Your Official Sunday, April 13, 2003 Randomly Selected Wiener Of The Day Champion says....
Don't know if its been reported yet but Viacom bought the other 50% of Comedy Central they did not own (now they own 100%, AOL/TW used to own half). I hope this is good news and CC won't have to get rid of some of the good shows they have. Click Here (viacom.com) for the press release.
(edited by y4j1981 on 24.4.03 2206) Click Here (hometown.aol.com)
Viacom already controlled the network for all intents and purposes. There was an eight-member oversight panel that AOLTW and Viacom both contributed four execs to, but AOLTW never really cared about the network. The channel is now under the direct control of MTV Networks, but despite what alarm bells that might set off I wouldn't expect much change.
It may or may not mean more Paramount movies heading to the network; Showtime (another Viacom property) as of late had an exclusive agreement with the studio to basically funnel releases straight to the premium net before being auctioned off to basic channels (TNT, USA, etc.) If the company's smart, they'll use that potential synergy to supply CCentral with films it might not have gotten before (granted that there are no residual lawsuits, as we saw between Alan Alda and Fox when the latter sold their repeats of MASH to Fx for practically nothing.)
The interesting thing is that AOLTW wanted to buy the other half of the network just a month ago...part of the grand plan to pay down that some $26 billion in debt. Comedy Central is profitable, but not THAT profitable.
Slightly off topic, CCentral just renewed Jon Stewert's contract for another year, taking him through next years elections as host of the Daily Show. Strange that they only gave him a 1 year extension though seeing as how he's more then doubled the ratings for the show since taking over as host and this year alone the show has grown 30% more in viewership.
I hope this isn't a sign of viacom ditching the show all together to bring in someone like Sway or Carson Daly for the show after all Jon's done for the network.
Cerebus: Barbarian, Prime Minister, Pope, Perfect House Guest.
"Graft is as necessary as throwing up when you drink too much."
I don't get HBO but I picked up on Six Feet Under during its first season when traveling (since that's the one channel you're almost guaranteed every motel has.)