ViacomCBS is considering a plan to rebrand its streaming services as Paramount +, as Shari Redstone seeks to revive her family’s media empire with a more open mind to a potential sale.
The death of Ms Redstone’s father, Sumner Redstone, has sparked fresh speculation this week about the fate of the company, which was once among the most powerful in Hollywood, with cable channels such as MTV and the movie studio Paramount, at home Top Gun en Star Trek, such as the CBS broadcast network.
The company’s streaming service has emerged as a central figure in revival strategy, and Bob Bakish, CEO of ViacomCBS, recently began expanding the CBS All Access app to include programming from Viacom and Paramount – something that became possible after the merger of ‘ the two Redstone-controlled companies, CBS and Viacom, last year.
The goal is to create one ‘super-service’ to compete with the likes of Disney + and Netflix.
The company has plans to reinvent this service, in part because management believes the CBS brand primarily appeals to an older audience, people familiar with the matter said. Paramount + is the top of a shortlist for the new brand and no final decision has been made, these people added.
A ViacomCBS spokeswoman said: “We are currently undergoing a thoughtful branding process that will reflect the expansion and relaunch of the service. Both existing and new original brands are considered. ”
ViacomCBS announced this month that it had reached 16m streaming subscriptions across its services, growing faster than it had predicted. Goldman Sachs analysts said the results’ should boost investor confidence in the company [streaming] strategy ”, while arguing that the market attributes“ intangible value ”to ViacomCBS’s streaming business.
Disney + had 60.5m subscribers as of early August, while Netflix had 193m subscribers at the end of June.
Mr Redstone had opposed the sale of his treasured businesses, but the rest of the Redstone family, including Shari, are more “logical” and focused on maximizing shareholder value, people familiar with the situation said.
The Redstones, like the management and board of ViacomCBS, believe their assets are undervalued after a dip in the share price, which would make a heavy sale of the whole as part of the company unlikely, these people warned.
The company has come close to raising money by selling all or some of the sprawling Paramount studio lot in Los Angeles, said three people familiar with the matter. It expected potential buyers would include real estate companies like Netflix, these people added.
The company eventually decided against the sale after finding cost savings elsewhere.
Ms Redstone took the lead over Viacom and CBS, as her father’s health declined in recent years, and the companies reunited last summer with the aim of giving them more leeway to compete with much larger rivals such as Disney and AT&T.
Since the acquisition was announced last August, the 40 percent drop in share value has removed more than $ 1 billion from Ms Redstone’s fort.
Shares in ViacomCBS, in which Redstone family-owned companies have an economic stake of about 10 percent, have been recovered from a low coronavirus of $ 11.97 to about $ 27, as the company exceeded free cash flow forecasts and hit distribution traffic for its content with Comcast, Verizon and YouTube.
