ViacomCBS: Last News

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorSome things just don’t change. CBS and Carnegie Hall go together during TV’s upfront week like Roger Daltrey singing the refrain to a Who song, which he once performed at one of CBS’ glitzy events.While some media companies are shaking up the way they approach the kickoff to TV’s annual ad-sales market, ViacomCBS is not. The company intends to hold its presentation at the storied New York venue on May 18, charting a return to some semblance of TV operations as they were conducted before the advance of the coronavirus pandemic.

The CBS upfront, now under the umbrella of ViacomCBS, will return to its longtime home at New York’s Carnegie Hall on May 18.

Ethan Shanfeld Paramount Network will remain Paramount Network — at least for now — as the cabler nixes plans to rebrand as the Paramount Movie Network.According to insiders, the rebrand plans have been put on ice partly due to COVID-19, which has had an immense impact on production, as well as the success of “Yellowstone,” which has grown into a tremendous hit for Paramount Network and is now the No. 1 entertainment program on cable.The initial plan, first announced in September 2020, was for the ViacomCBS subsidiary to focus on television movies and cancel its unscripted programming.

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Network is safe, for now.

As discussions continue about a potential deal for control of the CW, network co-owner ViacomCBS has renewed CBS affiliate deals in 39 markets with top station group Nexstar.

Paramount+, the streaming service from ViacomCBS, has annouced 10-episode-long season pickup orders and premiere dates across the service’s Star Trek Universe:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorKendis Gibson, a veteran anchor who  worked most recently for MSNBC, is jumping to a new role at CBS’ Miami station, WFOR, where he will anchor the morning and noon newscasts.The move shows ViacomCBS bringing in new local staffers under Wendy McMahon, co-president of the company’s news and stations unit, and Gibson says he welcomed the chance to take on a wider range of reporting than he was able to do at MSNBC, where he was anchoring early mornings on weekends. “I wanted to get away from working in the hyper-partisan 24/7 political news space,” he tells Variety.

ViacomCBS and Comcast have reached a distribution renewal that continues carriage of CBS and a roster of cable networks on the No. 1 cable system in the U.S. while also deepening the companies’ streaming ties.

Paramount+ is to air live Premier League football in Mexico and Central America from next season.

Kevin Costner's Yellowstoneis finally being recognized this awards season, after receiving it's first ever nomination at the 2022 Screen Actors Guild Awards.It is the first major nod that the popular show has ever received, despite being the most-watched cable TV show of the last five years.The western drama has received a nomination in the top category of ensemble in a television drama, competing against Succession, Squid Game, The Morning Show and The Handmaid's Tale.Before this, the show had only received a single Creative Arts Emmys nomination for production design for a narrative contemporary program (one hour or more). Recognition:Kevin Costner's Yellowstone is finally being recognized this awards season, after receiving it's first ever nomination at the 2022 Screen Actors Guild AwardsThe show's creator Taylor Sheridan said in a statement following the nomination: 'There's no bigger compliment to an actor than being recognized by their peers.''Congratulations to our incredibly talented cast on this wonderful and well deserved nomination.'The news comes after the series hit a new rating records with its Season 4 finale last Sunday,with more than 11 million viewers tuning in - the highest views since the 2017 Walking Dead Season 8 premiere.The drama takes a break from TV's typical New York City or LA settings to focus on a real American family in Montana who are fighting to protect their cattle ranch from land-grabbing interlopers.

EXCLUSIVE: Middle Eastern outfit S Productions is producing local versions of U.S. hits Why Women Kill, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and The Affair after striking a format rights deal with licence-holder ViacomCBS Distribution Group.

EXCLUSIVE: Meow Wolf, the US-based arts and entertainment company, will welcome a new CEO, Jose Tolosa, formerly of ViacomCBS. Tolosa brings with him 25 years of experience in emerging industries and will be focused on continuing Meow Wolf’s expansion and growth. 

Comcast and ViacomCBS have appointed a CEO for soon-to-launch JV streamer Sky Showtime.

Discovery has bought a minority stake in five-year-old advertising joint venture OpenAP, joining Fox, NBCUniversal and ViacomCBS as a part-owner of the entity.

PBS Masterpiece and ViacomCBS UK’s Channel 5 have shown faith in All Creatures Great and Small with a rare double season order.

Amy Schneider, an engineering manager from Oakland, Calif., has became the fourth person in the 38-year history of Jeopardy! to earn more than $1 million in non-tournament play. She moved past that milestone in today’s episode of the show.

Discovery shares, which have been in a funk for months, roared back to life today, jumping 17% on heavy trading volume after a validation from a veteran Wall Street analyst.

The CW may get a new majority owner. Fifteen years after the broadcast network’s launch, its co-parents, ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia, are considering a controlling stake sale, sources confirm to Deadline. Nexstar Media Group, which is the CW’s largest affiliate group following its acquisition of Tribune, is believed to be among interested buyers. Sources caution that conversations with multiple suitors are in exploratory stages and no deal is imminent.

Yellowstone continues to defy gravity — and an industrywide decline in linear ratings. The Season 4 finale of Paramount Network’s hugely popular drama starring Oscar winner Kevin Costner hit a new series high with 9.3 million total viewers in Live+Same Day, up +81% vs. the Season 3 finale (5.2 million). The Jan. 2 closer eclipsed the previous L+SD viewership high mark set by the Season 4 premiere (8 million) to become the most watched telecast on cable since The Walking Dead Season 8 premiere on AMC in October 2017 (11.4 million).

Covid, neither gone nor forgotten in 2021, batted investors and markets for another year as attempts at business as usual were stymied by cycles of angst and rebound. Defensive stocks, growth stocks, value stocks, stay-at-home stocks were in one day, out the next. After a volatile year of ups and downs, broader markets ended on a high note, but it was it was mixed bag for media.

Mónica Marie Zorrilla As Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” universe expands, so does its audience. After “Yellowstone’s” Season 4 premiere in November soared to 14.7 million viewers — an impressive feat in today’s bleak linear TV landscape — “1883,” the neo-western prequel, had the biggest new series premiere on cable since 2015.The MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios production’s “sampler special” drew 4.9 million viewers on Paramount Network following a new episode of its Emmy-nominated predecessor.