Paramount Transformation Expected After Skydance Merger

Doug Herzog, a former top executive at Viacom (now part of Paramount), believes his alma mater will soon look substantially different following its recently completed merger with Skydance.

“I would believe that 24 months from now, when we take a look at paramount, it will not closely resemble what it is indeed today,” Herzog said in a TV of Tomorrow podcast appearance Friday. “And I honestly think that’s the way forward. These legacy media companies, if they’re going to survive – and, incidentally speaking, survival is not mandatory – I think they kind of have to blow it up and take some chances and embrace the tech world in a way that they have slowly been doing, which I think you’ll see at Paramount.”

The conversation was hosted by Rick Howe, a cable veteran and former Showtime executive. It covered Herzog’s accomplishments during his time at MTV and two periods overseeing Comedy Central. He became President of Viacom’s Music Entertainment Group before leaving in 2017.

Herzog highlighted the “deep pockets” of Paramount CEO David Ellison, son of Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison, who assumed the top position after the $8.4 billion merger closed earlier this month. “As much as he,for wall Street purposes lately,has positioned himself as a tech person and he’s got that DNA,he’s also a content guy,” Herzog observed. “He’s been running his own studio now for quite some time.”

The financial structure of large media companies, which historically benefited from both distribution and advertising revenue, is now declining due to cord-cutting. Conventional companies are also reallocating resources to their streaming services.