Why Viacom and CBS Had to Merge to Survive

The long history of CBS and Viacom merging, splitting up, and getting back together could be fodder for a juicy romance novel if it weren’t so dully corporate. Viacom (originally named CBS Films) was created as a syndication company by CBS in 1952 and spun off in 1971 because of a now-defunct law barring networks from owning syndicators. It grew so large on its own that Viacom, at one point, owned Paramount Pictures, Blockbuster Video, and, in 1999, CBS itself, merging back with its old corporate parent only to split apart again in 2005.