By Wojtek Mrozowski

What does Viacom own?• Viacom owns a lot of different properties in almost every format. They own all of the

paramount film production studios. They won MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, as their TV platforms. Viacom also owns various websites linked to their properties

This sums up the properties of Viacom…

Notable successes • Some of their most notable successes include Nickelodeon, MTV, GameTrailers.com,

VH1 The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. All of these programs have been around for a very long time and are very recognizable and very well known.

• Most of them started in the 80s-90s and have been going strong ever since the day they started. MTV is still brining in millions of dollars and so is Nickelodeons. Unfortunately Jon Stewart from The Daily Show retired, and Stephen Colbert moved onto the Late Night Show which is not owned by Viacom. Gametrailers.com was closed down but all of the employees moved to Rooster Teeth and will continue to produce content there.

Media platforms • Viacom is on almost all media platforms, they’re on TV, on the internet, radio, movies

and music. They have a very big area of operations. They also are involved in book publishing, film publishing and producing, magazines and television production.

• Viacom Media networks brands are divided into four groups: BET Networks, including BET and Centric: the Entertainment Group, including Comedy Central, Spike and TV Land: the Music Group, including CMT, Logo, MTV and VH1: and the Nickelodeon Group, which includes Nickelodeon and its related brands.

• Paramount Pictures is one of the largest entertainment and media brands in the world, paramount pictures is responsible for the worldwide production, sales and marketing of films from prestigious and internationally recognized movie labels. The company is responsible for distributing filmed entertainment from Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Marvel Studios, MTV Films and Nickelodeons Movies

Finances • The company’s revenue is about 3,700 million dollars for every 3 months. Their gross

profit is about 1,800 million every 3 months. The company spends about 700 millions dollars on their general expenses.

Viacom Finances throughout 2015Viacom Finances on the day of writing

Where do they operate • Viacom operates mainly in America but it has gotten large enough to enter over 160

different countries all over the world• Viacom is available all over the world and the only region they don’t operate in is

Greenland and countries in the Middle East and Central Africa. • They offer most of their programmes in both Europe and America with only limited

regional difference (Europe has VIVA which is a more disco-pop music programme which wouldn’t be popular in America). Most of the Southern and Eastern hemisphere only have the most popular programmes such as Comedy Central, MTV and Nickelodeon, with again only minor differences.

• The Viacom brands are very well received all over the world and are popular in most places they operate in. Viacom’s popularity seems to be higher in Europe than in America because the American population has a problem with the weak and expensive internet provided by Viacom, which effects their opinion on the company.

Who owns Viacom • Viacom is currently owned by National Amusements INC.

• National Amusements Inc. operates movie theatres in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Ohio, Argentina, Brazil and the United Kingdom. The company offers theatre rentals for meetings, sales conferences, product launches and private events. Its facilities include restaurants, cocktail lounge, food courts and concession stands. In addition, the company operates MovieTickets.com, an online ticketing service. National Amusements, Inc. was founded in 1936 and is based in Norwood, Massachusetts

Brief history • Viacom as we know it today was created on January 3rd 2006 as an off spin of the original

Viacom created by CBS back in 1971. in 2005 the original Viacom was supposed to split into two different companies because of stagnating stock prices and rivalries the heads of MTV. After 2006 the company became very successful and very profitable and began to purchase as many profitable properties as they could get away with

• Quick Rundown of the history• Viacom was formed in 1970. Viacom formally became a separate company in 1971 and

became the largest cable firm in America. In 1973 the fragmentation in the cable industry inhibits growth. The company establishes ShowTime movie network to compete with HBO in 1976. Viacom invests $65 million in cable infrastructure. They purchase MTV in 1985. Summer M. Redstone buys Viacom in 1986. Viacom files lawsuits against HBO in 1989. Paramount and Blockbuster bought by Viacom in 1994. Viacom spins off cable systems in 1996. Viacom buys CBS in 2000. Redstone steps down as CEO in 2004.

Newsworthy stories/scandals • Viacom has only been around for a decade so they haven’t gotten involved in too

many law suits or scandals, but the one they did get into was pretty big. In 2007 Viacom sent 100.000 Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notices to YouTube and as a result 60-70 videos were removed as a result. Viacom also filed a 1 billion dollar copyright infringement claim against Google.