Viacom

In a move that could foretell QVC Network's ultimate victory, Paramount Communications Inc. on Tuesday agreed to auction itself under rules reportedly recommended in large measure by QVC weeks ago in trying to halt a friendly Paramount merger with Viacom Inc. The board called for final bids to be submitted by Monday, but promised to let shareholders decide the company's fate in January by tendering their stock to the bidder of their choice.

Despite a vexing ratings slump at its children's network Nickelodeon, Viacom Inc.'s second-quarter profit soared 56%. The strong earnings were produced by higher fees from pay-television operators and lower expenses at the media company's Paramount Pictures movie studio. For the quarter ended March 31, Viacom earned $585 million, or $1.07 a share, up from $376 million, or 63 cents, a year earlier. Revenue grew 2% to $3.33 billion. "Across our divisions we sharpened our focus on execution and efficiency while continuing to invest in programming," Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman told analysts in a Thursday morning conference call.

Billionaire Sumner Redstone last year got a 39% boost in compensation — to $21 million — for his role as executive chairman of Viacom Inc. But Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman took home considerably less than he did in the company's previous fiscal year, when compensation totaling $84.5 million made him the highest-paid executive in corporate America. In 2011, Dauman got $43 million in salary, stock and other benefits, according to the company's proxy filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Two Broke Girls" and one rich CEO. CBS Corp. Chief Executive Leslie Moonves vaulted to the top of the media pay ladder in 2011 with a compensation package valued at $69.9 million, according to documents filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The 62-year-old executive's package jumped 21% over the $57.7 million that he reaped in 2010. For the last two years, Moonves has received bonuses of $27.5 million. Moonves' base salary was $3.5 million. Last year, he also received nearly $8.5 million in stock and options awards valued at $27.3 million.

Viacom Inc., the owner of MTV Networks and Paramount studios, said it would transfer its stock listing to Nasdaq from the New York Stock Exchange to save on expenses. Its Class B shares will trade under ticker symbol VIAB and its Class A voting shares will trade under VIA, the company said Friday. A listing at Nasdaq, owned by Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., will be "more cost effective," Viacom said. Viacom, based in New York, reported fourth-quarter profit Thursday that exceeded analysts' estimates and added $6 billion for stock buybacks.

Cost-cutting and robust holiday-season sales of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" and "Star Trek" DVDs propelled Viacom Inc. to a fourfold increase in fourth-quarter profit. Viacom reported Thursday that it earned $694 million, or $1.14 a share, compared with $172 million, or 28 cents, a year earlier. The jump in earnings was, in large part, because of a $454-million restructuring charge taken in the period in 2008. Revenue, however, fell 3% to $4.1 billion for the quarter, reflecting continued weakness in the TV advertising market.

The three top executives of media company Viacom Inc. received a total compensation of nearly $165 million in fiscal 2010, underscoring that despite tougher times for the entertainment business, the industry's executives continue to rank among the highest paid in America. The disclosures came in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Viacom, which owns Paramount Pictures and cable television channels MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. Chief Executive Philippe Dauman was awarded salary, stock and other benefits totaling $84.5 million in the fiscal year, which comprised the first nine months of 2010, according to the documents filed Friday.

A federal appeals court has given Viacom a second chance to prove its copyright infringement claims against Google's YouTube, reviving a high-stakes battle between entertainment companies and Internet entrepreneurs over "user-generated content" sites. The decision Thursday by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals was a partial win for both sides, but it left a few important issues unsettled as it tried to strike the right balance between competing interests. Viacom — a giant entertainment conglomerate whose assets include Paramount Pictures and Comedy Central — alleged that YouTube made more than 60,000 snippets of its content available for free, damaging the market for its movies and TV shows.

Viacom Inc. has been ordered to pay an additional $383 million to the makers of Rock Band, the latest development in a long and costly saga surrounding the media giant's failed attempt to enter the video game business. In a regulatory filing, Viacom, the owner of MTV Networks and Paramount Pictures, said accountants in a private arbitration process determined that it owes the money to former shareholders of Harmonix Music Systems Inc. on top of a $150-million bonus payment that it previously made.

Viacom Inc. and the former owners of the studio that makes its Rock Band video games are enmeshed in a legal battle, wrangling over hundreds of millions of dollars at the same time that sales of the games are plummeting. Former shareholders in Harmonix Music Systems have filed a lawsuit that has triggered a high-stakes arbitration proceeding with Viacom just as the media giant is attempting to sell the video game maker after years of losses. The legal and financial morass is likely to complicate that effort.

A federal appeals court judge has revived a $1-billion copyright infringement lawsuit by Viacom Inc.against Google Inc.'sYouTube, reopening a high-profile clash between old and new media. The dispute - which began when established media conglomerates were struggling to cope with the disruption of online video - reflected a frantic effort by Viacom to halt unauthorized snippets of its TV shows from showing up online. Ironically, the ruling, which revives the 2007 legal conflict, comes in the same week that YouTube announced an online movie distribution agreement with Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures.

A federal appeals court has given Viacom a second chance to prove its copyright infringement claims against Google's YouTube, reviving a high-stakes battle between entertainment companies and Internet entrepreneurs over "user-generated content" sites. The decision Thursday by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals was a partial win for both sides, but it left a few important issues unsettled as it tried to strike the right balance between competing interests. Viacom — a giant entertainment conglomerate whose assets include Paramount Pictures and Comedy Central — alleged that YouTube made more than 60,000 snippets of its content available for free, damaging the market for its movies and TV shows.

Time Warner Inc. Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes is indisputably among the nation's highest-paid executives, but compared with his fellow media moguls, he is eking out a meager living. The New York media conglomerate that owns Warner Bros., HBO, TNT and Time magazine revealed Monday that Bewkes' 2011 compensation package was worth $25.9 million, down 1% from 2010. David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery Communications Inc., meanwhile, got a 23% raise in 2011 to $52.4 million. Other recent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that, although there was some disparity, media chiefs again were richly rewarded.

Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. Chairman Sumner Redstone was etched in entertainment history Friday when he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The aging mogul's family members and some of Hollywood's most powerful executives were on hand to witness the tribute on Hollywood Boulevard, just outside the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, where the first Oscar ceremony was held. Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman compared Redstone to Adolph Zukor, the visionary New York nickelodeon owner who became one of the first people to make big money in movies.

Even Tom Cruise wasn't enough for media company Viacom Inc. to pull off a nearly impossible mission: turning in crowd-pleasing first-quarter earnings. The New York media company's profit plummeted 65% amid lower advertising sales at its cable television networks for the quarter ended Dec. 31. Advertising woes were particularly nettlesome at children's channel Nickelodeon, which has experienced a precipitous drop in ratings. But the biggest dent in Viacom's earnings came from a $383-million charge for payments to former shareholders of the company behind the Rock Band video game franchise, part of Viacom's long-running legal dispute over payments to former owners of Harmonix Music Systems.

Billionaire Sumner Redstone last year got a 39% boost in compensation — to $21 million — for his role as executive chairman of Viacom Inc. But Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman took home considerably less than he did in the company's previous fiscal year, when compensation totaling $84.5 million made him the highest-paid executive in corporate America. In 2011, Dauman got $43 million in salary, stock and other benefits, according to the company's proxy filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Viacom Inc. on Wednesday said it planned to appeal a federal court decision in its copyright infringement case against Google Inc.'s YouTube video website. In June, U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton declared that YouTube had not violated copyright laws because the website promptly removed pirated videos when requested by rights holders such as Viacom. Viacom's notice to appeal, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Southern District of New York, was not the full appellate brief outlining Viacom's legal arguments, which is expected later this fall.

Despite a vexing ratings slump at its children's network Nickelodeon, Viacom Inc.'s second-quarter profit soared 56%. The strong earnings were produced by higher fees from pay-television operators and lower expenses at the media company's Paramount Pictures movie studio. For the quarter ended March 31, Viacom earned $585 million, or $1.07 a share, up from $376 million, or 63 cents, a year earlier. Revenue grew 2% to $3.33 billion. "Across our divisions we sharpened our focus on execution and efficiency while continuing to invest in programming," Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman told analysts in a Thursday morning conference call.

Viacom Inc. has been ordered to pay an additional $383 million to the makers of Rock Band, the latest development in a long and costly saga surrounding the media giant's failed attempt to enter the video game business. In a regulatory filing, Viacom, the owner of MTV Networks and Paramount Pictures, said accountants in a private arbitration process determined that it owes the money to former shareholders of Harmonix Music Systems Inc. on top of a $150-million bonus payment that it previously made.

Viacom Inc., the owner of MTV Networks and Paramount studios, said it would transfer its stock listing to Nasdaq from the New York Stock Exchange to save on expenses. Its Class B shares will trade under ticker symbol VIAB and its Class A voting shares will trade under VIA, the company said Friday. A listing at Nasdaq, owned by Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., will be "more cost effective," Viacom said. Viacom, based in New York, reported fourth-quarter profit Thursday that exceeded analysts' estimates and added $6 billion for stock buybacks.