Topic summary

Split of CBS Corporation and Viacom

Split of CBS Corporation and Viacom

On December 31, 2005, American mass media company Viacom split into two companies: the second CBS Corporation, its successor (the first being a short lived rename of Westinghouse Electric) which held the namesake flagship channel CBS, CBS News, CBS Sports, Showtime Networks, UPN (which later merged with The WB to form the CW, co-owned by Time Warner), Smithsonian Channel, Simon and Schuster, Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, Viacom Outdoor, and Paramount Television, and an entirely new Viacom which held Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Noggin, Nicktoons, TEENick, Music Television, Black Entertainment Television, Video Hits One, Country Music Television, and later DreamWorks, respectively. It was first announced in March 2005. The companies were controlled under National Amusements' control because of a stagnating stock price.

They would later re-merge into ViacomCBS, later Paramount Global, which would merge with Skydance Media to become Paramount Skydance.