With streaming wars currently at their peak, a lot of media companies are taking their content back and reserving it for their own streaming services. Disney, for example is pulling their content from Netflix and making it available on Disney+. WarnerMedia is also pulling Friends from Netflix come 2020 placing the show on HBO Max. With many of these companies hoarding content for themselves, CBS, plans on continuously creating content for other platforms even under the umbrella of ViacomCBS.
During the Bank of America Merrill Lynch 2019 Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference, CBS chief creative officer David Nevins told attendees, “There’s a lot of hungry mouths to feed. We really believe in not only serving inside our own ecosystem but serving people outside. A lot of important suppliers are pulling back from demand.” The Diary of a Female President, for example, wasn’t going to be a fit for CBS, Showtime, The CW or CBS All Access, so instead, CBS Television Studios sold it to Disney+.
Nevins also claimed that unlike, Apple or AT&T, ViacomCBS’ main goal is creating content, they don’t have other products to pedal as part of their brand. He stated, “Our advantage is we’re a pure-play content company. We’re not trying to drive the telephony or a hardware business, or a retail business. Our game is to maximize the value and the revenue we can generate out of our content, be that on our platforms or others.”
The CBS and Viacom merger took place back in August, after month of speculation. The companies were previously one, but split in 2006, when former Chief, Sumner Redstone, thought they would grow faster as separate entities. Now, the companies have a definitive agreement to combine in an all-stock merger, creating a combined company with more than $28 billion in revenue.