Posted on 06/25/2023 7:56:54 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
We live in interesting times. The old media giants are just money-losing properties out of phase with a new arrangement in which networks, free and cable, are being replaced with streaming subscription packages.
When Discovery found it had CNN on its hands, it tried to clean house because the cable news network is an unwanted drain.
But an even bigger legacy name in news may be circling the drain. Think Cronkite and Rather.
Equity analyst Steven Cahall of bank Wells Fargo gives Paramount Corp. another “1-2 years” of throwing “good money… after bad,” chasing a streaming profit that may never come, and riding out the last gasps of linear television, before “the break-up becomes inevitable.”
The “good money” within Paramount Global lies inside its studios, which Cahall sees as worth about $30 billion in a sale, per a note he sent to clients on Thursday…
That’s the general consensus surrounding Paramount Global: It’s got great studios and a deep library, but the suite of cable channels and other antiquated assets belong in the bargain bin. Even broadcast network CBS, despite regularly drawing the most viewers on television, is more of a burden than a blessing in potential M&A activity.
For example, NBCUniversal parent Comcast would have good reason (and good money) to buy Paramount Global in its entirety — heck, Paramount+ could even be the thing that saves Peacock — but owning both NBC and CBS is an FCC no-no.
The short version is that CBS isn’t seen as an asset anymore in the equity game, it’s a platform in an era where everyone is chasing subscription platforms, not ad-supported network viewing. (This is dumb, but that’s the current business model that the industry is using to bankrupt itself.)
(Excerpt) Read more at frontpagemag.com ...
Disney now owns a big chunk of what appears under the NewsCorp side.
I haven’t either but it does get higher ratings than cnn, msnbc and fox. I’d like all three of those to go as well.
She used to be a frequent visitor to one of the frat houses on fraternity row at NC State when she was local there.
Do you mean really old people? You must mean really old people. I'm seventy and I haven't watched network news in twenty years at least. I had watched Fox News until Aug. 6, 2015 when Me-again Kelly ambushed Candidate Trump in the first Presidential debate. She wouldn't have gotten away with that unless the Fox Executives had condoned it. I stopped watching the next day when I saw that nobody at Fox News condemned her shenanigans
She died several years ago of cancer.
“Haven’t watched network news in years.”
Me, too. And they really ‘jumped the shark’ when President in Exile Trump was in office.
If Beau has it on, I leave the room. Ugh. (He watches it to see what ‘the opposition’ is up to. I can’t stomach their LIES!)
I remember having the biggest crush on Kathleen Sullivan in the early days of CNN.
CBS-Communist Bull S**t. Can’t wait to see it gone.
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