Comcast drops $125 million on a looong list of emails

SDH Comcast dug into its deep pockets, not to purchase a newspaper or smaller cable company, they dropped some cash on Dailycandy.com, a shopping newsletter for the shopping female to fluff up its Comcast Interactive offerings. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts no doubt ran this by the wife and got positive feed back. However the real winner in this is Bob Pittman, the man who played a huge roll in the dumbest merger in the history of American business. Pittman paid $3.5 million for the newsletter and now he and his partners at the Pilot Group are walking away with that and much much more. We're shocked to hear that Viacom was also in the running to acquire the site but was out bided by Comcast. Viacom sure does have a bad rep of being out bided don't they. Wonder if Viacom Prexy Phil Dauman will lose his job over this latest miss? Look for some kind of tie up with Comcast’s The Style Network and E! Entertainment Television programming.

Les Moonves is trying too hard

-SDH There are many questions hanging over Viacom and CBS, both were separated in an effort to create shareholder value and in our opinion to end the battle of the successors between Les Moonves and Tom Freston who at the time were Co- CEOs of the combined company known as Viacom. Since the companies went their separate ways, the only thing that was created was more headaches for all parties involved. Both companies have been struggling to gain footing along with its competitors. CBS CEO Les Moonves spent big trying to land CBS on the good foot but none of his well publicized acquisitions has added any value to CBS that is worth mentioning. Some of his most recent splurges include the purchase of Wall Street blog, Wallstrip.com which to this day we still don’t get. He scooped up Lastfm.com only to re-launch it with much fanfare promoting its new free internet radio format, something already available all over the web. There is the whole Katie Couric hiring which failed big time and is costing the company a lot of money due to her salary and ad dollars. His most recent splurge was on Cnet Networks, a digital media company which produces websites like, Cnet.com, Chow.com and ZDnet.com. As far as CBS’s whole digital push, its Les Moonves swinging at marble sized balls with a broom stick hoping for a direct hit. These expensive splurges and CBS’s lack of love on Wall Street at the moment will ultimately lead to Moonves’ ouster. Hell. we think Sumner Redstone’s finger is already on the trigger. We campaigned (if you will) for Les Moonves when he was the shining star in Sumner Redstone’s eye. We called for him to be installed in dual rolls as CEO of both CBS and Viacom. But that was just us being naïve and jumping on the bandwagon (yeah we have the balls to admit it). But what seems to have happened here is that Les Moonves got a little too sure of himself and got a big head to go along with an even bigger ego. This is the man who spent big to get into the record business by re-launching CBS Records when the record business was trying to get out of the record business. This is the man who spent big to get into film with high salary hires. Les Moonves was trying too hard to please and in doing so, spent money where he didn’t need to, or perhaps shouldn’t have at all. Les Moonves is just an analog executive trying to survive in digital world and in doing so gambled big, not only with company money but perhaps with his job as well. Some of the things Moonves should consider moving forward if he is still around is to spin off the radio business and sell book publisher Simon & Schuster. Doing this would probably tighten the focus at CBS a bit. Moonves needs to also hold off on anymore Internet acquisitions. Sumner Redstone can’t be too happy with Moonves at the moment.

Viacom's Philippe Dauman showing Tom Freston & Les Moonves how it’s done

-YOSH With the prediction by some analyst on Wall Street that the media industry is in the shitter, we never thought we would hear of one media company that is actually looking good on paper. Viacom, of all media companies, is sitting pretty in the black, thanks to cable and movies. It looks like the apple of Sumner's eye, Philippe Dauman, coming in to tighten things up is paying off, and somewhere in the hills of Hollywood, old man Sumner Redstone is doing naked back strokes in his pool as Paula looks on with a "WTF" expression on here face. Anyway with Viacom looking sweet, overpaid analysts have nothing but nice things to say. Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst with Global Crown Capital says: “What I like about Viacom is that they are not going out and doing these multi-billion dollar deals. They have not made splashy acquisitions but they have done some smart things with their brands online" Frederick Moran, an analyst with Stanford Group, adds: “Viacom has clearly begun its financial comeback. I suspect you will see accelerated growth in the fourth quarter and through the early part of 2008 despite general softness in advertising,” Moran said. “The only thing that could sidetrack it would be major economic slowdown. Viacom’s stock should outpace other major media companies for the next couple of quarters.” Viacom “transforms” into a winner [CNN Money]

Is Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman's wife Debbie addicted to plastic surgery?

-ZOE S. Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman probably doesn't know it, but his wife Debbie may have a problem. Anyone who has met Mrs. Dauman in person probably noticed it right away but was too much of a brown noser to say anything or even talk about it behind her back. How can one ignore the obvious? Debbie Dauman may be addicted to plastic surgery. Take a good look at her face. Does that look like a normal face to you? Tight eyes, an even tighter smile, a smooth and shiny forehead and a chin that has been chiseled as much as an ice sculpture at one of her Phil’s parties. We have to say she is sometimes scary to look at. She gives off a touch of Jocelyn Wildenstein with a dash of Nicole Kidman topped off with a Lil Kim. Ok maybe the touch of Jocelyn Wildenstein is a but much. Does Phil notice that his wife is changing right before his eyes? He should, because he is paying for it. It looks like she is only concerned about her face though which is sad, because she could use some work in the boob area. Makes you wonder how many times she’s heard “tell us what you don’t like about yourself Mrs. Dauman”

Time set for walk out at Viacom today

-ZOE S. According to a press release, pissed off freelancers at media giant Viacom, will walk out the door today at 3pm in protest of some nasty and unfair changes in their benefits. Is this the only way CEO Phil Dauman and his henchmen can cut costs? The holiday season has arrived and you work for one of the largest media corporations in the world. You receive your invitation to the company’s annual holiday gala event, and along with it, you are given the alarming news that in a few weeks, large portions of your employee benefits – including health insurance and retirement benefits – will be slashed or cut. Tell Dauman to cut the perks available to him and his team while he's at it At 3 P.M. Today, What Will Sumner Do? [Intelligencer]

Disturbing the Daumans

-YOSH Sumner Redstone should go easy on Viacom CEO Phil Dauman if he has been slacking off at work and lugging around the Viacom offices on Mondays because he may have a perfectly good reason why. The New York Post reports that every Saturday, a bunch of picketers gather in front of Mr. Dauman's upper east side digs and protests in an effort to get him to cut the violence in rap videos. Guess they forgot to also protest over the violence in movies that Paramount Pictures releases. Perhaps they are saving that for another day. "glorify violence and criminal activity, promote degrading images of women, show negative and stereotypical images of people of color, and portray black and Latino men as pimps, gangsters and thugs." And for a minute there we thought it would have been the pissed off Viacom freelancers making all that noise in Dauman's hood? PICKETS PICK ON MOGUL HOMES [NYP]

Jeff Zucker pretends as though he isn't already kicking the tires on Dreamworks SKG, While Phil Dauman acts as if all is well

-MARTY Media execs are some of the biggest diplomats in the world. They could be closing a deal right under your nose, and you wouldn't know based how they talk the subject down. NBC Universal head Jeff Zucker is the latest media biggie talking down a hot topic. David Geffen, a partner in all things Dreamworks made it clear that NBC Universal is one of only two companies he would do a deal with. In a report in the New York Times we got the impression that the only thing stopping a deal from happening is the annual $600 Million bankroll the DreamWorks partners were seeking if they were to do a deal with NBC Universal. But now in front of a bunch of media rollers and investors, Jeff Zucker is playing the "If" game. Guess he was trying to play it cool with Phil Dauman from Viacom on hand. Speaking of Viacom CEO Phil Dauman, he is playing Mr. Nice regarding the public beef between DreamWorks and Viacom. "Our objective is to proceed with mutual respect," Dauman said. "We're going to proceed with calm and deliberateness." Zucker: Would Take a Look at DreamWorks [AP]

As it turns out News Corp's Peter Chernin may have set the blue print on how media CEOs may handle the strike going forward

-MARTY Unlike the heads of their film divisions, media CEOs are more low key when it comes to the current writer's strike, negotiating under the radar to help get things back to business. CEOs like Bob Iger of Disney,Jeff Zucker of NBC Universal and Les "Love Boat" Moonves of CBS are all said to be three of few media biggies in on negotiations. It makes sense that those three would roll up their sleeves and dive in because a chunk of their business is Television and/or Film. However there are always the bad apples, and in this case its Rupert Murdoch's evil number two who claims to be a Democrat but is a closeted Republican Peter "Petie boy" Chernin. Petie Boy seems to be playing the "Dick Size" game as usual. In the early days of the strike Chernin actually hi-lited how the strike would save News Corp Money adding to the already outrageous comment made by Michael Eisner. But the fucked up part about all this is that he may get a few of his fellow media execs on his side of the line. What strike? Silence golden for moguls [THR]

sumner redstone will probably die an isolated and miserable old man, and phil dauman will be the only one at his funeral

At his age you would think the old fart that is Sumner Redstone would be humble, warm and grandfather like. Nope. It seems like the older he gets, the meaner and more insecure he gets. He rules Viacom and CBS from his mansion in the hills of Hollywood and he creates tension between himself and the people who work for him. Current Viacom CEO Phillippe Dauman must be the only person Sumner doesn't fight with. Then again when you're a yes man you tend to be in line right with the boss. Well it looks like a new war is brewing but this time Dreamworks founder David Geffen is firing the first shot in the new issue of Vanity Fair. -SHINESY "Nobody is going to treat me or my partner [Spielberg] in that manner and stay in business with us. Nobody." geffen goes on to call DreamWorks sale to paramount "a poor choice" and accuses Redstone of "bullying. And I will not be bullied. There is no fight I will run from. I am absolutely unafraid of Sumner Redstone." Geffen continues: "These people are a nightmare. I've never seen behavior like this in my entire life." Showdown at Fort Sumner [VF]

Sumner "Two Faced" Redstone

-YOSH Slapping all the other heads who have passed through Viacom in the past, old man Sumner Redstone, giddy due to the company's latest gain in profits, said that hiring stiffy Phil Dauman as the company's CEO was the best thing he and his board ever did. Of course Sumner, you have nothing but good things to say about your top execs as long as they are making you money. But like Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons said "Eventually Sumner fires everyone". The results from the media conglomerate, which owns MTV, Comedy Central and the Paramount and DreamWorks movie studios, beat Wall Street's expectations and sent its stock price up nearly 3 percent to $41.56 a share on the New York Stock Exchange. We can only imagine the not so nice things he is saying about CBS boss Les Moonves with that company's recent stock slide. Shares of its sister company, CBS Corp., which split from Viacom nearly two years ago, slipped 2 percent yesterday to $27.67, a day after it reported mixed quarterly results, including a 3 percent drop in revenue. VIACOM NET JUMPS 80% [NYP]

Rupert Murdoch: We are working this web thingy

The real king of all media, King Rupert said that News Corp's web business is booming, the company's stock price continues to outperform other media stocks and the greedy bastards on Wall Street are taking notice. No one can deny the facts about News Corp's roll in the current race to digital supremacy among big media companies. It was News Corp, thanks to former Fox Interactive head Ross levinsohn who jump started the social networking craze among big media, costing Tom Freston his job. It is News Corp who now has people like Les Moonves and Phil Dauman of Viacom and Judy McGrath, once our favorite to be Viacom Prexy, spending big to show how Internet savvy they are. So Murdoch can stand on a podium and say, I shaped the current digital model big media is moving to. And on top of all this, he is so humble. What a fucking guy? "We have a long way to go, but we're starting to be rewarded for our efforts to transform ourselves into a company for the digital age," Mr Murdoch said. He said Fox Interactive Media's Internet portfolio reached more than 160 million people globally. News Corp nets a win [Herald Sun]

Less but more for Les, out at CBS in 2011?

Guess our advice to give Les Moonves dual rule over both Viacom and CBS went over the heads of board members. Moonves's new contract to extend his rule over CBS will pay him based on results at the company and his base salary will be a little less. But the contract only adds two years to Moonves's stint which will end in 2011, yeah right around the corner. Wonder if at that time Moonves will move on to another media company or is there a Moonves, Dauman power sharing plan over both CBS and Viacom in the works. Will Sumner Redstone even be around? Oh man we have so many questions. The new contract, which extends Mr. Moonves’s employment by two years to 2011, lowers his base salary to $3.5 million from $5.9 million, but stipulates that he will also receive a large one-time stock option grant to purchase five million shares, as well as a large grant over four years of restricted shares worth $7.6 million a year. Mr. Moonves is also eligible for a performance-based bonus. New Contract for Moonves Links Pay to CBS’s Results [NYT]

Viacom CEO Phil Dauman may be all that's good for business in Sumner Redstone's eyes, but he is so not cool

Phil Dauman, secretly got then Viacom CEO Tom Freston booted, and is also secretly behind the recent beef between Sumner Redstone and his look alike daughter Shari. Well at least that's what we think. He is that guy in those lifetime movies trying to drive a wedge between a wealthy old man and his kids. With his trim dark suits, gold cuff links and erect bearing, Philippe P. Dauman projects a sense of dignity and reserve that some in Hollywood regard as just this side of pompous. One industry insider called him "the quintessential New York suit."Dauman, 53, who just finished his first year as chief executive of the entertainment conglomerate Viacom Inc., is such a Manhattanite that he doesn't drive; he never even applied for a license. Viacom chief has clout, if not cool [LAT]

Congress continues to put all the blame on Hip Hop for stupid teenagers and their lackluster parents

Hip Hop has always been under attack from some fat cats on capitol hill. But some media/music heavy weights are coming out swinging in its defense. Viacom's Phil Dauman to Universal Music Group boss Doug Morris and rapper Master P. among others were on the hill to back off some of the bad impression clueless folks may have about the music and culture. What we don't understand is why is it that Hip Hop music is the only form of entertainment being attacked. Why aren't people like Harvey Weinstein, Ron Meyer and Brad Grey on the stand defending the sick violence in the films they release? Reps for watchdog groups like The Parents Television Council (PTC), said it best. Imagery and tone can be just as powerful. Rappers testifying were split in their opinions on the situation. Master P apologized for his past use of offensive lyrics, while David Banner said hip-hop was misunderstood and the subject of unfair scrutiny."Hip-hop is sick because America is sick," he said. CONGRESS RAPS RAPPERS, HIP-HOP [NYP]

Viacom slowly ruining yet another relationship

Lately it seems like Viacom doesn't know how to preserve relationships. If it isn't old man Sumner yapping way over the line about someone, its CEO Phil Dauman. Dauman reportedly may have pissed off director Steven Spielberg by implying that Viacom and Dreamworks would continue to be successful without Spielberg's imput. You would think that a CEO would know how to choose his words more carefully. Now poor little Brad Grey has to step in and play the calmer while trying to avoid calling his boss a dick head. Speaking by telephone on Thursday, Brad Grey, Paramount’s chairman, was eager to calm the waters stirred up by one of his bosses. “I have the greatest respect for the creativity of Steven Spielberg and the entire DreamWorks team, as well as the immense entrepreneurial business skills of David Geffen,” he said. Mr. Grey added, “On behalf of Viacom and Paramount, I hope we’re all in business for a very long time.” Viacom Chief’s Remark on Spielberg Stirs a Furor [NYT]

Not if you work for Sumner Redstone

-Jay Gavrilove So apparently New York Timeser Michael Cieply is naive enough to think that current Paramount Studios topper Brad Grey will be around for the long haul. Ok Ok so he is just wondering out loud. Though his wondering out loud may turn out to be right, we kinda want to stay on the fence with this one. Why you ask? Um, just a hunch, or better yet an old guy by the name of Sumner Redstone who is known for wacking heads of his companies whenever he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. Sure Brad Grey is about to make 3 years as head of Paramount, well maybe he will, but we all know there is no such thing as safe? What does one consider a long haul? 2 years, 3 years, or until the individual dies out of the top spot? Who decides what a long haul is? Michael Cieply breaks down how Studio bosses have gotten safer and safer in their jobs over time. For Studio Chiefs, the End of the Revolving Door? [NYT]

Philippe Dogman Dauman would pimp Viacom to Apple

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman is open to opening up Viacom to a content licensing deal with Apple because Apple is in bed with Youtube and Dauman wants to some how join in the fun. Apple said on Wednesday that YouTube's entire video catalog will be made available on its Apple TV set-top box device, which lets consumers view media and listen to music stored on computers directly on their television screens. "We're always vigilant about protecting our copyrights," a Viacom spokesman said. "But we would welcome the opportunity to license our content to Apple as we do with all distributors," he said. Viacom welcomes licensing opportunity from Apple TV [Reuters

The Salmi-nization or the Dauman-ization of Viacom?

We guess at this point it’s safe to credit MTV/Viacom digital czar Mika Salmi with Viacom's alleged successful digitalization. Grandpa Sumner's company has been getting bashed left and right over its failed attempt at Myspace, but it has been working hard to make up for it through loads of online acquisitions and a new online strategy. The company brought in Atom Entertainment founder Mika Salmi in a newly created position late last year to ramp up it's digital efforts and we guess since then Salmi has been doing what they hired him to do. But could we be crediting the wrong man? Viacom seems to be getting their hands around this Digital thing and all this seems to have gained traction when Redstone loyalist Philippe Dauman took over. So should Dauman get some or all the credit? -SHOMARI HINES Viacom is the first major media company to launch a series of virtual worlds that seamlessly integrate television programming with emerging virtual world technology, e.g. Nicktropolis, a new virtual destination for kids, which offers kids the opportunity to engage in a virtual world full of activities, and safely connect with friends. Considering the fact that the social networking space for adults is overcrowded, Nicktropolis is a brilliant strategy to build a community around a segment in which it has a competitive advantage and across channels (TV, Internet). Viacom: Successfully Transitioning to the Digital Era [SeekingAlpha]

Thats right Viacom, show em you're keen on this digital media shit

-SHOMARI HINES Viacom has been on a digital deal blitz since, well, since................Ross Levinsohn stole myspace from under Tom Freston's nose causing him his job. But they seemed to have stepped up the campaign a bit since getting dissed by every teenager in America for their Jihad against Youtube. First they signed a deal with Youtube rival Joost, then they announced that they will slap Youtube-esque features on their websites, and now the media giant has announced that its MTV Networks has signed on Intel Corp and Pepsi-Cola North America as the first advertising sponsors for its programs delivered over cell phones. Yeah our cell spam has sponsors now. Viacom Chief Executive Philippe Dauman announced the deals at the CTIA wireless showcase in Orlando, Florida. "We believe advertising can work on the wireless platform. Indeed we view it as a critical medium," Dauman said during a keynote speech at the conference. OK Phil. We just hope you will take blame for the car accidents that may happen while an 18 year old watches a Pepsi commercial on the highway. Viacom signs on Intel, Pepsi as mobile advertisers [Reuters]

Variety & Zelnick Media brought out the media suits last week for a little chit chat

Variety and Zelnick Media hosted Time Warner's Jeff Bewkes and Viacom's Philippe Dauman Thursday for a conversation in Gotham about the digital media age. On hand were Variety president-publisher Charlie Koones, Strauss Zelnick and editor-in-chief and moderator Peter Bart . Also on hand was former Fox Interactive Chieftain Ross Levinsohn. Was he shopping something or just their for the hell of it?

Viacom taking Youtube to court just for the hell of it

Viacom is taking their dislike for Youtube to a whole new level. The media giant is suing the pants of Chad Hurley and company over airing copyrighted content. But we won't attempt to say anymore. Just read the email sent to Viacom troops by CEO Phil Dauman regarding their beef with Youtube as well as a press release announcing the suit obtained by our friends in our heads at Gawker CONTINUE... TO: All Viacom Employees FROM: Philippe Dauman DATE: March 13, 2007 As you already know, Viacom has spent months trying to come to an agreement with Google and YouTube in order to provide our popular video content on the YouTube platform. Unfortunately, they refused to negotiate a reasonable licensing offer. Instead, YouTube continues to take no responsibility for airing copyrighted content, and selling advertising against it. None of this advertising is shared with us, and despite many promises, Youtube has not taken any significant steps to keep our creative works off the site and no timetable has been set. Therefore, today Viacom has brought action in U.S. District Court against Google and YouTube in order to protect our creative works from their continuing and intentional infringement, and to be compensated for the significant past infringement of our copyrights, which resulted in damages in excess of $1 billion.The decision to take this step was thoughtfully considered by our entire management team and our Board of Directors. We had hoped and expected that Google and YouTube would voluntarily comply with the law, and would respect the creativity and hard work of the people whose imagination, effort and investment created some of the most popular entertainment on their platform. We have continued at our expense to take down our content from YouTube but have seen no significant movement from Google or YouTube to rectify this untenable situation. As always, I greatly appreciate all your continued good work and support. The attached press release describes today's announcement in more detail. VIACOM FILES FEDERAL COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT COMPLAINT AGAINST YOUTUBE AND GOOGLE Suit Seeks Court Ruling to Require YouTube and Googleto Comply With Copyright Laws and Pay $1 Billion in Damages NEW YORK, March 13, 2007 - Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) today announced that it has sued YouTube and Google in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York for massive intentional copyright infringement of Viacom's entertainment properties. The suit seeks more than $1 billion in damages, as well as an injunction prohibiting Google and YouTube from further copyright infringement. The complaint contends that almost 160,000 unauthorized clips of Viacom's programming have been available on YouTube and that these clips had been viewed more than 1.5 billion times. In connection with the filing, Viacom released the following statement: "YouTube is a significant, for-profit organization that has built a lucrative business out of exploiting the devotion of fans to others' creative works in order to enrich itself and its corporate parent Google. Their business model, which is based on building traffic and selling advertising off of unlicensed content, is clearly illegal and is in obvious conflict with copyright laws. In fact, YouTube's strategy has been to avoid taking proactive steps to curtail the infringement on its site, thus generating significant traffic and revenues for itself while shifting the entire burden - and high cost - of monitoring YouTube onto the victims of its infringement. This behavior stands in stark contrast to the actions of other significant distributors, who have recognized the fair value of entertainment content and have concluded agreements to make content legally available to their customers around the world. There is no question that YouTube and Google are continuing to take the fruit of our efforts without permission and destroying enormous value in the process. This is value that rightfully belongs to the writers, directors and talent who create it and companies like Viacom that have invested to make possible this innovation and creativity. After a great deal of unproductive negotiation, and remedial efforts by ourselves and other copyright holders, YouTube continues in its unlawful business model. Therefore, we must turn to the courts to prevent Google and YouTube from continuing to steal value from artists and to obtain compensation for the significant damage they have caused."

POLL: What do you think?

Last week we launched our "Les Is More" campaign where we are calling for CBS CEO Les Moonves to take the CEO seat at Viacom as well, something we call "The Ghosn Act". What is your take on this? Should Les Moonves' CEO time be split between CBS and Viacom? Should Les Moonves run Viacom & CBS? YES NO HELL NO MAYBE NO. PHIL DAUMAN SHOULD CONTINUE TO RUN VIACOM BRING BACK TOM FRESTON GIVE THE CEO JOB TO JUDY MCGRATH

At least get the parent company name right

The Post's Page Six, well known for their ef ups and extortion plots, efed up again when reporting on the major Oscar parties thrown by Hollywood's talent powerhouses CAA & ICMI and those in attendance. CAA partner Bryan Lourde had the star power of the night with former Paramount chief Tom Freston and his wife, Kathy, talking to new Paramount head Philip Dauman as Tom Cruise, George Clooney, Sean Penn, Al and Tipper Gore, Jennifer Aniston, Will Smith, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jerry Seinfeld and Tom Hanks all mingled until early yesterday morning. Did Grandpa Sumner replace the Viacom name with Paramount or something? Wonder if Tom was giving Phil some tips on how to look cool? H'WOOD'S UNA-BASH-ED BATTLE [NYP]

LES IS MORE 08: 10 reasons why Les Moonves should run Viacom too

-Shomari Hines There are so many reasons why Les Moonves should be running sister company Viacom in addition to CBS Corp. Below are ten of those reasons. Like we said in our "Morning Wire", the man can suck a stack of twenties rolled tight through a garden hose He seems to be on the ball with CBS's digital strategy His wife is hotter than Phil Dauman's The guy is kinda cool He is the master at UPOD The guy tans well Sumner Redstone says he reminds him of himself He has a better looking face to rep Viacom He talks the Wall Street lingo He knows he can do a better job than the stiff suited Phil Dauman Number 7 should be all the reason Sumner Redstone needs to wake up and smell Les's tanning lotion.

Break out the booze and the confetti, Viacom's earnings call is right around the corner and we are dumb enough to want to live blog the shit

-Neil Yoshida On Thursday, March 1, Viacom CEO Phil Dauman and company will share Viacom's report card and we're not expecting to hear anything exciting. What we do expect to hear is how they plan to make use of all those websites they're buying up as well as what's in store for Paramount. These calls are freaking yawn fests but we listen in anyway. We will be live blogging the earning's call, why you ask? We have no idea. But it should be fun we think.

Video Wire: The masked Youtuber takes on Philippe Dogman of Viacom International

You can't get any cornier than this but........ Just watch. Can you say "Time on their hands?"

We can’t believe we’re about to say this but….

-Shomari Hines Remember last year when Tom Freston was still CEO of Viacom and we said their answer to Wall Street’s concerns would be to install MTV CEO Judy McGrath as President? Well we abandoned that talk when Freston was shit canned by Grandpa Sumner. However we won’t lie, even after he left we talked her up as the future leader of Viacom, but we abandoned that too. Over the past few months we have been doing some serious thinking about Viacom and what the company needs to get back in the good graces of Wall Street. We couldn’t quite put our finger on it. We asked should they buy someone, or spin off the MTV unit? We just couldn’t think of a solution to Viacom’s current woes. Then it hit us. What does Wall Street like? A CEO who plays on their terms right? A CEO who can talk up his company and not afraid to take chances and who can find and develop new revenue sources right? Then we asked ourselves, but who would fit into this mold? Who is Wall Street loving right now? And then BOOM! It hit us again. The man who fits into this mold and linked to Viacom is the man we love to hate, Les “Love Boat” Moonves. MORE.... We can’t really say that splitting Viacom in two was a big mistake because, CBS is doing well and is making some serious moves under Moonves’ leadership. But Viacom has dragged its ass since the break up a year ago. The company hasn’t made any major moves to mention except a truck load of layoffs. Current Viacom CEO Phil Dauman is just some guy in a suite who got Tom Freston’s job and is close to Sumner Redstone. The only reason Dauman is CEO is because Sumner probably couldn’t land someone else in time for his termination of Freston. In a scenario we know may not happen, but it isn’t impossible, Les Moonves should lead both Viacom and CBS the same way Carlos Ghosn runs Nissan and Renault. He would spend less time with his hot wife Julie Chen Moonves but we think Les could knock it out the park. You know what, maybe for Viacom the best thing is to get back with CBS and name the new company Viacom CBS and install Moonves as king. Is this possible? We think so. Would Moonves jump on it? Only Moonves knows. -Shomari Hines

Phil Dauman to Youtube: Fuck Off!

Viacom is showing Youtube that it can do this video sharing thing on its own. Viacom CEO Phil Dauman ended the company's relationship with Youtube after ordering them to remove Viacom content from the site. Many think that order came after Viacom was told they won't be able to control their content. But Viacom has found a solution. The company now allows videos on its websites like ComedyCentral.com to be embedded in other websites. They will also keep control of the content. But will video hounds prefer scrolling through Viacom's many websites for videos over going to one main source for all videos? Perhaps Viacom should launch a website which will house all their video content. But even then they wouldn't be able to budge Youtube. However for some reason we don't think that's Viacom's goal at all. Viacom has allowed the embedding of Comedy Central clips for a few months, and the pilot program was apparently successful enough to be deployed further. The company has made no secret of its antipathy toward the YouTube business model, and its desire to be well compensated for any video clips appearing there. Despite the current hostility, Google and Viacom actually did a video deal back in August 2006. Google agreed to distribute ad-supported video clips from MTV Networks through its AdSense network. "Collaborating with Google gives us a terrific opportunity to take our content and distribute it even more widely on the web in a seamless and targeted way," said Tom Freston, Viacom's CEO, at the time. "This deal fits in perfectly with our strategy to deliver the best content to our audiences—wherever they are. We're very happy to be working with Google, a true innovator in content distribution." Viacom to YouTube: We'll host our own videos, thanks [Ars Tech]

MEDIA STYLE: It's OK Phil, you can relax now

Just this week we published a feature article on some of the problems we think could be holding back traditional media companies from getting their whole leg wet in this digital media thing. We mentioned that a lot of these corporate media execs are totally out of touch with the very people they depend on to report good news to the pigs on Wall Street. As a media exec your image is also important. You have to appeal to the pigs on Wall Street as well as to media circles and your underlings. Some of you however tend to go overboard by taking the corporate image thing too far, totally crossing the line from media exec to Wall Street banking old timer. Perfect example of this is the picture accompanying this post. The pic is of Viacom CEO Phil Dauman. Now if we didn't know who this dude was, we would think he was some dude from the stock exchange or something. Dress it down a bit Phil. Lose the cufflinks, an