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CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves today confirmed longtime speculation that CBS would be interested in buying Sony Corp.’s movie and television studio businesses if they were to become available. “We love our current portfolio, but as a content company, we would want to look at them,” Moonves told the Wall Street Journal in an interview. Moonves emphasized that CBS has no specific plans regarding Sony right now. Some observers have speculated Sony would sell its movie and TV studio businesses if the opportunity arose. Moonves’ remarks to the Journal came as his new extended compensation package — which includes an extra $14.5 million in stock on top of other stock and salary — were filed with the the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Les Moonves Says If Sony Were Selling Movie & TV Biz, CBS Would Look: WSJ
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What was the point of Redstone splitting up Viacom and CBS if CBS will just merge into another conglomerate?
That being said, I’m for it.
I could see CBS wanting Sony’s TV assets, but the Film studio? They obviously weren’t getting any added synergy with Paramount when they were at Viacom, hence the split into CBS, so why would it be any different with SPE?
Besides, does Hollywood really want Redstone owning two of the big studios in the town? Paramount already has a rep for being cheap; I’m sure many agents and managers don’t want his power solidified and another cheap studio out there.
Finally, given the output of CBS Films, does anyone think they could handle a full service studio? (yeah Sony’s track record hasn’t been too memorable this year but at least they didn’t make The Back Up Plan)
Think back what was the purpose of Sony purchasing Columbia Pictures and CPT from Coca Cola in the first place? To control content for their devices. So they wouldn’t run into the problems they ran into with the Betamax and Hollywood studios. Much like the Disney/Apple connection now. Just look at the Disney Channel ads for their Watch Disney platform, they all feature Apple products.
One word integration
Sony is a slowly dying company. The opportunity for CBS is in letting them die before picking at the corpse.
Question: Doesn’t Sony need the film profits to cover all the $ electronics lost? Isn’t that why Sony’s in a much stronger financial position than the likes of Panasonic and Sharp right now?
That’s apparently the only benefit Sony has reaped from film/TV. They have yet to really pull off any sort of meaningful integration.
Sony should sell, their leadership is poor. They’ve done we’ll this year with old franchise product (Spider-man,MIB3, and the upcoming 007 pic), but just think about how good they would be with some thought and imagination.
Lynton, Pascal and Blake should be the first to go. All they do is overspend on talent and overspend on marketing and distribution (they buy their openings). Their international divisions also need to be looked at carefully, especially their teams in the UK and Germany, they just throw away movies with no care, and are surviving just on tent poles, not smart.
Not sure if CBS are the right guys, at least from a movie perspective. But, even though he has faults, if Rothman was to run it you’d see Sony being the most cost conscious and most profitable studio in Hollywood.
But wouldn’t your post apply essentially to every other studio? (relying on franchises/tentpoles, overspending)
This would actually be an ideal situation for all involved…., up to a point. The simple fact of the matter is there aren’t going to be many buyers for Sony’s film & TV assets that are going to be interested in keep it as an ongoing concern.
If the price is right you’ll see the likes of Time Warner, News Corp etc, etc hovering overhead to pick at the corpse of SPE and leave the carcass to rot. At least CBS would keep the iconic Columbia ‘iron lady’ and the lot active and actually keep making films. Or importantly keep people in jobs.
But as others have said no one wants to see Redstone owning (directly or indirectly) two film studios especially when the one he does currently own is run so shambolically. And, yes I’m going to say it, does anyone truly believe that Viacom will continue to sail once ol’ Sumner pops his clogs? Personally there are too many ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes’ associated with a ‘post Redstone’ Viacom but that’s another story.
But this is going to happen. It’s just a mater of when rather than if sadly. Kaz Harai never liked Sony’s media divisions, that’s why upped Michael Lynton to head of Sony America keeping him clear of the blast crater when he does sell off the division.
On the bright side if CBS did buy Sony Pictures at least Columbia would be able to start making films that didn’t HAVE to feature mobile phones or a VAIO laptops in them.
Imagine that.
CBS already has an amazing TV library. Adding the Sony library would be a significant addition.
When it comes to movies, If I were Warner Bros I would go after it. At the same time I would go after MGM. This would allow WB to put MGM back at their historic studio and put the studio back together with it’s film library.
But competition makes the world go round.
For film grosses, Sony is this year’s top studio at $1.4 billion domestic so far, before the release of Sky Fall, while Paramount has made less than $600 million so far this year. In the past 10 years, Sony has only failed to gross $1 billion domestically once, in 2005. It seems like an enviable track record to me. What’s with all the bashing about the studio heads?
And speaking of Paramount, now that they no longer have distribution rights to Marvel films (Disney) and DWA animation films (Fox), I think they’re in probably the weakest position of all the movie studios. I think Sony has done a great job of balancing big budget tentpoles (Spider-Man, MIB, Bond), smaller films with awards buzz (Zero Dark Thirty), successful animation (Hotel Transylvania) and compelling television (Breaking Bad).
because what the world needs now is more media consolidation.
seeing that sony is more or less dead, this will happen, no doubt. Can’t wait till Columbia is owned by America again.
Puh-leeze!! That’s just a pathetic idea and a waste! If Moonves wants to acquire a movie studio so much, he should just acquire Paramount Pictures from Viacom! SPE’s stuff is HUGE!! And renaming the company to what? “CBS Pictures Entertainment”? SPE has 9 movie labels and operating O&O and joint venture companies in the US, UK, the Netherlands, China, Latin America, Russia, Italy, and France, among other locations including domestic and international networks all over the world. I don’t see CBS owning SPE’s material.
Please no one be too harsh with me, this is just a laymen speaking here. If this does indeed happen one day what happens to all the films Sony have in various stages of development? Will they just all cease to be overnight?