By At an investor conference, Bob Bakish, Viacom’s CEO, announced that they’re planning to launch an “over-the-top” streaming service that will capitalize on all the content the conglomerate owns.
He didn’t state anything of detail, being purposefully cryptic, but more info should be on the way, since the service is expected to launch sometime later this year.
Streaming services have become the new pet project of just about every entertainment conglomerate on the planet. And of course they would be. Netflix is spending all the money in the universe on content this year, so it’s clear the biggest of bucks lie in streaming. Yet, most services are announced as quickly as they’re forgotten, and the ones that stick in the public consciousness are a scant few.
And like most other companies, Viacom already has content spread across the likes of Hulu and Netflix. Through Paramount, they scored $50 million over The Cloverfield Paradox, alone. But that slice of the pie isn’t big enough. They need more, and they’ll be damned if they’re not going to gorge themselves.
This all said, Viacom owns a huge amount of content both in film and television and could feasibly carve a chunk of their own. Hell, Comedy Central alone is worth $5 a month, in my book.
But we’ll wait and see what form and pricing this service will take.
Viacom Plots Launch of Streaming Service [Variety]
