Weekend Reading: Freston, Moonves Look Back, Forward As Viacom Split Nears

Two long pieces from Diane Mermigas about the soon-to-diverge paths of MTV and CBS. To recap, when Viacom unbundles into two separate companies Jan. 1, Tom Freston will be president and CEO of “new” Viacom, including the MTV Networks, and Leslie Moonves will be president and CEO of CBS. Sumner Redstone keeps the one ring to rule them all; he’ll be chairman of both companies. Freston and Moonves each have ramped up digital, interactive and mobile efforts in the past year and will continue that intense focus after the split.

New CBS banks on content
: Moonves: “”Our future success will depend on maximizing the use of our great entertainment, news and sports content everywhere and being paid for it.”
– “What we discovered from TiVo is that people who use TiVo watch 60% more television. So, I’m not losing viewers, I’m gaining viewers. The same with the Internet and with VOD.”
– “It’s fair to say the Comcast deal is only a precursor of things to come. These are baby steps into the world of new media from the existing content of old media.”

Newly born Viacom is ready to deliver: Freston says, “Digital is booming and it’s raining money, and it’s going to rain money for 20 years.” But that doesn’t discount cable or detract from its value to the company.
– “I think we’ll have the largest global footprint of any content provider in the wireless digital space.. This is the area of greatest growth in our company and the area of greatest focus.”
– “Eventually we will sell commercial-free programs to device or platform distributors, but for now, we remain advertising supported.”

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