Communications, a company that needed cash because its cable interests were suffering in the unfavorable market. Again, these purchases increased Viacom's debt load, making it less attractive for a takeover. Its quick pace and flashy graphics were becoming highly influential in the media, and its young audience was a chief target of advertisers.

Established by Warner Amex in in response to a need for children's cable programming, Nickelodeon had not achieved any notable success until acquired by Viacom. Viacom quickly revamped Nickelodeon, giving it the slick, flashy look of MTV and unique programming that both appealed to children and distinguished the network from such competitors as The Disney Channel.

Viacom also introduced "Nick at Night," a block of classic sitcoms aired late in the evening, popular among an adult audience. In the next few years Nickelodeon went from being the least popular channel on basic cable to the most popular.

Man, I wonder what would be on if Viacom weren't around. Oh well. Guess I'll go watch TRL. A gigantic corporation that eats smaller corporations. Die Viacom. Ex2: Neopets was an awesome site that had plenty to do and plenty to say on the forums. Now its the dumbest site ever because they sold out to Viacom.

May Nickelodeon , MTV and the rest of them rot in hell! A multi billion dollar corporation that has shamed many once awesome things like MTV, Neopets , Nickelodeon etc.