Flare Sci-Fi Forums: The CBS/Viacom deal and its affects on Trek

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Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :

Well, the rumors have been confirmed.

Viacom, the parent company of Paramount Pictures, has purchased the Columbia Broadcasting System, famous for frumpy sitcoms and frumpier news programming.

In light of UPN's recent troubles, it seems likely that a merger between the two networks is indeed a possibility. A more stable network would be likely to support Voyager for its entire run, as well as host The Fifth Series. However, are these networks a good fit? CBS is the antithesis of UPN. Walker, Texas Ranger and Cosby don't work with 7 Days and Dilbert.

It ought to be interesting to see Berman and Co.'s reaction.

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"Well, I guess we're an Ovaltine family."
"MORE OVALTINE PLEASE!"
-American Radio Ads... *gag*... one more reason I'm glad to be above the 49th.

Posted by Krenim (Member # 22) on :

Voyager on CBS, huh? Up until a year ago, I might have been opposed to this idea. However, since my hometown's evil cable company took away the FOX affiliate that was running DS9/Voyager, a move to CBS might actually be a good thing. (Assuming of course that the show doesn't have to be changed to be on CBS.)

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"Alright... Who wrote 'Beavis and Butthead rule' on the back of my skull?"

- Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Star Trek Parody, The Critic

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Aren't there, like, monopoly issues here?

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"Just because you're floating doesn't mean you haven't drowned."
--
They Might Be Giants

Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :

I think they would keep the networks seperate. CBS is the big time, and I think they are the ones that own ESPN. Maybe other cable channels. NBC has CNBC, without crossover programing. They will likley keep them apart.

I saw a story one the news that was talking about NBC's problems on Thursday night, and what the compitition was, they said that UPN had become a major player for Thursday night, with smackdown, or whatever they are calling their wrestling.

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Outside of a dog, a book is a mans best friend. Inside of a dog, it's to dark to read. Groucho Marx

Posted by Elim Garak (Member # 14) on :

Yes yes yes! Now I could get Voyager the same time as everyone else.

Uhm... *ahems* There are monoploy factors, but, frankly, the current U.S. administration has overlooked infractions almost as large, so I doubt they'll say anything this time...

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Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")

[This message has been edited by Elim Garak (edited September 07, 1999).]

Posted by Elim Garak (Member # 14) on :

The future of Star Trek...?

There are two ways to look at it: The utterly dismal belief that network television will corrupt the franchise (by possibly being forced to change to conform to the new network programming) and the belief that, by exposing Star Trek to the largest audience in years (seeing how it may be moved to CBS, the highest-rated [overall] network there is in the U.S.), Trek will prosper in film and on TV, guaranteeing a fifth series and that not waiting could almost be a good thing.

I prefer to go for the more optimistic approach.

I'm also thinking that it's highly doubtful that Voyager's sixth season will be affected, unless that stickler of a rule that someone cannot own two networks comes up (although Viacom would own all of CBS and only part of UPN). Then Voyager's future could lie in shadows of mystery...

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Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")

Posted by Chimaera on :

I'm not entirely clear on what Voyager's current status is: syndication or network show. I always thought it was syndicated, since it appeared on at least two networks I got down in Vancouver (Fox and UPN), in which case a merger wouldn't affect Voyager at all, unless the new merged network decided to drop it. After all, in a syndicated series, the networks, as far as I know, don't excercise much, if any, control over the series plot etc. Just because Paramount owns trek and UPN doesn't necessarily mean UPN owns Voyager.

But, if Voyager does fall under exclusive control of one network, I wouldn't be suprised to see it, and possible any other series, die a quick and painful death. After all, just look what happened to the B5/Crusade universe when TNT took it over

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"But, it was so artistically done."
-Grand Admiral Thrawn

Posted by Elim Garak (Member # 14) on :

Voyager is surely a network show. But like many network shows, it's syndicated, mostly where there's no UPN affiliate or so that the episodes are shown after they're shown on all UPN stations. (For example, the WB has Show X that aitrs on Wednesday. Your local UPN station may choose to air Show X every Sunday, four days after it was originally shown on the WB affiliates.)

But I doubt they'd get rid of Voyager... I mean, look at the possibilities for CBS. It would be far more profitable to put it on CBS than to leave it as it is right now, on UPN...

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Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")

[This message has been edited by Elim Garak (edited September 07, 1999).]

Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :

The thing is, UPN is kinda, well, redundant now. Paramount is a big studio and for many years it produced a hell of a lot of programming for other networks (today it still does Becker for CBS and ET for ABC, for instance) and then syndicated the rest to individual stations(DS9 and TNG). It was hoped that with UPN, Paramount could phase out giving its stuff out to the other networks and instead stick it on its own. With CBS allied to it, UPN is rather useless.

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"Well, I guess we're an Ovaltine family."
"MORE OVALTINE PLEASE!"
-American Radio Ads... *gag*... one more reason I'm glad to be above the 49th.

Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :

Oh, and I really don't think there are any monopoly issues here. This is no different than, say, Ford buying Michelin. If Disney could grab ABC, I can't see why comparitively smaller Viacom couldn't get a network, too. It's still far smaller a juggernaut than say, News Corp (Fox and friends) or Time-Warner (the Dubyah-Bee and TBS)

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"Well, I guess we're an Ovaltine family."
"MORE OVALTINE PLEASE!"
-American Radio Ads... *gag*... one more reason I'm glad to be above the 49th.

Posted by Elim Garak (Member # 14) on :

This is no small merger.

Viacom owns numerous, numerous major parties such as Blockbuster, MTV, Paramount Pictures, Paramount Parks, UPN, Simon & Schuster, Famous Players, Spelling TV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Showtime... The list goes on and on.

Viacom will now boast being the second largest entertainment and media company to ever exist, towering in at U.S.$80 billion dollars' worth, and dozens of renowned companies.

(Just for your information, $35 billion of that is CBS, which could, at its current outstanding rate, pay itself off in a matter of years.)

So, in Viacom assimilating CBS, this is the largest media transaction in history. There are bound to be possibilities of legal problems of hurdles.

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Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")

[This message has been edited by Elim Garak (edited September 07, 1999).]

Posted by KXZ (Member # 119) on :

Voyager on CBS??? Works for me. I found out earlier this summer that the station I have be faithfully watching Voyager on will be no longer carrying it. Another station from that city will, but I don't get it. The Fox I get with Star Trek on used to show Voyager, but now they show a TNG then a DS9. Now that DS9 is over the will show Voyager. Only problem is that it is sydicated reruns. I was left in the middle of Equinox. If Voyager goes on CBS, I'll be able to watch the new ones.

Posted by Elim Garak (Member # 14) on :

I don't think Voyager could be on CBS until its seventh season begins, unless there are complications forcing it onto CBS impromtu, and at Paramount's prodding...

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Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")

Posted by The First One (Member # 35) on :

Not that us non-North Americans care, but I can see it now - Star Trek: Crusade. . . 8)

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Having given this some thought, I don't think we'll notice any change at all in CBS or any other Viacom property. It's just money shuffling, after all.

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"Just because you're floating doesn't mean you haven't drowned."
--
They Might Be Giants

Posted by Diane (Member # 53) on :

(I just heard about this on the radio)
Actually, Viacom would probably have to get rid of UPN because of a federal rule that prohibits a firm from owning more than one network. There's also a law that allows a single firm to reach no more than 35% of the nation's viewers, and CBS already has 32%.

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"I told you. You're dead. This is the afterlife. And I'm God."
--Q to Picard, "Tapestry".

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

Ok, I think I'm going to have to change my tune. Here's the news article from the IMDb.

VIACOM BUYS CBS

Viacom announced today (Tuesday) that it is buying CBS Corp. for $34.45 billion in stock -- the biggest media merger in history. The new company will be headed by Sumner Redstone, who will retain the titles of chairman and CEO, while CBS chief Mel Karmazin will be named president and COO. The merger, which had been hinted at but discounted by most analysts during the past week, caught many media watchers off guard. "We assumed the strong personalities of Redstone and Karmazin would prohibit such a merger," Fred Moran, analyst at ING Barings, told Bloomberg News. In a statement, Karmazin said, "The new, combined company will be the pre-eminent media company in the world, with great strength in content and distribution across virtually every kind of media that serves the public, both here in the United States and internationally." The statement said that while the new company will be called Viacom, "the world-famous CBS brand will continue to greet viewers and listeners." Still up in the air is the fate of the troubled UPN network, which Viacom partly owns through its Paramount TV division. (By law, no company may own two television networks.) Ironically, CBS itself once owned Viacom, selling off the company in 1969 to comply with a government rule that barred networks from owning the programs that they aired.

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"Just because you're floating doesn't mean you haven't drowned."
--
They Might Be Giants

Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :

UPN could cease to be a network, and go strickly cable. Otherwise, I'd say it's a goner.

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Outside of a dog, a book is a mans best friend. Inside of a dog, it's to dark to read. Groucho Marx

Posted by Elim Garak (Member # 14) on :

But Viacom only owns roughly half of UPN, so what does that mean in light of being only able to own one network? Who knows...?

They could let Cris-Craft or whatever buy them out of UPN and keep the stations they own (some of which are actually in areas where there's no CBS!), converting them into CBS stations, just nudging the 35% rule...?

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Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")

Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :

If it means I'll finally be able to watch Star Trek, in any of its incarnations, on a clear, non-snowy picture, I'm all for it.

If not, bleah on it.

If it has an adverse effect... nuke the bastiches.

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"We shall not yield to you, nor to any man." -- Freak, The Mighty.

Posted by Chimaera on :

Here in Canada, CBC Newsworld airs the BBC World news at three in the afternoon local time. I watched their piece on the merger yesterday, and ironically enough the movie scene they chose to show while the reporter was talking was of the Titanic sinking, after it had broken in half and the stern was plunging into the water. A bit of unintentional foreshadowing of UPN's future, perhaps?

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"But, it was so artistically done."
-Grand Admiral Thrawn

Posted by Montgomery (Member # 23) on :

All hail the all-conquering Viacom, eh?

Next they'll be butting heads with Bill Gates...

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Oh Mr Rasberry, so sharp your juices!

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

It looks like Viacom is eager to drop UPN, according to this news story.

VIACOM DOESN'T WANT ITS UPN

Viacom has told the FCC that it will not contest any regulatory decision requiring it to sell off its 50-percent stake in UPN, Broadcasting and Cable reported over the weekend, citing sources familiar with the Viacom-CBS merger. The trade publication said that Viacom has already informed the commission that it has no compelling financial interest in keeping the network, a money loser since its inception. Broadcasting and Cable observed that the company's position "puts the FCC in a quandary because it is unclear whether UPN would attract viable buyers, and regulators do not want to see one of the fledgling nets go out of business -- particularly one whose programming targets minority audiences."

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"Recombination, then Viacom; Safeway."
--
Soul Coughing

Posted by KXZ (Member # 119) on :

So, do you think Voyager will be on CBS?

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

No, not really. For one thing, there are contractual obligations. I don't think Viacom could move Voyager even if they wanted to.

But there is the question of the next series. Personally, I don't see it happening. I just don't see Star Trek as being mainstream enough. Maybe back in the days of TNG, but now? Also, Trek really doesn't seem to fit into the long term plans of the Tiffany network.

My guess? The fifth series is going to return to the tried and true syndication format.

At any rate, at the soonest, it'll be a year before any new Star Trek shows up. So we'll have some time to observe what the outcomes of this deal are, if any. (Unless of course we get some update at startrek.com..."Star Trek goes mainstream!" Boy, would my face be red.)

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"Recombination, then Viacom; Safeway."
--
Soul Coughing

Posted by Obi Juan (Member # 90) on :

I really don't know if CBS will try to field the next Star Trek series or not. Do we want it to? Would any of the TNG-on series lasted more than on season on any of thew big three? I seriously doubt it. I believe that TNG itself, which has been the biggest money maker of all three, wouldn't even lasted a whole season. The big three are interested in quick returns and instant gratification. They don't generally wait three seasons for a poorly rated show to hit its stride.
Instead of suffering from the pitfalls that plague most syndicated televison show (before TNG, syndicated=crap), Star Trek has prospered from it. In fact the one new series that was produced on a network (maybe pseudo network would be a little more accurate) has performed very poorly. In other words, I think that syndication is the only viable format for producing another quality and lasting Star Trek program.