CBS and Viacom have recently announced a merger of the two companies, with a deal that saw new name ViacomCBS valued at over $28 billion. After splitting over a decade ago, it appears they are joining forces once again to become a stronger competitor than anticipated in the streaming wars.
The content offerings which will become available as a result of the merger include both ad supported and subscription streaming services. Titles include Showtime, Pluto TV, CBS All Access and Noggin to name but a few. Furthermore, major brands such as Nickelodeon, MTV, BET, Paramount Network, Comedy Central and the CW will also be consolidated, creating a major hub for entertainment.
As part of the new library, there will be over 3600 movies and around 140,000 series episodes. What’s more, there are apparently also over 750 series either being ordered or in production.
The merger comes as news of bigger competitor Disney launching its own service in November gathers pace, and streaming giant Netflix increases its spend on original content. However, Viacom CEO Bob Bakish has declared that ViacomCBS will be “one of only a few companies with the breadth and depth of content and reach to shape the future of our industry.”
CBS was one of the first companies to launch a streaming service. CBS All Access, which costs $6 a month, features a new Star Trek series, old and current broadcast shows and a return of The Twilight Zone. However, CBS and Viacom’s merger is only one of many moves in the streaming wars. For example, Disney purchased Fox’s entertainment businesses in March for a cool $71 billion, while Time Warner was purchased last year for $81 billion by AT&T, owner of DirecTV.
The new combined company has plans to boost its content on an international scale, with acting CBS CEO Joe Ianniello stating that it will have “the best of both worlds, premium U.S. programming that seamlessly travels across borders and hundreds of thousands of hours of locally produced international programming, all available with the click of a button.”
