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Viacom and CBS are officially getting back together
They were once one company, then broken up, but now Shari Redstone is re-combining CBS and Viacom. But will the re-merged companies be enough scale to survive, or will it ultimately be bought by an even bigger company?
By Michael Schneider • • 5m ListenThe CBS and Viacom deal is set to close on December 4. The merging of these two companies, who were once together, then apart, and will now recombine--will be much needed to bring the properties up to scale, but will it be enough? The companies have also been sending some mixed signals--they do have their own streaming platform, CBS All Access, but they've also continued to do deals to license their content elsewhere. Nickelodeon, a Viacom property, just made a big deal with Netflix, and HBOMax is spending $600 million for the 'South Park' library. Yet to be seen is what Viacom-CBS will do with their massive amount of library content, which includes TV shows from all three broadcast networks going all the way back to "I Love Lucy."