It ends a year of mergers and acquisitions in the media industry, which still leaves the new combined company behind many of its global competitors, including Disney and Comcast, which themselves have been busy acquiring and merging.
Nevertheless, ViacomCBS will be home to more than 140,000 premium TV episodes and 3,600 film titles and more than $13 billion in annual content investment. The combined company will account for 22% of TV viewership in the US.
UK assets include Channel 5, although the merger will mean no change to the day-to-day management of the UK's fifth channel, according to recent assurances given to Ofcom. Through CBS Studios International, ViacomCBS is involved in the CBS AMC UK Channels Partnership, which runs a number of free-to-air channels including CBS Reality and CBS Justice. Paramount Network UK, BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon and streaming service Pluto TV all come under the umbrella of the merged company.
ViacomCBS also has a 49% share in India's Viacom18, which runs a number of channels in the Asian/International sections of the Sky and Virgin EPG.
Bob Bakish, President and Chief Executive Officer of ViacomCBS said :
This is a historic moment that brings together two iconic companies to form one of the world’s most important content producers and providers. Through the combination of CBS’s and Viacom’s complementary assets, capabilities and talented teams, ViacomCBS will create and deliver premium content for its own platforms and for others, while providing innovative solutions for advertisers and distributors globally. I am excited about the opportunity we have to serve our audiences, creative and commercial partners, and employees, while generating significant long-term value for our shareholders.
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