ABC, NBC and FOX all have multiple cable nets under their umbrella. CBS Corp. only has Showtime and CSTV (usually on Sports Packs).

What cable nets would be a prime target for CBS Corp to target???

I always thought Hallmark Channel would make a nice corporate fit with CBS. They have aired the Hallmark Hall of Fame anthology series forever it seems, but Hallmark also shows classic CBS family programming such as The Waltons, venerable CBS procedurals such as Mystery She Wrote, Walker Texas Ranger and Diagnosis Murder and timeless CBS comedies such as MASH.

Sometimes when I watch Hallmark Channel, I feel like I'm watching CBS Redux.

If I were Mr. Moonves, with some spare cash in pocket, I would call the nice people at Hallmark and offer them a goodly price for their network. I'm sure they would be relieved to get out of the network game, and go back to their greeting cards core business.

Hallmark would be great. CBS should bring back the Sunday night movie. I always liked the Hallmark Hall of Fame holiday movies.

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Posted 13 October 2007 11:44 AM Hide Post
Hallmark would be great. CBS should bring back the Sunday night movie. I always liked the Hallmark Hall of Fame holiday movies.

CBS still airs the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies - 3 or 4 a season.

The would prefer to get at least 1 or 2 cable nets that are mostly on Standard Cable. Halmark, at least in my area, is a Digital cable only level.

If they could get a Viacom property, like SpikeTV, they would have a large subscriber base right off.

About the only other nets on the Standard tier are the A&E Networks and the Discovery Networks. But most of those nets are nonscripted, doumentary type of nets.

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Originally posted by TV-aholic:
The would prefer to get at least 1 or 2 cable nets that are mostly on Standard Cable. Halmark, at least in my area, is a Digital cable only level.

If they could get a Viacom property, like SpikeTV, they would have a large subscriber base right off.

About the only other nets on the Standard tier are the A&E Networks and the Discovery Networks. But most of those nets are nonscripted, doumentary type of nets.

Spike would have a better fit with FOX as it is so male.

A&E would be a good fit for CBS given all those CSI Miami, Murder She Wrote and The District re-runs. I miss the days when they used to program arts more than entertainment.

Discovery is a bit too educational for alignment with the more entertainment-oriented broadcast networks.

Another cable property that CBS might be interested in? CMT...they still program Hee Haw and Dukes of Hazzard re-runs. It could herald a return to CBS's rural / small-town roots of the fifties and sixties.

Well, CBS owned half of the CW and I'm pretty sure they fully own Lifetime or Oxygen, Vh1, and all the MTVs.

ABC owns part of Lifetime and the MTV Networks are owned by Viacom. Viacom spun CBS Corp off as its own Publicly traded company about a year and a half ago.

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Originally posted by Jonathan:
Well, CBS owned half of the CW and I'm pretty sure they fully own Lifetime or Oxygen, Vh1, and all the MTVs.

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Originally posted by TV-aholic:
Well, CBS owned half of the CW and I'm pretty sure they fully own Lifetime or Oxygen, Vh1, and all the MTVs.

Rumor has it that CBS and Viacom may be getting back together again.

I have not heard or read anything on this. Do you have a source or article about this? I would love to get more information on this.

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Originally posted by TV-aholic:
I have not heard or read anything on this. Do you have a source or article about this? I would love to get more information on this.

Sorry, I can't remember where I read about the speculation of a re-merger. I think it was in a business/stock article on Google, AOL, or Yahoo in their stock market sections. It basically said something along the lines of Sumner Redstone can do whatever he wants with either company and has realized that separating the two has made for less growth opportunity in both companies. At this point, chalk it up to 'internet rumor', but one that made good sense when I read it.

I did look at those sources, but didn't see much, but the Sumner Redstone reference will help. Thanks!!

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Originally posted by Obveeus:

quote:

Originally posted by TV-aholic:
I have not heard or read anything on this. Do you have a source or article about this? I would love to get more information on this.

Sorry, I can't remember where I read about the speculation of a re-merger. I think it was in a business/stock article on Google, AOL, or Yahoo in their stock market sections. It basically said something along the lines of Sumner Redstone can do whatever he wants with either company and has realized that separating the two has made for less growth opportunity in both companies. At this point, chalk it up to 'internet rumor', but one that made good sense when I read it.

Apparently, CBS/Viacom merger is still a rumor and still being denied:

Hollywood Reporter link

NY Post rumor article

I hope the merger doesn't go through. Enough consolidating already. There's no reason why CBS can't do well on their own.

I doubt the remerger of CBS into Viacom will happen, espcially since Viacom is planning its own Premium Movie Channel (Like Showtime & HBO) for a launch in 2009.

It is too bad that Viacom didnt give CBS at least one standard Cable channel when it spun it off. Spike TV would have been perfect for cbs