By Mae Anderson, Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --Media mogul Sumner Redstone is pushing for a reunion between CBS and Viacom, more than a decade after they went their separate ways.
National Amusements, which owns most of the voting shares of the two companies, sent a letter to CBS and Viacom board members Thursday saying that a tie-up would help the two companies to better compete as technology and the entertainment industry rapidly evolve.
National Amusements is a movie theater operator run by Redstone, who orchestrated the split of CBS and Viacom in 2006.
It was hoped that separation would allow the more profitable Viacom, which owns cable channels MTV, Nickelodeon and VH1, to sprint ahead of the storied but slow-growing CBS.
Those tides have turned as more and more people cut the cable cord, choosing instead to stream TV shows or movies online at places like Netflix, Hulu, iTunes and Amazon.com.
The success CBS has had streaming its shows, as well as its stand-alone, streaming Showtime channel, could be invaluable at Viacom, said Nomura analyst Anthony DiClemente.
The streaming services could even fall under a single umbrella, DiClemente said.
Viacom said it expects its board will form a special committee of independent directors to consider the letter from parent company National Amusements. CBS said it will evaluate what is in the best interest of its shareholders.
The letter from National Amusements follows a long running legal battle over the fate of Redstone's media empire between longtime Viacom CEO Phillippe Dauman and Sumner Redstone's daughter, Shari. The fight ended with Shari Redstone as a Viacom director and president of National Amusements, and Dauman's departure.
Viacom's interim CEO Tom Dooley will leave Nov. 15. Some have speculated that CBS CEO Les Moonves could to take charge if the two companies again become one, although Moonves has said in the past that he doesn't think a merger is a good idea.
There would be tangible financial benefits to the tie up, however.
The companies take from affiliates would increase, according to MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Nathanson. The companies right now deliver a combined 23 percent of national viewers, but are paid only 14 percent of affiliate fees.
And Viacom's networks would fare better if they were CBS branded, Nathanson believes.
Nathanson called a possible reunion "the next chapter in a story that in our minds should have never occurred to begin with."
In a letter to the board, Redstone said National Amusements would not accept a buyout by a third party or any deal in which it would lose a controlling stake in CBS or Viacom.
Rom-Com Mainstay Hugh Grant Shifts To The Dark Side and He’s Never Been Happier
After some difficulties connecting to a Zoom, Hugh Grant eventually opts to just phone instead.
"Sorry about that," he apologizes. "Tech hell." Grant is no lover of technology. Smart phones, for example, he calls the "devil's tinderbox."
"I think they're killing us. I hate them," he says. "I go on long holidays from them, three or four days at at time. Marvelous."
Hell, and our proximity to it, is a not unrelated topic to Grant's new film, "Heretic." In it, two young Mormon missionaries (Chloe East, Sophie Thatcher) come knocking on a door they'll soon regret visiting. They're welcomed in by Mr. Reed (Grant), an initially charming man who tests their faith in theological debate, and then, in much worse things.
After decades in romantic comedies, Grant has spent the last few years playing narcissists, weirdos and murders, often to the greatest acclaim of his career. But in "Heretic," a horror thriller from A24, Grant's turn to the dark side reaches a new extreme. The actor who once charmingly stammered in "Four Weddings and a Funeral" and who danced to the Pointer Sisters in "Love Actually" is now doing heinous things to young people in a basement.
"It was a challenge," Grant says. "I think human beings need challenges. It makes your beer taste better in the evening if you've climbed a mountain. He was just so wonderfully (expletive)-up."
"Heretic," which opens in theaters Friday, is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, co-writers of "A Quiet Place." In Grant's hands, Mr. Reed is a divinely good baddie — a scholarly creep whose wry monologues pull from a wide range of references, including, fittingly, Radiohead's "Creep."
In an interview, Grant spoke about these and other facets of his character, his journey... Read More