Doug Herzog, a former senior Viacom official (who is now part of Paramount) says that his Alma Mater will soon be very different following her merger which has just closed Skydance.
“I would believe that in 24 months, when we take a look at Paramount, it will not look like what it is today,” said Herzog in an appearance of the TV of Tomorrow Podcast on Friday. “And I honestly think that it is the path to follow. These inherited media societies, if they will survive – and, by the way, survival is not compulsory – I think they have to somehow explode and take risks and embrace the world of technology in a way that they have slowly done, which I think you will see in paramount.”
The conversation was organized by Rick Howe, himself a cable veterinarian and a former showtime executive. He addressed a number of Herzog’s achievements during his years in MTV, then two relays supervising Comedy Central. He acquired the post of president of the Viacom musical entertainment group before resigning in 2017.
Herzog noted the “deep pockets” of the CEO of Paramount, David Ellison, the son of the billionaire of Oracle Larry Ellison who took the first job after the closure of the merger of $ 8.4 billion earlier this month. “As much for him, for Wall Street’s ends lately, has positioned itself as a technician and he has this DNA, he is also a guy of content,” observed Herzog. “He has been running his own studio for some time now.”
The financial structure of major media companies, which has benefited for decades of the double source of distribution and advertising, is now in the process of being feared due to the cord cut. Traditional players also move resources to their streaming services while they continue to try to fill the gap with Netflix.
“I somehow think you have to explode,” said Herzog. “The kind of model of the model. The strength of [Paramount] was in wired networks. Everything is done. It’s done. So you need a different idea.
Paramount leaders in recent weeks have pushed the idea that they would turn their cable wallets while Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery are doing so. They also reaffirmed their commitment to betting networks, which were on the block two years ago during the mandate of Bob Bakish as CEO of Paramount Global. Many networks and franchises of the cable wallet will be “redefined” rather than immediately sold, said the new executive diet.
A franchise that remains vibrant after almost three decades is Southern parkOf which the creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, signed a renewal of $ 1.5 billion when the new incisive season of the show was starting its race. Herzog directed Comedy Central when the program was broadcast for the first time, and the podcast included a long return to the original history of the animated Mainstay.
Herzog said that the sustainability of the show was “glorious”, but at the start, it even seemed a long-shot to see the air. In a reversal of industry standards, he said, the fact that Comedy Central at the time was a joint venture between Viacom and Time Warner worked to the advantage of the show. As a rule, JVs are so micro-generated and involve so much tensions and the fight against partners that their production is hampered. This is not the case in this case, Herzog said.
The owner of the Viacom Tom Freston network and HBO head Jeff Bewkes “appreciated” the show and “GOT IT immediately”, recalls Herzog. “But I said to myself:” If I only worked for one of them, if the company fully belonged to one of these companies, could we have put Southern park on?’ Because it was so dangerous, it was so exaggerated, no one had seen anything like it. I remember having woken up in a cold sweat about a week before doing his debut and thinking, can I go to prison for that? It was so exterior. But I still wonder if, if I worked for a single company if they would have had cold feet. »»
Howe said that the situation reminded him of the trope of a child of divorced parents who said to their father: “Well, Mom said it was ok. “”
Herzog replied, “Well, they both said it was ok, but I think they were also afraid of saying no. There were very few advantages of a JV … [but] It was certainly one of them. I was largely left alone and my own devices. »»
In the end, Herzog said, Southern park has become “the house on which Comedy Central was built”. At a time when the network was only three years old and had only 40 million houses, less than half of the universe of paid television, “it was the first real success, it put us in business. And we are here 27, 28 years later. They are still strong. They are still in trouble and can everyone. They deserve every centime they get. They are absolute geniuses.”
