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Paramount CEO: ViacomCBS will reap licensing benefits as DTC offerings grow

Viacom Inc. and CBS Corp. expect the rise of direct-to-consumer offerings to result in more licensing opportunities and revenue when their companies recombine.

Speaking at a Sept. 11 investor conference, Jim Gianopulos, chairman and CEO of Viacom's Paramount unit, noted that with competitors such as The Walt Disney Co., WarnerMedia and NBCUniversal Media LLC pulling some of their own content behind the walls of their DTC services, they likely will forgo licensing to third parties. That will open up more doors for CBS Television Studios and Paramount Television, he said.

Although those two entities also plan to produce TV fare for "our own synergistic internal uses," he said their content will be "more available than others."

Viacom and CBS recently announced a merger of the two companies that is expected to close before year-end. The companies, which split more than a decade ago, have said their combined assets and enhanced scale will allow the recombined entity to compete more effectively in an evolving media landscape. The combined company will be called ViacomCBS.

Paramount Television's portfolio includes such notables as "The Alienist" on TNT (US), "13 Reasons Why" on Netflix Inc. and "Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan" on Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime Video. Gianopulos also said the unit is working on a trio of shows for WarnerMedia's streaming service HBO Max.

"So even the people who are building their own DTC [services] are looking outside for the right content," he said.

Gianopulos is also looking ahead a few years to the end of Paramount's pay TV output deal with EPIX / EPIX Drive-In (US), the premium cable network that had been a joint venture of Viacom, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. until the latter bought out its partners in 2017. With Disney, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. and Universal Pictures titles perhaps being excluded from the marketplace, he said Paramount fare could be in great demand.

"That's a party that's going to be a lot of fun," Gianopulos said. "Because of the scarcity and uniqueness of our output, we're looking forward to that opportunity as this deal comes to a close."