Paramount Global (doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate controlled by National Amusements and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The company was formed on December 4, 2019, as ViacomCBS Inc. through the merger of the second incarnations of CBS Corporation and Viacom (which were split from the original Viacom on December 31, 2005). The company changed its name to Paramount Global on February 16, 2022, the day after its Q4 earnings presentation.
Paramount’s main properties include the namesake Paramount Pictures film and television studio, the CBS Entertainment Group (consisting of the CBS and CW television networks, television stations, BET Networks (who owns the BET and VH1 channels, among others), and other CBS-branded assets), media networks (consisting of US-based cable television networks including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, CMT, Paramount Network, and Showtime) and the company’s streaming services (including Paramount+, Showtime OTT and Pluto TV). It also has an international division that manages international versions of its pay TV networks, as well as region-specific assets including Argentina’s Telefe, Chile’s Chilevisión, India’s Colors, the United Kingdom’s Channel 5 and Australia’s Network 10. The division also owned a 30% stake in the Rainbow S.p.A. studio until 2023.
As of 2019, the company operates over 170 networks and reaches approximately 700 million subscribers in 180 countries.
The overall slowdown in the ad industry is hurting Paramount’s profits to a considerable extent. The company also plans to bring together the streaming infrastructure for Paramount+ and Showtime.
The streaming service with top Hollywood shows and films Tubi is now under the wings of Fox, a broadcast and news company. They inked a partnership worth $440 million, paid by Fox for full share control.
