CBS/Viacom Merger Talks Expected to Heat Up After Friday’s Board Meeting

Viacom and CBS

Rumors surrounding a possible CBS and Viacom merger are heating up once again, ahead of a meeting later today of the CBS Board of Directors.

FOX Business reported yesterday that the issue of the Viacom merger is expected to be brought up in the meeting. From the FOX Business piece: “People with direct knowledge of the matter say the CBS board will take up the issue of the merger at the Friday meeting and may disclose details of the talks in its aftermath. Board members will likely review some of the topics that have been informally proposed during the preliminary talks, including – as FOX Business has reported – broad deal terms and management structure. “ Spokespeople for both CBS and Viacom declined to comment on the story.

If CBS and Viacom forge ahead with a merger, they could have a combined market value of around $30 billion dollars, according to the FOX Business piece. CBS currently leads the broadcast network television market in terms of ratings, and its CBS All Access streaming service is commonly noted to be one of the second-tier big players, outside of behemoths like Netflix and Amazon. Viacom brings with it Paramount Pictures (and notably, the film rights to Star Trek), as well as cable networks MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon, among others.