Viacom

The prospect of a reunion of CBS and Viacom, which were first brought together in 2000 by Sumner Redstone, carries numerous questions. But the biggest boils down to: WWLD — What Would Leslie (Moonves) Do? Here’s a look at key factors that will be part of the conversation in the coming weeks.

Media buyers agree that a possible Viacom-CBS reunion could lead to complementary audiences, ad products and possible discounts for bulk buys across multiple clients.

Viacom formed a special committee of independent directors on Friday to evaluate a potential merger with CBS. The new committee comprises Thomas May, Nicole Seligman, Kenneth Lerer, Judith McHale,Ronald Nelson and Charles Phillips.

Time Warner and Viacom are among bidders circling Telefónica SA’s Argentine television broadcaster Telefe for a potential acquisition, people familiar with the discussions said. The deal could allow one of the U.S. media companies to gain a greater presence in Latin America.

Sumner Redstone’s National Amusements Inc., the controlling shareholder of CBS Corp. and Viacom Inc., is preparing to call on the two media companies to explore a merger, two people familiar with the matter said today.

Moody’s Investor Service downgraded Viacom’s credit following the struggling media company’s disclosure that it would tap debt markets to maintain its liquidity. The ratings firm on Thursday lowered Viacom’s credit to one notch above junk status.

Viacom’s new interim CEO and president, Tom Dooley, is set to exit the company — yes, already. Additionally, the company has dropped its dividend payout and formally called off the search for a Paramount buyer, which the Redstone family was always against. Dooley will depart on Nov. 15, an attempt to maintain some semblance of stability in the extreme short term. He only technically replaced Philippe Dauman within the past few weeks.

CBS and Viacom are “not in active discussions” for a potential reunion, Leslie Moonves said on Thursday, adding, “or anything like that.” “We are a standalone public company,” the broadcast boss continued. “We’re really happy with the hand we are playing.”

Opponents of the FCC’s set-top box market reforms are putting more pressure on Democratic Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel, seen as the swing vote on the hotly-contested item. In a filing on Friday, a set of programming companies disclosed that they spoke with Rosenworcel last week and said that “any arrangement in which they are required to allow their content to be distributed on terms or conditions to which programmers would not agree would be tantamount to a compulsory copyright license, which the Commission lacks authority to impose.”

The odds are growing that Viacom Inc. will halve its dividend next week to help pay down debt, a move that the company long resisted under former CEO Philippe Dauman. The media giant, which owns cable networks like MTV and Nickelodeon, normally declares a quarterly dividend by early August but hasn’t done so since a 40-cent-a-share payout announced in May.

Viacom has hired Morgan Stanley and LionTree to review its capital structure, a source familiar with the situation said on Wednesday, as the media company seeks ways to shore up its finances in the face of falling advertising sales. The review is a short-term assignment, said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter and requested anonymity.

Philippe Dauman, the former Viacom CEO who is still non-executive chairman of the board, has effectively left the conglomerate, waiving a deal where he would present an offer from Dalian Wanda Group to purchase a 49% stake in Paramount Pictures. At the same time, the Viacom board could be facing a potential legal standoff with the top executive at the film studio.

Shari Redstone has taken control at Viacom after vanquishing challengers. Now comes the hard part: deciding what to do with all that power. The daughter of 93-year-old billionaire Sumner Redstone, whose frail health ignited the power struggle in which she triumphed, is considering recombining Viacom with CBS Corp., according to people familiar with the matter.

For Thomas Dooley, securing the job as chief executive of Viacom Inc. might have been the easy part. Fixing the struggling media company will take more work.

The recently expanded board of the entertainment conglomerate has been convening daily since Monday to weigh major topics of the company’s future, including selling a minority stake in Paramount — with a path for the potential buyer to acquire all of the Hollywood studio at a later date — and the potential sale of all of Viacom, or a possible recombination of Viacom with CBS.

The dominoes are falling at Viacom. Days after CEO Philippe Daumon’s ouster, longtime head of corporate communications has resigned. Carl Folta had been at the company for more than two decades.

Sumner Redstone’s granddaughter Keryn Redstone did not participate in Viacom’s boardroom settlement last week, and would like an opportunity to weigh in, according to court papers filed Monday morning.

With Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman officially out, analysts are renewing calls for Viacom and CBS to recombine and for Viacom to sell off the struggling Paramount.

Media mogul Sumner Redstone’s boardroom war for control of Viacom Inc. has ended in victory with the resignation of Chief Executive Philippe Dauman and the installation of new members to the company’s board. Viacom’s board late Thursday elected Thomas Dooley as CEO.

With key court dates approaching, negotiations to bring an end to the bitter struggle at the top of Viacom have taken on new urgency in the past week, according to sources familiar with the situation.

Talks have accelerated to end the bitter boardroom dispute between Sumner and Shari Redstone and Viacom’s top officers, with CEO Philippe Dauman expected to leave with a generous exit package, according to three people close to the situation.

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman and the media conglomerate’s owners — Sumner and Shari Redstone — have restarted negotiations aimed at ending a months-long feud over who will control large pieces of the Redstones’ $43 billion media empire.

Viacom is the only major media company that hasn’t made a big digital acquisition. But a management shake-up currently going on could change Viacom’s approach to the internet, with possible acquisition targets that could include BuzzFeed, according to sources. While the publisher has made no public plans to sell and is likely to seek an IPO next year, a proposed new slate of board directors at Viacom could alter that calculus.

Top Viacom executives recently held discussions with Sumner Redstone’s holding company, National Amusements, to settle litigation surrounding the media mogul’s empire. Discussions fell through last week but included Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman stepping down

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman appears to have won a partial victory in his effort to remain a central player in Sumner Redstone’s media empire.  A Massachusetts judge has decided to take a case by Dauman and Viacom director George Abrams challenging Redstone’s ability to restructure his family trust and the board of his National Amusements, which owns 80% of the votes at Viacom and CBS. But the court did not agree with Dauman’s request to order an immediate examination of the 93-year-old.

Ad time on A&E was down 10% during the second quarter, while AMC Networks was down 7.4%, Time Warner networks were down 5% and Viacom outlets trimmed 3%, according to Bernstein Research, in its analysis of TiVo Research & Analytics data.

Viacom is experimenting with new technology at four of its networks, including MTV and Nickelodeon, that involves new show formats incorporating live video from the We. Digiday looks at what’s coming out of the five-person Viacom Labs, a mere two-month old unit slated to triple in size over the coming year along with growing outside tech collaborations with companies like Giphy and FlickerLab.

Moves for more Star Trek couldn’t come at a better time for CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves and Viacom leader Philippe Dauman. Moonves is attempting to position the CBS All Access OTT service as an attractive add-on for cord-cutters or -nevers with a Netflix or Amazon subscription, and a brand with a devoted fan base like Star Trek could help the recruitment effort.

Viacom Inc. CEO Philippe Dauman and COO Thomas Dooley have reserved their legal right to resign “with good reason” in a move to protect tens of millions of dollars in potential severance pay. According to regulatory filings made public on Monday, Dauman and Dooley sent letters reserving the right to resign if a judge issues a final order approving Sumner Redstone’s action last month to remove Dauman and four other directors from Viacom’s board.

Viacom Inc.’s plan to sell a stake in its historic Hollywood movie studio, Paramount Pictures, suffered another setback Friday when the Redstone family publicly reaffirmed its opposition. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman has reportedly been negotiating with Chinese entertainment giant Dalian Wanda Group over the studio.

Lawyers for besieged Viacom boss Philippe Dauman have begun settlement talks with entrenched foes — Shari Redstone and her 93-year-old founder father, Sumner — to try to end the nonstop litigation over who’s running the company.

It’s strike two against Manuela Herzer. A Los Angeles judge on Monday denied a request by Sumner Redstone’s former girlfriend for a new trial that could reinstate her as the ailing mogul’s health-care proxy.

Affiliate-fee renewal conversions have been so challenging for Sumner Redstone’s entertainment giant — including a price cut at AT&T’s DirecTV — that overall affiliate-fee revenue will swing from an expected 2% increase to a 10% decline, Wells Fargo’s Marci Ryvicker, said in an investment note Monday.

Mario Gabelli, the second-largest shareholder in Viacom behind Sumner Redstone, said he believes billionaire John Malone is cooking up a deal for the company. Malone weighed in on the battle for control of the New York media conglomerate Thursday at Allen & Co.’s exclusive business confab in Sun Valley, saying the company’s assets are undervalued because of all the drama around it.

A handful of the world’s top programmers said they support the pay TV industry’s “Ditch the Box” proposal for opening up set-top boxes — however they urged the FCC to ensure that their own apps on a set-top box be given “parity” with pay TV providers’ apps.

The battle over Sumner Redstone’s $40 billion Viacom empire resumed arguments at a Massachusetts courthouse on Thursday. Lawyers for the plaintiffs, Philippe Dauman and George Abrams, argued that Redstone, 93 and in failing health, was mentally incapacitated and had been unduly influenced by his daughter Shari Redstone. Redstone’s side argued that their client had the mental capacity to make decisions regarding his entertainment conglomerate, which includes Viacom and CBS.

Viacom said Wednesday that Sean Moran, who had most recently been EVP of national brand sales, would now serve as head of marketing and partner solutions. He replaces Jeff Lucas, who will join Snapchat.

Viacom and its CEO Philippe Dauman asked two courts today to order an immediate exam of controlling shareholder Sumner Redstone to determine whether the 93-year-old is competent to run his media empire. “The necessity of an immediate mental examination cannot be overstated,” Dauman’s lawyers told the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court.